Ironclad Pep Band

What the pep band does

The Ironclad Pep Band plays home football at Millwright Stadium, home basketball at Ironclad Fieldhouse, selected volleyball and wrestling nights, the Millrace Week parade and the Winter Carnival opening. It is the loudest ensemble on campus and the only one with a sousaphone budget line.

This fall there are 74 members. Fewer than one in ten is a music major or minor. The band’s student president is a construction management junior, the drumline captain is in nursing, and two of the trombones play on the men’s soccer team when they are not playing for the other teams. The band leads the north stands at football (see the game-day guide), plays the fight song after every Ironclad score and keeps a running count of games where it outlasted the visiting fans.

Director and rehearsals

The band is directed by Ravi Mbeki, professor of practice in instrumental performance, with an elected student leadership team that handles music, uniforms and the stands chants.

• Football season: one rehearsal a week, Thursday 8:30–9:45 p.m., Band Room (Applied Arts 150). Game-day call is two hours before kickoff.
• Basketball season (November–February): the band splits into two smaller squads, Navy and Gold, which alternate games so nobody has to give up every weekend. Each squad has a 45-minute rehearsal on Sunday evenings.
• Attendance: sign up for the games you can make in the band’s app. Squads need about 25 players to sound like a band.

Credit, perks and the jacket

The pep band is MUS 1640 Pep Band, 0 or 1 credit, repeatable. For 1 credit you commit to 80% of your squad’s games. Most members take it for 0 credits and come when they can. The perks:

• A navy pep-band jacket with gold trim, yours while you are a member, and yours to keep after four terms.
• A $100 Porter Card dining credit each term for members who make 80% of their games.
• Free admission to every home event, which every student gets anyway, plus a reserved spot out of the wind.
• The bus trip to the Forge Bowl against Chippewa Valley State whenever it is played away.

Pep band also counts toward the ensemble requirement of the music minor, which surprises people.

This season

The band plays every regular-season home football game. Kickoff times and opponents are on the fall 2026 athletics schedule, and the Forge Bowl page has the rivalry game. After football:

How to join

There is no audition. Show up at a Thursday rehearsal with an instrument, or email the department to get on the list. If you played in a high school band, you can do this. Brass, saxophone, flute, clarinet, sousaphone, mellophone and drumline are all welcome. The band lends sousaphones, mellophones, baritones and the full drumline, with no maintenance fee for pep band use. Music is on flip folders and in the band’s app, and nobody is expected to memorize anything except the fight song, which you will have learned by week three anyway. New members can join any time before basketball squads are set on November 1, and again at the start of spring term. See ensemble auditions for the other groups.