Hey Alumni!
Hello! My name is Erin! I’m a senior flute that actually goes to Ithaca College, not Cornell (whoops). I’m majoring in religious studies with a minor in anthropology. In 2023 I served on bandstaph as one of the flute section leaders along with Izzy Cowan! And in 2022 I was a fundraising chair, I put out the first couple batches of the uniform pillows! I won’t graduate until December 2024, so this year I’m serving as an alumni chair, as well as helping with librarian and historian duties, I like to be kept busy!
Hi, I’m Duck, and I’m a junior trumpet. I’m part of the long lineage of trumpets who are also electrical and computer engineers, including KP ‘06 and Buddy Holly ‘14. I’ve just finished up my 2023 terms as the secretary of the Pep Band and the trumpet SpinMaster. This year, in addition to alumni relations, I will be one of the librarians for the Pep Band.
My name is Kelly, but I also go by Komet, and I’m a sophomore studying physics and computer science in Arts and Sciences. I’m a trumpet and horn player and have served as last year’s pep treasurer, equipment chair, and webmaster, and this year I’m also serving as a historian.
Hello, I’m Dina, and I’m a freshman tuba player and an occasional horn player. I’m studying electrical and computer engineering. Along with Alumni Relations, I will be a field manager this year and a historian and fundraising chair for the Pep Band. I’m really looking forward to this year.
We are all so excited to be your 2024 Alumni Relations chairs! Stay tuned for upcoming announcements about our Giving Day livestream and other spring performances!
Feel free to reach out to us at ebaum@ithaca.edu, rdh247@cornell.edu, kfl35@cornell.edu, and dn333@cornell.edu! We look forward to (hopefully) meeting you at Reunion and Homecoming this year!
Peace and aardvarks,
Erin Baum ‘24
Bobby “Duck” Haig ‘25
Kelly “Komet” Leiby ‘26
Dina Nabavian ‘27
And now…presenting the only REAL Band Notes in the Ivy League!
HEY ALUMNI!
I’m so excited to be writing to you as your 2024 Drum Major! Just in case you forgot, my name is Nina, but most people in the band know me as Pauws (pronounced like a “pause” button). I’m a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences from Sturbridge, Massachusetts. I’m planning to major in Psychology with minors in English and Performing and Media Arts (with a concentration in theater). My post-graduation plans still haven’t changed: I’ll be applying to law schools, focusing on family law. Hopefully, they let me in (fingers crossed)!
In the BRMB, I’ve spent a lot of time behind the scenes. As a past Drum Major and Show Committee Chair, I’ve loved getting to see how rehearsals have an impact on each member. Outside of the BRMB, I play my trumpet (and sometimes cymbals) in the Big Red Pep Band. This is also my first year on cymbals in the Cornell University Indoor Drumline.
Through a LOT of trial and error, I learned a lot about myself as a leader and the band itself. With a new understanding of what works and what doesn’t, I have a couple of goals for the upcoming year. I want to continue to bring our sound to old songs, and hopefully keep salvaging lost traditions. I plan on bringing these into spring music rehearsals. If you tune into Giving Day, you might hear a couple! I want to work new show music into those rehearsals, too. Our Show Committee Chairs are extremely prepared and full of ideas, so I’m excited to see how they’re mirrored in our shows.
We’re in a new post-COVID-shutdown era of the band, which opens up a lot of opportunities to set precedents. I want to help Section Leaders and Show Committee members feel confident in their abilities, especially when teaching the ropes to future generations. We’re already hitting the ground running; I held a forum with Section Leaders to talk about expectations, worries, excitements, and future plans. They had a lot of questions and want to do right by their members. They’re so positive and accommodating! I’m VERY excited to work with them this year.
On the topic of leadership, I’m looking forward to seeing the band grow again in this new era. The current freshman class is huge and seeks out opportunities for leadership. The new members we’ll meet in the fall have incredible role models to help them navigate Cornell. I’m also beyond ecstatic to be working with this year’s Head Manager, Emily Jones. She is such a dedicated, hard-working, kind person, and I know she’s going to do incredibly well.
This season is going to be eventful, energetic, collaborative and (hopefully) productive. I can’t wait to share our sound with you all. I’ll see you all at Reunion, Homecoming, Sy Katz, and more!
Nina “Pauws” Ellison ‘25
Hi Alumni!
My name is Emily Jones, and I am so excited to be the 2024 Head Manager! I am a member of the clarinet section, and last year, I was one of the clarinet section leaders. I am from Buffalo, NY, and I am a junior majoring in Biological Sciences in CALS with a concentration in microbiology. I also have two minors, one in Infectious Disease and one in Education. Outside of band, I am a member of the Whittaker lab at the Vet School, where I study Feline Coronavirus.
This year, I have a lot of ideas that I hope to put into action. One of my goals is to further define the role of our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chairs so that way next year there is a smooth transition and expectations already outlined. Some of the things in the works are workshops for Bandstaph and other community-building events. In addition, in collaboration with our pub chairs, there have already been several social media posts for Black History Month and Lunar New Year. We hope to keep this going throughout the year by having many different heritage months featured. Our philanthropy coordinators have also been hard at work organizing different events for the band, such as a day at the Ithaca Sciencenter for children to see different instruments and how they sound.
In the fall, I want to continue having personal events with our Drum Major Pauws, such as HM/DM breakfast. New member retention was incredible last year, and I want that to be the case again this year. Speaking of Pauws, I am so excited to get to work with her this year! She did an amazing job last year, and I can’t wait to see all that she accomplishes this year.
As for the marching season, I am so excited for the band to go to Brown, Princeton, and Columbia. Our upperclassmen are really looking forward to doing the Sy Katz Parade again, and our new members cannot wait to be a part of it this year. We hope to see you all there!
I cannot wait for marching season to start again, and I am looking forward to a really great year!
Emily “EJ” Jones ‘25
Hey Alumni!
My name is David “Dubs” Kaprielian, and I’m your 2024 Pep Band Manager! I’m a junior trumpet player hailing from Mahopac, New York, and I’m majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Archaeology! I was Pep Conductor last year, and now I’m looking to help the band out behind the scenes!
Entering this year, the Pep Band is in a fantastic place. Recruitment was immense this year, and we have quite a few freshmen already at the 100-point mark! Almost every hockey game has been filled to the brim, and we’ve even been able to split the band during away trips! I’m excited to keep the good vibes going over the course of this year.
Our schedule this year has been jam-packed so far, especially with away trips. As of me writing this, we’ve played at Harvard, Dartmouth, RPI, and Union, with the NorthCountry trip coming up this weekend! It’s been super awesome getting to play in all sorts of different rinks, and exploring the cities around them. Looking ahead, potential playoff games for both Hockey and Basketball look to add a lot more mileage, the ball keeps rolling!
At home, we’ve had our foot on the gas since before the start of classes! Both the MHockey and WHockey teams have been doing a whole lotta winning with us in attendance, allowing them both to clinch the Ivy Championship! The band sounds fantastic, and nothing is better than blasting España or Through the Fire and Flames in a packed Lynah environment.
We’ve gone to a number of other sports too! Some of my favorites this year were us going to the Club MHockey and WHockey teams’ Senior Games! They really appreciated us being there, and it was a super fun time. We also have been at some Men’s Basketball games, as they surge to the top of the Ivy League, and to Wrestling as they took down #2 Missouri! We’re also looking forward to the onset of Lacrosse Season, and many specialized Davy’s to come.
I’m super excited to get the pep band to as many games as possible, holding strong our traditions, and keeping us sounding spectacular. For all y’all alumni, feel free to stop by and say hi! We’d all love to see ya.
Here’s to another awesome year of Pep!
David “Dubs” Kaprielian ‘25
Hey everybody!
We are Catherine and Slice and we’re your Spring 2024 Pep Band conductors! The semester has gotten off to an exciting start with the continuing Men’s Hockey season, securing a win with Princeton 6-2 and an OT win with Quinnipiac in our first weekend of events. Our band shipped “up” to Boston for our INCREDIBLE WIN against Hahvahd in a 2-0 shutout!! We got to collaborate with many other bands at home in Lynah and also away at other rinks like Brown, Dartmouth, and RPI for some megaband shenanigans. After a tense shootout win against Yale, we also became Ivy Champions! We’re hoping to continue this momentum at our upcoming trip to Clarkson / SLU and (fingers crossed) post-season hockey fun!
This semester we’ve also been at a lot of Women’s Hockey games to support their incredible season as Ivy League champs (first time in 4 years)! They’ve been having a fantastic year and it’s been an honor to be able to play at their games this semester. As for other events, we’ve performed at Men’s Basketball, Wrestling, and both senior games for Men’s and Women’s Club Hockey and we’re excited to continue attending these events, especially with Lacrosse season starting up and Ivy Madness on the horizon.
It’s been great to see everyone at rehearsals and to continue working as a trio with Dubs this semester, and we look forward to keeping up this energy at upcoming events! We love seeing all the olds both at Lynah and away rinks keeping the Big Red spirit alive. Hoping to have a great rest of the semester with lots of wins all over and even more of a blast playing some sensational songs with everyone!
Peace and Ivy Champions all around,
Catherine “Ian Shane enthusiast, californians stick together” Frank ’26
Slice “floppy armed Zoot Suit Riot devotee” Scialabba ’25
