This past weekend, Wilsonville celebrated homecoming. Starting with an in-school assembly on Thursday, then the parade and football game on Friday, followed by the classic homecoming dance the following night. While many students will remember the float-building, football team brilliance, and late-night dance memories, an untold story is the musical aspect.
Pep band is integral to school culture, particularly at assemblies and sporting events. Band director Chad Davies was straightforward in saying that pep band “completely creates that environment.”
Mr. Davies made the connection to music in the professional world. “[In] any professional soccer game, there’s music all over the place.” Davies tied music back to the high school, saying that the pep band “has a lot of power” in influencing school culture and can elevate the overall experience of those attending.
However, senior Gabe Frost (percussionist) believes that the value of music in sports is underappreciated, saying that “[pep band] is important [to me] because of my connection to it. I don’t think it’s valued by everybody in the same sense.” After all, students are focused on the center of attention at the event – in this case, football.
Despite that, the pep band continues to influence the way that the Wilsonville High School community sees the music program. Mr. Davies stated, “We play music that will draw people in to show off more of what we do.”
But the reality is that the band program doesn’t spend the majority of their rehearsal time on pep music. “Most students don’t understand that pep band is what we spend the least amount of time on… in rehearsals.”
Regardless, Mr Davies expressed that pep still serves a crucial role in operating as a “gateway into what we… do in our music department.” Wilsonville students get a glimpse into the impact of music in their school community through the pep band. “Music has a lot of power in uniting people.”
The bonding effect that music has on the Wilsonville community is evident in a variety of ways, although not everyone always sees the direct result.