New to Concordia this year is the Cobber Athletic Band, also known as the pep band.
At 40 strong, they played their first Concordia football game on Saturday, Sep 7 under the brand new lights at Jake Christiansen stadium.
The ensemble aims to be the lowest cost and commitment of all Concordia musical ensembles.
“Our main ambition is just to get a lot of people so that we can get together and have fun. It’s a no cost thing,” says Jonah Winter, a student conductor for the band. “You can literally just show up.”
The ensemble requires no fees and can even help provide prospective members with instruments.
They play before the game, “it’s kind of like a little mini concert, yeah? And we’re playing all sorts of, all sorts of fun stuff,” says Henry Skatvold, another conductor for the band.
During the game they work to deliver cheers and then play again during halftime, and if their numbers are still strong afterwards, they stay, if not, no problem.
“We want more people in the music department and outside of the music department, to have a low commitment option that is fun, musical and accessible,” says Skatvold.
Currently, around 30-40 people are involved with the pep band, though it may continue to grow.
The athletic band is student run, with three main student conductors as well as a faculty advisor, Nat Dickey.
Atticus Osborne, 5th year general music major; Henry Skatvold, 3rd year instrumental music education major; and Jonah Winter, music education major all help conduct and lead the band.
The athletic band is their pet project, one they hope will grow and include people from all over the school, not just music majors.
“We plan the rehearsal. We did the rehearsal. We cleaned up, set up for the rehearsal, like it was all student led,” says Winter.
The athletic band is slated to play Cobber football home games and will also play volleyball games as well.
Moving forwards, they have set their sights on hockey games as well.
“It’s just having a good time playing fun music that, like you don’t get to play in, like a concert setting, like playing Crazy Train,” says Osborne.
The ensemble functions similarly to the school’s drumline program but even further emphasizes the low commitment and community-centered aspects of the group.
“It’s not an all day thing. It’s an afternoon maybe, maybe part of your day. We have pizza at every game that we do,” says Skatvold.
You don’t need to be at a high level of performance capability to play, “just to emphasize again, you do not need to be really good at your instrument. We just want some loud noise to get some cheer going, get some energy.
The athletic band includes wind instruments like flutes, clarinets, trumpets, horns, and trombones.
