The Fair Grove High School pep band plays at all home basketball games, giving band students the opportunity to play outside of class. When marching season ends, the high school band focuses a lot on their concert season pieces, but some students come in after school to play and support their fellow peers.

The pep band plays the national anthem before the game and whenever there isn’t anything happening on the court. Band director, Natalie Palomo, explained, “There’s a pep band to provide some entertainment to the crowd when there isn’t anything going on down on the court.”

They play during timeouts, before the game, at halftime, and they play the fight song when the game ends. They play a lot of pop songs, and songs that most people tend to know, so the crowd can get involved and have fun. Palomo noted, “We play pep tunes! These include all the more ‘poppy’ songs we have in our repertoire from marching season, as well as a few extras we add in throughout basketball season.”

The whole band plays at home football games throughout the football season, but when that’s over, pep band is just for students who want to be more involved. They sit in the stands and cheer on the teams when they aren’t playing.

This year, the pep band consists of 16 students. They have five trumpet players, three percussionists, a tuba player, two trombone players, two baritone players, two alto saxophone players as well as a clarinet player that occasionally plays tenor saxophone. Palomo said, “Pep band is made up of anyone who is in band (the class) and wants another opportunity to play for fun. It’s not required so it’s typically the kids who just really love performing, or playing pep tunes, or being a part of band in every way possible.”