JDHS pep band takes its beat to a new level of size and sound

If you find yourself vibrating to an opening four-measure drum solo that rolls right into a repeated open E-chord via driving electric bass line followed by trombones and blaring brass, and it all sounds familiar to you, then that is “Corazon” and you are in the right place for entertainment.

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears pep band has rocked the house — the George Houston Gymnasium to be exact — since the 62-member orchestra has carried their instruments to the balcony this season.

“Our pep band is known for bringing energy and excitement to keep the games interesting even in the pauses,” JDHS pep band director Brian Van Kirk said. “We are noticed for our volume and playing of popular, well-known songs that the other students at the basketball games are sure to know and enjoy. Playing at the games also provides an opportunity for the public to see these students’ musical ability just as the games demonstrate the basketball, cheer and dance teams’ skills and hard work.”

Van Kirk came to JDHS from now-defunct Thunder Mountain High School as part of the Juneau School District’s restructuring this year. His Falcons’ pep band had been a mainstay of their athletics, was popular with the Juneau community and shared musical camaraderie with their crosstown rivals.

“Our band is fully integrated,” Van Kirk said. “We have at least half of our members being past TMHS students, with the others either being new incoming freshmen or from JDHS. Combining our groups together has strengthened us in numbers and sound. With more participants, we are able to bring more energy and bring back old songs that need well-supported parts…We currently are playing a little more than 30 different songs with a wide variety of genres. A few examples are songs from Veggie Tales to more aggressive songs like ‘Bulls on Parade’ to an anime song ‘Raising Fighting Spirit.’ And we are working towards more.”

The number of songs corresponds with a number of logistical and organizational entities the pep band plays for or supports. They warm up the crowd before games, play fight songs and anthems, play for cheer routines, introductions and timeouts and sometimes play on after the game has finished.

“It definitely can be a logistical nightmare,” Van Kirk said. “And still evolving. We need to coordinate with the basketball team about team introductions. We also are constantly talking with cheer about who has timeouts and quarter breaks. This year there have been a few hiccups so there can sometimes be a disconnect that we have to work through. All of the coaches and I have this understanding and are constantly working together to smooth out our performances.”

Also accompanying Van Kirk from TM to his new post are iPads substituting for sheet music. Each song has each instrument’s music ready on screen at a finger’s touch.

“I have iPads for all of our music,” he said. “So I can push everything through Dropbox so all of our music is digital…Being digital also adds access to all students. Students have access to all their music anywhere they have signal or internet.”

The pep band has four senior captains.

Isabele Danner is in her fourth year on the JDHS pep band. She started music at age six and in fourth grade took up the trumpet because “that is just what we did at my school, Montessori Borealis. Then I switched to euphonium in seventh grade and I have been playing that ever since.”

Her favorite pep band piece is “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne.

“I think it is really fun,” Danner said of the combined bands. “You have a lot point of views from people and lots of different experiences from everyone.”

Maisy Messing is also in her fourth year in the JDHS pep band and plays the flute, which started in fourth grade at Montessori Borealis.

“We had to pick an instrument in the fourth grade and I picked the flute,” she said. “I’ve just kind of stuck with it ever since…I did end up having to upgrade from a really bad student flute to a better intermediate flute.”

Messing said pep band “is a community, where we are all together and all doing something that we love to do. We get to celebrate the school and celebrate our school spirit and then all do it together in a collaborative way. Everyone is equal. We have leaders but everyone is playing together.”

Last year her favorite piece was “Crazy Train,” but “now that we have combined the two, like, books I’d say my favorite piece is ‘Killing in the Name of.’ (Rage Against The Machine). It is amazing.”

Messing said the combined band “has been great. It is really nice to have just such a big program and have so many new people to get to work with and collaborate with. It has been really nice.”

Dori Germain spent three years as a drummer on the TM pep band and continues that with JDHS. She first joined band at Dznatik’i Henni Middle School in a percussion wind ensemble setting and transitioned into the drums in high school.

“That was actually because of BK (Brian Van Kirk),” Germain said. “He gave me a personal tour of Thunder Mountain and the entire time hyped up pep band and his band program and that is why I ended up picking that school. I actually did a tour of both the schools and I was really torn.”

Her favorite pep band piece is “Zoot Suit Riot” by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, “just because it has a really fun drum solo.”

Germain said being part of the two combined pep bands “is not that different to me. Like, I feel it is great having a lot of new music and we are focused more on learning and teaching new people this year because we have, like, in rhythm we don’t have music in the same way as the other instruments. You just kind of have to have it memorized. So there is a lot of just getting those new songs, which is hard for us because we are just kind of thrown into it.”

Marzena Whitmore plays the alto and tenor saxophones, and is a three-year TM band alum.

“I started off as an orchestra kid at Riverbend Elementary School,” Whitmore said. “I played violin and cello, switched over to saxophone in sixth grade at Floyd Dryden and I have been playing it ever since. And I love it…I am a really big band kid and so pep band is just a really great way for me to express myself through music…It is a great family and community, and we all get to do things that we love together and be loud and obnoxious.”

Whitmore’s favorite pieces are “Treasure” by Bruno Mars and arguably Southeast’s most favorite “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes.

“Yeah, one of my favorites,” Whitmore said. “And I really enjoy the combined pep bands. At first I was worried as we have two different communities, two different schools coming together, but I think we have come together really well. We have two different books so we figure out what songs work, what songs don’t, and we work on songs from both. It is not like we are just picking one. I think it is great because it is more people and we get to bring the spirit to the basketball games and the pep to the basketball games.”

Messing and Germaine plan to minor in music at college.

Van Kirk was asked what makes this year’s band different, what they bring to the “show” that makes them stand out more than usual.

“What is so great about working with students is that each year the band will be different, as it has a new makeup of players and instruments,” he said. “This year obviously also has had a huge shift combining the two previous bands. There has been a music combination process, which means all of us are learning new songs, giving the whole band a stronger set list. It is also definitely a rebuilding year, where we are working to set the framework of how pep functions and what our role is in the greater scheme of basketball games.”

With the exception of this weekend, the pep band will be playing each Friday and Saturday night home basketball series remaining through March 1. And, of course, on March 4-8 is the Region V “Pep Band” Tournament at Ketchikan. Officially known as the Southeast Region V Basketball Tournament, it has also become a showcase of various schools’ pep bands and just what makes school spirit tick. A highlight features the All-Star Pep Band of seniors from various schools who perform on the Saturday of finals.

“We attend the Region V Basketball tournament each year,” Van Kirk said. “This, however, has no competitive aspect for us. It is instead to bring more energy and make the tournament overall more fun for all the participants.”

There are options outside the sporting events left in this school year to see and hear members of the band. Feb. 5-8 is the Juneau Jazz Festival.

“We have a kids’ concert Saturday morning, a dance Friday night, we have concerts Friday and Saturday nights here at JDHS,” Van Kirk said. “We have clinics all day Saturday afternoon. We are going to have an all-Southeast band, Sitka and Ketchikan high schools are coming in so we are making an All-Star Jazz Band and one of the visiting artists (Kyle Athayde) is running that group and has composed all new music for them to play…We have all sorts of stuff going on.”

JDHS’ clarinet band member Caymen Huff, choir member Eleanor Carpenter and viola band member Riley Soboleff applied and were selected to attend the 2025 NAfME (National Association for Music Educators) All Northwest Band/Choir/Orchestra in Spokane, Washington, Feb. 14-16.

April 10-12 is the Southeast Alaska Music Festival at JDHS, a gathering of roughly 450 high school students in vocal and instrumental groups from high schools throughout southeast Alaska that will be adjudicated by professional musicians and directors and given feedback.

May 13 is the Senior Night Concert at the JDHS auditorium and May 25 JDHS graduation.

In alphabetical order the JDHS Pep Band includes:

Captains: Isabele Danner, Dori Germain, Maisy Messing and Marzena Whitmore.

Members: Stella Asplund, Rowen Barr, Nolan Bas, JM Batac, Lucy Bennett, Parker Boman, Brayden Capizzi, Eleanor Carpenter, Elan Chappell, Faith Contreras, Kajson Cunningham, Quentin Curtis, Sam Day, Dan Degener, Gabby Ely, Aaron Doten-Ferguson, Darren Foster, Kaylee Frickey, Weston Galey, Mark Guimmaen, Trygve Hermann, Atagan Hood, Caymen Huff, Keira Jenkins, Gracie Kohuth, Elijah Levy, Jillian Levy, Jennifer Li, Camden Messmer, Rylie Mulkey, Emerson Newell, Katie Oudekerk, Anjali Padhi, Mikey Patterson, Dawn Pecson, Scott Pleasants, Kelsie Powers, Trey Powers, Lucas Rader, Nathanael Rice, Sarah Rivera, Foster Rushton, Daymian Scroggins, Leah Sell, Gracey Smith, Hayden Soboleff, Riley Soboleff, Domimic Tagaban, Alison Tingey, Sam Uyanik, Ethan Van Kirk, Elle Wall, Jamie Wisner, Lesllie Zamora, and Ben Zukas.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.