A pep band is an ensemble of instrumentalists who play at functions or events with the purpose of entertaining and "pepping" up a crowd. Often members of a pep band are a subset of people from a larger ensemble such as a marching band

Marching band

Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

 or a concert band

Concert band

A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...

. Pep bands are generally associated with performing at pep rallies

Pep rally

Pep rallies are events that occur primarily in the United States and Canada. A pep rally is a gathering of people, typically students of middle school, high school and college age, before a sports event. The purpose of such a gathering is to encourage school spirit and to support members of the...

 and sporting events (usually football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 or hockey

Hockey

Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

). With a few exceptions, pep bands are exclusive to the collegiate and high school level. The typical instrumentation of a pep band is the same as most marching band

Marching band

Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...

s, using mainly woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. Pep bands typically don't use primarily orchestral instruments (double reeds, strings, etc.), but this is not a hard set limitation.

Examples

Some bands which style themselves as Pep Bands:

• Michigan Tech Huskies Pep Band
• University of Virginia Pep Band
  Virginia Pep Band
  The Virginia Pep Band is a student-run band at the University of Virginia , officially known as The Award-Winning Virginia Fighting Cavalier Indoor/Outdoor Precision Marching Pep Band, & Chowder Society Review, Unlimited!!!...
  
  
• California State Polytechnic University (Pomona) Bronco Pep Band
  Bronco Pep Band
  The Bronco Pep Band is an entirely student-run band at Cal Poly Pomona. The band is currently a group within the Athletic Department. It follows the tradition of marching bands such Stanford's Stanford Band or Rice's Marching Owl Band in the sense that the Bronco Pep Band focuses on the...
  
  
• College of William & Mary Pep Band
• Cornell University Big Red Pep Band
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute America's Pep Band
• Binghamton University Pep Band

• University of California (Santa Barbara) Gaucho Pep Band
• Drexel University Dragons Pep Band
• DePauw University Tiger Pep Band
• Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Jaguar Pep Band
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute Pep Band
• St. Cloud State University Husky Sports Band
• Philadelphia Eagles Pep Band
• Power Pep Band of Portland, Oregon
• Adrian College Pep Band