Last Friday night was big. Very big. Clarkson. RPI. Houston Field house. Black Friday. Enough said. But while all of us at the game knew the hockey action was going to be intense, with fights and tension brimming on the wake of every whistle blow, and our boys eventually bringing home the win, there was another, at times even more interesting battle going on throughout the night: the war of the pep bands.
RPI’s pep band arsenal was locked and loaded too, with more players then I’ve seen all season. The striped shirts were extra bright, the sousaphone player twirling with extra vigor, and the dude with the flag was running faster than I’ve seen him go all semester. And why shouldn’t he, this is Clarkson people! Oates was listening, the team was listening, and the fans were listening, if there was a time to step up to the plate, this was it.
But the Clarkson band, unlike their hockey team, didn’t show to the field house unprepared and with their position firmly staked in the right side nosebleeds in our piece of ice hockey utopia, they were on the defensive, and were ready for battle.
Although they lacked the number of players, the snazzy matching polos, marathon quality runners, and basic support of their home turf, you could tell right from the get go, they had done this before. This was going to be a fight for the ages.
With the buzzer ending the first period, the match had begun. Fifteen minutes of pep band fury. Clarkson, then RPI, RPI then Clarkson, Clarkson and RPI, it was pure madness. At the start of the second period, both fight songs were going, at the same time, meshing into the equivalent of one unspeakable dark, cold, rainy night pep band traffic accident. Saxophones here, trumpets there, drum sticks and expletives flying.
It’s a good thing the Zambonis were there to separate the troops, and 20 minutes of hockey were about to give the bands some cool down time. But with the end of the second period, the ceasefire was over, the battle raged on, complete musical anarchy.
Both bands brought out the big guns, RPI with Black Sabbath, Clarkson with straight Ozzy Crazytrain. Again, a fight song duel at the start of the third. Towards the end of the game, the bands hit with their final blows, no pun intended, as to make their final stance, each trying to earn the spot as winner of what I like to call the “Pep Band Black Friday Battle of Fury.”
So now if you missed the game, you’re saying, “The suspense is unbearable! Who won this battle of song and spirit?” and if you saw the game, you’ll have your own opinions, or just not care. But after listening to a panel of attendants, who hold no biases against either organization (I am not here to continue the pep band controversy which erupted earlier this year, merely here as a story teller and music reviewer, giving my take on one of the most epic battles of all time, well, at least at RPI) to form an answer to this very question, who won the pep band battle? Here are the results:
In looking at a pep band, there are two major elements at play: spirit, and music. As described earlier, the RPI pep band won the spirit competition hands down, and we should; this, after all, was our home turf. And, again, we have a dude with a flag. Clarkson had no dude. Clarkson had no flag. RPI 1, Clarkson 0.
However, this is an article primarily concerned with the music, which is where this battle gets sticky. Dynamically, RPI had more players, therefore, it would make sense that they were louder and more forceful in their playing. However, even from my seat way over in the mid left-side bleachers, the Clarkson pep band was louder, a lot louder!
It may have been because of their position near the rafters, allowing the sound to bounce all over The Field House, or RPI’s position at the back, with instruments aimed towards the front, away from the majority of fans. But even with this in consideration, the Clarkson pep band had more air behind their horns, and it showed.
Cleanliness of the music was another issue. Clarkson’s drum rhythms were crisp and together, each voice well balanced throughout the band. Their brass section was dominant and sectionally consistent in note changes, dynamic changes, and were strong leaders throughout the night. Their pieces were well learned, well practiced, and their players, dare I say it, showed enough talent to be called musicians (not necessarily a requirement to be in a pep band).
RPI’s playing was less clean, and while successfully establishing the rhythm in their pieces, it was not as impactful as the efforts taken by the Clarkson band. Our brass was more timid, less versed than Clarkson, missing more of the higher range notes, which in the pep band world can be the difference between good and great. The band as a whole seemed less practiced and sloppier, which could very well be attributed to the added number of players for this big game.
Lastly, the Clarkson repertoire was vast, with songs of different styles, different time periods, and different genres. And even with the advent of changing styles, Clarkson remained strong in their performance, knowing each of their pieces well, projecting to the deepest reaches of the Field House. RPI’s repertoire was vast as well, with many adaptations from popular music that you wouldn’t expect from a pep band. However, many songs throughout the night were repeated, leading to the conclusion that while still large, the selection range of our archrival Clarkson, was larger.
So what does all this mean? Well, with a RPI 1, Clarkson 0 score for spirit, Clarkson did score one for dynamics, and another for overall musicality, and came close (they hit the post of the net, but it went sour) to a point on repertoire, bring our final Pep Band Black Friday Battle of Fury score to RPI 1, Clarkson 2.
But, members of the pep band, and the RPI community, don’t let this discourage you! This is just one event, in a long line of future Clarkson encounters, future chances to beat the pants off those RPI rejects in both hockey and music. They came in strong last Friday, with horns of fire, drums ablaze, narrowly grabbing a Black Friday victory.
We were steadfast, with a gallant effort; dude a-running, flag a-flying. So we will wait, and see the outcome of the next strike of these two pep battalions, for Clarkson may have won the battle for Black Friday, but they haven’t won the war.
