The Stingers give students a chance to enjoy basketball playoff experience

Imagine being on the school’s football or basketball team. Now, imagine the only audience you have to support you at your game is your parents, the cheerleaders and whoever else might be attending. Having the support is nice, but wouldn’t it be nice to have something more?

Now, the next game comes along. You go out to the field or the court, depending on the sport. You see the typical crowd at the game, and then something new catches your eyes. A group on musicians is sitting in the stands. The game starts; the musicians stand up and start cheering. Chants of “Go Hornets” resonate through the stadium. The cheerleaders join in, and then the rest of the crowd starts to join in.

Then, halftime comes along or somebody calls a time out. The band starts playing a tune, a tune that you’ve probably heard. It might be “Gonna Fly Now” from the movie “Rocky”, or maybe “Rock and Roll Part 2” by Gary Glitter or as it’s more commonly referred to as The Hey Song or Tom Sawyer by Rush or it might even be Shake Your Tail Feather by Nelly. A song that not only gets you pumped up, but keeps the audience entertained.

Next thing you know, the game is over and your team has won, not only by your own talent, but also by the energy, excitement and spirit provided by the crowd, the help of the cheerleaders, but also by the group of musicians.

That group is the Fullerton College Pep Band: The Stingers. A band that not only adds spirit and energy to the games, but according to men’s basketball head coach Andre Smith, “adds a four year college atmosphere” to the games.

The pep band is a fairly new group on campus. Yet, they’ve already received plenty of respect and support from the athletic department.

The person responsible for creating the pep band is former FC student Jason Hovey. According to Hovey, he got the idea while attending a women’s basketball game. He noticed that although the game did have spirit, he felt there was something he could add that would make the games more exciting. So he shot the idea of a pep band around the music department and the students were really interested in the idea.

“I really felt as though the student body, as a whole, does not have that much support for their athletic programs. They are great, and they do very well season in and season out. So bring in a pep band and help support those sports that are so under-appreciated,” Hovey said.

With a bunch of interested students and the help of Fine Arts Dean Bob Jensen and faculty member Jerry Garvin, who later went on to be the faculty advisor for the band, The Stingers started playing at the football games in the Fall 2007, and have played at the football games and basketball games up until today. 

The pep band is a student run performance group, whose main function is to pump up the team and the audience at the games. They also play at the pep rallies out in the quad once in a while, or whenever the music department needs them to play elsewhere.

However, according to student Director Justin Garcia the band serves more purposes than just helping out the team. 

One purpose of the pep band is that it’s another performing ensemble. According to Garcia, this is an especially useful function for guitar students. Apparently, there are not enough ensembles on campus for guitarists, and the guitar students are required to perform in class. 

According to Guitar Professor Mike Scott, guitar players can play in the group, however he is not certain if it officially counts toward their ensemble credit. 

The band is also a good place for people to learn a new instrument. 

One student who uses this to his advantage is Michael Gonzalez, a music education major. His main instrument is the french horn, but every semester Gonzalez tries a different instrument. He noted that without pep band, he probably wouldn’t have experienced playing on the various instruments. 

“Pep band pretty much allowed me to pick up an instrument I really didn’t know and pretty much I got a little better at it…” Gonzalez said.

The pep band also serves as a learning tool for students to get better at their instruments. allowing them to work on their arrangement and composition skills. According to Garcia, a lot of the music played by the band is arranged by current and former students.

“You get to go into the games for free. You play awesome music… it’s just great to meet other people and be involved in your school,” Merissa Magdael-Laruon, pep band member and music education major. 

Because of the extra support the band adds to games, they have received plenty of support and respect from the athletic department. 

“The pep band has been a very valuable addition to our football and basketball teams,” said Peter   Snyder, Dean of Physical Education. “We are very fortunate to have them be part of our events and we enjoy their great music and enthusiasm in support of our college and teams.”

As far as the future of the band goes, Garcia is pretty optimistic. The long term goal will be to turn the pep band into a full on marching band. However, that will be years in the making. At the moment, Garcia says he would like to get some marching band instruments, specifically for the pep band, and continue to support the school and the 
athletic department.

Unfortunately, the future of the band may not be what Garcia hopes it will be. The band is not safe from the current economic crisis. According to Garcia, last year the band was in danger of being cut, but due to the support of students, the athletic department, Dean of Fine Arts Bob Jensen and Department Chairman John Tebay, the band was able to survive that round of cuts.

However, the band may not be as lucky for the upcoming cuts. According to faculty advisor Jerry Garvin, the future is not looking good. The department has already had to make 20 percent cuts so far this year and they’re looking for 
another 10 percent. 

“It’s been tough because we thought that we’ve already cut as much as we could possibly do, but now they’re asking for more.” Garvin said.

Garcia is much more optimistic about the bands future however. He believes that because of the support of the athletic department, the students, and the added attention the band received after playing at the protest on Thursday, the chances of them being cut are not very high.

“I think it’s unlikely because there’s enough support outside of just the music building for us,” Garcia said.  

The band will definitely be returning in the fall if they survive the budget cuts, according to Garvin. If interested in joining, the band will be offered as a lab class through the music department. Practice is on Fridays from 1:30 to 3 p.m. It is open to any instrumentalists, and it’s preferred if you have your own instrument. It is not required to be a music major though. Garvin believes the music is fun to play, and states that “it’s a great opportunity to blow off a little steam.”

“We like to have fun, get rowdy at the games, try and keep team spirit up, that’s about us in a nutshell,” Garcia said.