Developing a crush

New pep band creates a fusion of staff, students

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Staff Writer

This ain’t your grandfather’s pep band.

There are no traditional stadium anthems, no bleacher-packed rows of students and no standby favorites like Rocky Top.

What is there? Rock and roll music – all the way from the Doobie Brothers to Justin Bieber, with an electric guitar, a lead singer and a collection of students from both Karcher Middle School and Burlington High School.

In short, BHS has turned the traditional definition of a pep band on its head and come up with a house rock band instead. The result is Orange Crush – a collaborative effort of students and staff to provide entertainment at basketball games.

Ron Pedersen and Rod Stoughton – the band and choral directors, respectively, at Karcher Middle School – came up with the idea a year ago.

There’s nothing wrong with the traditional pep band, both said. It’s just, well, they wanted to try something different.

“A traditional pep band, when you have an entire stand of kids playing, it adds a certain sound,” explained Stoughton. “It’s very powerful. But doing a sort of horn band that we have now has a whole different kind of feel to it, and a whole different kind of power to it.”

The idea, Pedersen said, came in part from Street Life – a cover band that performs at Milwaukee Bucks games.

“They do cover songs, and really familiar things that kind of pump up the crowd,” Pedersen said. “We thought this would be a different way to do a pep band … to change up the mood at games.”

And thus, Orange Crush was born. The group performs just about anything that will get people moving. Last year, the group tackled such 80s hits as “Eye of the Tigers” by Survivor and “Your Love” by The Outfield.

This year, Bieber’s song “Never Say Never” is popular, and the band is working on Katrina and the Waves’ “Walking on Sunshine.”

What’s amazing is the group essentially works without published sheet music. Pedersen and Stoughton work on pulling music off recordings and giving it to the kids involved.

“We figure it out and teach the kids, and away we go,” Stoughton said.

And it’s been a fun ride. Those involved are varied. The lead singer for the band is Micah Gebel – who won a Diva Quest competition last year in Kenosha and is involved in different choirs at BHS.

“I’ve always wanted to (be in a band), but I didn’t know if I was going to,” Gebel said. “It’s really fun, doing it for my school.

“It’s kinda cool.”

The lead drummer for the group is 14-year-old Tyler Krupp – an eighth-grader at Karcher, who Pedersen said is possibly the most talented drummer he has ever seen.

“Bottom line, he’s a great kid,” Pedersen said. “He’s got an innate sense of rhythm. He’s like a human metronome.”

He’s also extremely creative. Krupp listens and improvises so much with the other members of the band that “he’s even told me, ‘I get lost if I’m not listening to the guitar and lead singer,’” said Stoughton.

It’s no big deal, though, according to Krupp. The 14-year-old said his uncle used to be a drummer in a band, and he followed in his footsteps.

“It’s just fun – something to do,” Krupp explained. Of course, he hopes to one day see if he can play professionally; “otherwise, just (go through college) for teaching other people how (to play).”

The students aren’t the only ones having fun. Stoughton plays electric guitar for the group, while Pedersen will play tenor and alto sax, depending on the day and the song. Pedersen’s wife, Sue, (another band teacher) plays alto sax, and BHS band director Ben Johnson adds to the trumpets.

And aside from the neat fusion of music and styles, there is also a melding of the two schools. In mixing students of different grade levels, Pedersen hopes to build a connection and continuity.

“We really would like to see this become a self-fulfilling entity, that some of the kids come in at middle school and continue on,” Pedersen explained. “I’d like to see it become student driven.”

There is also a fusion of music education and innovation as a result of the student band.

“Fifteen years ago, directors were frowning on pop music,” Stoughton said. “Now, today, we see it as the key to opening up a kid’s mind to other types of music. Once you can make a connection to a piece of pop music today and a classical song, then you’ve got them hooked.”

It doesn’t hurt that, for the teenagers involved with the program, it’s also a bit of living a dream.

“If my middle school director said, ‘Hey, you want to join a rock band and have amplification and speakers and microphones and perform publicly,’ I would’ve jumped at that opportunity,” Pedersen said. “So I’m giving my students that opportunity.”

Members of Orange Crush

Adults

Rod Stoughton (electric guitar)

Ron Pedersen (sax)

Sue Pedersen (alto sax)

Ben Johnson (trumpet)

Burlington High School

Ben Lois (alto sax)

Becca Robinson (alto sax)

Emily Sibilski (tenor sax)

Sarah Waltz (tenor sax)

Eli Erdmann (baritone sax)

Brianna Andresen (trumpet)

Luis Jimenez (trumpet)

Austin Hough (trombone)

Hunter Hough (trombone)

Kasey Cragg (bass)

Amber Solomon (drums)

Karcher Middle School

Tyler Krupp (drums)

Abigail Sibilski (trumpet)

Natasha Dunn (trumpet)

Angel Gonzales (tenor sax)

Jesse Umbel (alto sax)