Lynah and Tigers and Bears: Adventures in Conducting the Pep Band

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Hey alumni!

I’m Snigdha Sharma, one of your Spring 2017 Pep Band conductors! I’m a junior English major in the College of Arts and Sciences, and this is my fifth (and perhaps favorite) semester in pep band. Between the success of the men’s and women’s hockey teams, we have had quite an exciting season in 2017! I had the honor of conducting the ECAC championship games at Lake Placid, which was an amazing and unforgettable experience. My fellow conductor Alex then traveled with the band to UMass Lowell for the NCAA regionals to further cheer on the men’s team. Regardless of the outcomes of the games themselves, the band as usual had a blast! Alex and I have been working on expanding and revising the current music folder with both professional arrangements and student submissions — we’re excited for the opportunity to introduce some new and fresh music to the band in addition to treasuring the classics (Free Bird, anyone?). In the latter half of the spring semester, we made the transition from indoor events to outdoor events like men’s and women’s lacrosse, as well as multiple baseball double-headers. Despite inclement weather keeping us from playing at the first few men’s lacrosse games, we had multiple people tell us at the first game attended that we are their good luck charm (which we like to think is true)! From Lynah Rink to Lake Placid and more, conducting the Pep Band this semester has been the most unforgettable and valuable experience in my Cornell career so far. Watching the band grow and thrive and most importantly, have fun, is always the best part of the job. Being Pep Band Conductor has been an absolute honor this semester, and I can’t wait to see where this band goes in the future!

– Snigdha Sharma ‘18

Alex F

Hey Alumni!

My name is Alex Fernandez and I am one of the Spring 2017 Pep Band Conductors! I am a Sophomore studying Information Science, Systems and Technology in the College of Engineering. It’s been an awesome semester so far, working with Snigdha and Susan has been great and I hope I’m not making their lives too hard. The hockey team did well and even though we had a rough game at Lake Placid and a rougher game in Manchester, we were happy to travel with them to wherever they ended up (Thankfully not Fargo). Giving Day just happened and we loved putting on the awesome concert for you. We also had a lot of fun at basketball earlier this semester and even had the Penn band come up for a game. Our team may have had a tough game but the band always wins!  

We’ve managed to keep a large bunch of super talented freshmen and it’s been awesome helping them learn the folder and watching them get into all the Lynah traditions.  Speaking of the folder, we’re working on compiling and adding the cheersheet from the end of February and are excited to put that into rotation. Looking forward, we have tons of LAX coming up and even some baseball doubleheaders, so we’re hoping the warmth returns soon and actually stays this time.  

Balancing Conductor and Bone Section Leader has been immensely rewarding, especially when I can call up New World with twice the ability. From creating a super band with Clarkson way back at the end of January to fancy hockey to several super close and stressful playoff games, being Conductor has been amazing so far and I can’t wait to see you all during the rest of the season!

-Alex Fernandez ‘19