Members of the Iowa City West High School and Northwest Middle School bands in Iowa City served as the acting pep band for the No. 15 Knights as they traveled to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, March 21. Head coach Stephanie Gaitley’s squad nearly pulled off the massive upset against No. 2 Iowa.
FDU doesn’t have it’s own pep band so officials from the school in New Jersey began calling Iowa City-area high school bands on Monday, March 16, seeking a substitute band, said Ryan Middleton, one of the band directors at Iowa City West. In the midst of spring break for Iowa City West students, Middleton began reaching out to his students who were still in the area and interested in helping out.
“The maximum number for an NCAA pep band for the tournament is 29 players plus one director, so I knew we had to kind of keep it under that,” Middleton said. “We put a Google Form out to all of our students, and whoever was interested signed up.” With the help of a few area band directors and six eighth-grade grand band members of Northwest Middle School in Iowa City, Middleton was able to put together a makeshift ensemble, and Iowa City West got the approval as the substitute band on Wednesday, March 18. In less than 72 hours the students learned the Fairleigh Dickinson University fight song and rehearsed it with the Knights’ spirit squad.
The other challenge was adjusting the performance to a smaller group. Iowa City West’s band program includes more than 230 students and Middleton said he had to adjust to performing with roughly a tenth of that number. Still, he said the smaller group held its own and didn’t miss a beat.
“The kids were great and really stepped up to the challenge,” he said. “It was a cool experience for them to be able to play in front of a crowd that size, and learn the music that quickly and just go out there and perform.”
