When you enter Carver Arena at Bradley basketball games, you may hear instruments blaring the NFL theme song or “Africa” by Toto. There could only be one source: the Bradley basketball pep band.
The band performs at every home game for Bradley. Sometimes the band can be as large as 30 or 40 people.
Recently, the pep band was treated to its annual trip to St. Louis for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. After the victory, they traveled to Des Moines for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Only a fraction of the band’s members were selected to attend the postseason games. Among them were senior trombone player Francis Levins and senior piccolo player Alanis Nash.
According to Nash, the championship game was a nervous yet surprising performance.
“I get to the point when we’re watching the game and we’re losing where I stop watching the score and I just focus on the game,” Nash said. “And then I looked back up at the score and … we’re winning.”
Though the game itself was exciting, band members noticed aspects of the event the average sports fan may not. For example, Levins mentioned the curtains blocking out the 300 level of the MVC Tournament arena affected the band’s sound.
“I thought the [Civic Center] was pretty big and you go to St. Louis to the [Enterprise Center] and it’s huge,” Levins said. “[Those curtains] really mess with the sound. It absorbs the sound, so it sounds slightly different.”
In the same way the Bradley basketball team works together to be victorious, the band also takes on a team mentality to be successful. Certain members play some important roles.
Nash wears the headset to communicate with venue staff to know when the band can play. David Vroman, professor of music, conducts the band and aims to keep the cheers loud and consistent.
Even if Bradley went to the NCAA Tournament every year, Nash believes the band would bring the same energy and charisma they showed during the postseason games this year.
“I think it would be [the same] because of the atmosphere Dr. Vroman sets for the band,” Nash said. “The first day he says, ‘Win or lose, we’re cheering.’ The band was always there cheering.”
Just like the basketball team travels together, the band traveled throughout the postseason via bus together. After the MVC Tournament, both seniors agreed that it was sometimes less about the game and more about hanging out with other musicians.
“When 30, 40 of you are forced into a hotel together in St. Louis, you make a lot of good friends that way. We met a lot of new people,” Nash said.
The band’s seniors also reflected on experiencing the basketball program go from winning only five games in their freshman year to winning the conference championship this year.
“I am glad to have been a part of it the last four years,” senior trombone player Will Bosworth said. “Finishing with winning the MVC Tournament and going to the NCAA was a fantastic way to end my time here at Bradley.”
Levins reflected on his increased fandom in the past season. When the team started to win more, he started to get more excited.
“At first, I didn’t really care too much for watching sports, so I just liked pep band because playing pop music is really fun,” Levins said. “Halfway through the season, I was actually keeping up with the away games.”
For the senior basketball players, it was a tearful goodbye for their hard work and dedication to the program. Though they weren’t necessarily playing the game, the seniors in the pep band also endured the long journey, cheering on the team at their darkest hours and in their brightest moment.
Next time the Braves win, the fight song will be played in victorious and passionate unison. It would only be fitting to direct your ears and eyes toward the basketball pep band, playing their hearts out.
