The Saint Louis University Pep Band began decades ago as a Jazz Band under the auspices of the Fine Arts/Music Department. They performed a couple of concerts each year and played for the occasional basketball game. The Jazz Band was a fairly small group of musicians, about 20 or so, mostly brass and rhythm along with a few saxophones. With the exception of a few jazz standards, most people did not recognize many of the musical selections.

In 1992, the Fine Arts Department underwent a major restructuring and the SLU Pep Band as we know it was shifted over under the auspices of the Athletic Department. The band has grown in size over the years and now boasts 100 members.  The instrumentation has changed to include clarinets, piccolos and other woodwind and brass instruments not commonly found in jazz bands. Our musical selections have changed to include fan favorites such as Chicago's 25 or 6 to 4, Ides of March's Vehicle, Kool & The Gang's Celebration, and many others.

The band practices once a week on Wednesday nights during the fall semester until the basketball exhibition season starts.  With a song list containing over 75 titles, there’s a lot of practicing to be done.

Not all band members receive class credit for being in the band – they do it for fun - and if you look really closely, you will see that there are several alumni members that have been around for 10 or 15 years and are still enjoying themselves!

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