It is about time for spring cleaning to begin. If in your cleaning of your attic, basement or spare room, you find a musical instrument no one plays, Tusculum College may have a need for that saxophone, flute, French horn or drum set.
The Tusculum College Pep Band has been practicing since January with hopes of debuting at a college event before the end of the spring semester. About 10 students are in the Pep Band and practice weekly in the Pioneer Perk under the direction of three volunteer band directors, David Price, band director at Greeneville High School; Jamie Walker, band director at Chuckey-Doak High School and Devon Lowe, assistant band director at Greeneville High School.
The Pep Band has grown out of an effort to establish a music minor at the College. In the fall, students were surveyed to gauge interest in a Pep Band. The results were favorable, and the next step was a meeting between the interested students and the volunteer band directors.
In mid-January, students were invited to another meeting for interested students and were asked to bring their instruments for a “jam session.” That meeting in the Pioneer Perk attracted about a dozen students, some of whom had instruments and others who were interested but did not have an instrument with them on campus. Two students that came are local high school students who will be attending Tusculum in the fall, but wanted to be part of the Pep Band from its beginnings.
The jam session showed good promise and attracted some students into the Pioneer Perk curious about the music that they heard. Since that meeting, the Pep Band has been practicing each Thursday in the Perk.
The Pep Band will debut at the culminating dinner for the Student Alumni Association’s Pioneering Mentoring Program on Tuesday, April 27.
The student musicians are playing a variety of instruments. There is the horn section including saxophone, trumpets and tuba. The Pep Band also includes a pianist, flutist and drummer.
And while, most have their own instruments, not all do, which is where alumni can help through donation of a musical instrument. So, if you do have a good, used instrument, please consider donating it to the Pep Band. For more information or to donate an instrument, please contact the Office of Institutional Advancement at 423-636-7303.