A brand-new pep band made up entirely of elementary school kids took the field at the Charter School of Educational Excellence's varsity flag-football homecoming game on Oct. 15, playing in front of more than 300 spectators in what became the group's first public performance.
The junior pep band is part of a push at CSEE to build a culture of music and arts starting in the earliest grades, according to Yonkers Times, which first reported on the band's debut. CSEE CEO Danielle Rendina said the new band performed phenomenally and improved the atmosphere at the homecoming game, and she said integrating music and arts programs into athletics benefits both students and school culture overall.
Turkey Bowl Up Next
The elementary musicians aren't done for the fall. The band is scheduled to perform again at CSEE middle school's flag-football Turkey Bowl on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 4:30 p.m., giving the young players a second shot at the spotlight just weeks after their debut.
The pep band's launch builds on arts programming CSEE has developed in recent years. The school has presented musicals including The Addams Family, Godspell and Seussical, and it maintains a high school marching band, backing bands for those productions, and choirs, per the same report from Yonkers Times. In 2023, CSEE opened a new stage at its high school designed to teach students theatrical rigging and other skills intended to help them land jobs at Lionsgate Studios and other media stages opening in Yonkers.
What the Research Says About Music and Grades
CSEE's expansion of music programming lands alongside research suggesting a link between school music participation and academic performance, though researchers are careful about how far that link can be stretched. A study of 112,916 British Columbia public secondary students found that exam scores in English, math and science were significantly higher for students who took music courses than for those who took none, according to the 2019 research article in the Journal of Educational Psychology.
The association with academic performance was strongest for instrumental music. Students with very high engagement in instrumental music scored, on average, more than a full academic year ahead of peers without any school music involvement.
Researchers drew on data from more than 112,000 students who completed Grade 12 between 2012 and 2015, according to the University of British Columbia. Even so, the observational study does not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between playing an instrument and performing better academically.
For now, CSEE's newest musicians have a more immediate goal: taking the field one more time before the fall season wraps up, backing their middle school peers at the Turkey Bowl.
