Star Wars & the Pep Band

See the latest "Found on a cocktail napkin" at the INCH frontpage.

[www.insidecollegehockey.com]

Well, that's random. This year, it sure seemed like every time they wanted to include something about a pep band, they just dropped "Cornell" in front as a qualifier. I wonder how their fascination with us started?

Hopefully it's true that there's no such thing as bad press.

Regardless, this doesn't mean Imperial March or Star Wars Cantina will find their way back to the cheer repertoire.

nothing would be better than hearing the imperial march being played as the teams come out for the third period... assuming cornell has the lead

[Q]Dpperk29 Wrote:
nothing would be better than hearing the imperial march being played as the teams come out for the third period... assuming cornell has the lead[/q]
This worked quite well for the Syracuse men's lacrosse team in the mid 90's, in their all white strip, as they entered from their Dome dressing room to take their pregame lap of the field. If there is one place I’ve been that has the Death Star/Star Warsesque feel it'd be the Carrier Dome booming with the Imperial March and the defending national champions coming out of the tunnel.

For the record ... I grew up attending the majority of Syracuse lacrosse games and the “evil orange empire” is #2 in my book but far cry from the boys in Red.

Rocky forever! It's all about the accrued psychological weight of three years of hearing the same song at the beginning of every third. The third has to be different:

1) Cornell flies onto the ice.
2) Those players that are pumped up are pumped up.
3) Those that may not be feeling all that great hear Rocky and, unconsciously, associate it with games for which they were pumped, slipping into the "zone" regardless of distractions.

Anyway, we're not the "evil empire," we're the indefatigable underdogs.

Proper Pep Band conducting is all about understanding crowd dynamics and performance psychology. You have to know when to play a cheer and wake the crowd up, but you have to sense when to "let the crowd take it" and keep the band quiet. You have to understand what traditions are OK to change, for example playing "Deep in the Heart of Texas" in the 2nd, and what traditions are important in creating a uniform psychological advantage, as I mention above.

And it's about getting tempi right by flogging the percussion into paying attention. Oh wait, that was just me...

P.S. Our "Imperial March" cheer has always sucked! Thank you, Miss Banshee. Get somebody to rearrange the Bud Cheer while you're at it. (#5 if I remember correctly.)

[Q]Scersk '97 Wrote:
Anyway, we're not the "evil empire," we're the indefatigable underdogs.
[/q]I guess that depends on whether the game is ECACHL or OOC.

[Q]ugarte Wrote:

Scersk '97 Wrote:
Anyway, we're not the "evil empire," we're the indefatigable underdogs.
[/Q]
I guess that depends on whether the game is ECACHL or OOC.[/q]
Nope. In the ECAC we're the good and benevolent leaders of the Republic! Yeah, that's the ticket!