As the time ticks down in the fourth quarter, tension builds. Five: the Mustangs dribble the ball down the court. Four: they drive to the basket. Three: they pass to the open person on the three point line. Two: he shoots. One: he scores!

As the crowd cheers, the faint sounds of “Firework” by Katy Perry, plays in the stands.

Pep band is made up of 30-35 students who play pep tunes at home varsity basketball games starting in February.

Madison Fischer, sophomore, plays the trumpet in pep band. Her favorite song to play is “Hey Baby” by Bruce Channel.

Although she personally prefers the atmosphere of football games over basketball games, she still enjoys pep band. It provides a different setting for the band to play their instruments in.

“My favorite thing about pep band is you can play as loud as you want and no one cares,” Fischer said.

Kenneth Winschel, pep band director, said it plays an important role in the basketball game as it promotes spirit.

“It’s a band that plays a lot of pop tunes,” Winschel said. “It’s supposed to be spunky and get the students playing excited and it gets the crowd excited.”

Although it’s a different setting than the football games, Winschel said pep band still provides an important purpose to the games.

“It gets kids more excited,” Winschel said. “It’s always more exciting when music is around.”

Nathan Toepke, junior, plays the trumpet. Toepke’s favorite song to play is “Birdland” by Joe Zawinul because it has a nice trumpet part.

Toepke enjoys the extra practice pep band provides and the different playing atmosphere.

“We get to play our instruments and pep tunes that we normally wouldn’t be able to play at football games,” Toepke said.

Toepke said he is grateful that he signed up for pep band because he enjoys the experience and looks forward to season.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Toepke said. “It lets us show off how good we are in a different perspective other than concert setting. It really helps us express ourselves.”
Their first performance is Friday, Feb. 9.