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Can you play a horn? How about a triangle? Why not join the University of Louisville’s new pep band?

It doesn’t really matter if you’re a student or not. You too can paint your face red and play your Cards on to victory.

After all, what 65-year-old trumpeter doesn’t fit right in with a college band?

Under a new plan announced by the athletic department last week, U of L’s pep band is being moved from the direction of the music department. The new system will place the band under the athletic department and its in-house director, Al Greener. Alumni and community musicians, along with current Cardinals, will make up the band’s roster and will be playing at as many sporting events as possible in the coming years.

It seems like a nice idea on the surface. You get that warm, fuzzy feeling thinking about a long-lost xylophonist finally coming home to his dear ole alma mater.

But what about the students who are here now? David Mills, Director of Bands at the University of Connecticut said it best: “If it’s the school’s team, it should be the students. If you’re going to have a band, it ought to be from the school too. Otherwise it’s not; it’s some sort of community thing.”

But a “community thing” seems to be what the athletic department wants. Kyle Moats, the U of L Associate Athletic Director for Marketing, said his department hopes to increase the Cardinal pep band’s presence at sporting events with the new plan. Opening participation up to alumni and community musicians, he said, will alleviate some of the stress on student players who also have academic responsibilities to juggle.

Nevertheless, the pep band has traditionally been a student activity and an academic endeavor at the same time. With the band under the direction of faculty from the School of Music, student performers were getting “real world” performance experience that couldn’t be had in the classroom. Those students who continue to be part of the band will still get this experience, but they won’t have the same academic leadership to help them grow as musicians along the way. The Cardinal hopes that the athletic department would not hire an under-qualified leader for its new band, but no one around this campus seems to know much about Greener.

Having a musical ensemble run by the athletics department is not much different than having a football team run by the music department.

The idea seems crazy, and not just to this editorial board. Band directors at other schools in the Big East conference and around the state scoffed at the plan when they found out what was happening, and not just because of its lack of precedence.

Michael Robinson, the Associate Director of Bands at the University of South Florida, said the logistics of the situation just don’t work. “I know I wouldn’t want to do it. You lose control if the people who are in the group are not students who are in a class.” He pointed out difficulties associated with traveling to away games when a school’s band is made up of people with jobs, families and other responsibilities. Students, he said, can just pack up and go, more or less.

The athletic department says now that it wants all of the current pep band members to join the new athletic band. But what happens in the future when the audition process is put into place?

Freshman music education major Arielle Dyda doubted she’d have problems getting through the audition process, but worried that non-music majors wouldn’t have the same experience. Students who aren’t music majors will be at a clear disadvantage to those who spend hours a day practicing in a classroom.

It seems clear where a division should be. Let the athletics department do what it does best, and let the music school do the same. Athletic department, kindly get your hands off our band.

The student body must act quickly to support its band members. The athletic department seems set in its decision, but The Cardinal hopes students won’t take the recent move lightly. Call the athletic department and voice your concerns. The main phone number is 852-5732. Attend tonight’s student senate meeting and let your representatives know what you think.