Amboy Junior High pep band hits all the right notes

For Avery Kerley, Amboy Junior High School’s chorus, band and pep band director, the best place to be is in the stands.

“You are in a big room that is loud, with a lot of people there. You are playing music you know and you like,” Kerley said. “Sports are exciting, and you get to be there to cheer on your team. You are there to support them and make some noise and have fun.”

The Amboy Junior High School Pep Band is used to the atmosphere of the Amboy High School gym, where they play for boys and girls basketball games.

Now, the AJHS Pep Band will take its act on the road as its members travel to Kankakee on Saturday, Feb. 7, to play for each of the four games of the first round of the Illinois Elementary School Association Eighth Grade Class 2A state basketball tournament.

This is the fourth year the AJHS pep band has been invited to play at the IESA tournament.

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Amboy Junior High Pep Band Director Avery Kerley leads his band Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, at half time of the fifth and sixth grade girls basketball game. The band has been invited back, for the fourth year in a row, to play halftime at the IESA 8th grade boys basketball finals. (Alex T. Paschal)

“We appreciate being asked back. It’s something the kids enjoy doing, and it’s something I enjoy doing. When we play Amboy basketball, our own fans get to hear us all the time, and the people in our conference get to hear us. It’s nice to play a state tournament because then people from other parts of the state get to hear us,” Kerley said.

Kerley, now in his eighth year as AJHS band teacher and director, has built the program into impressive numbers.

With a total student population of just over 200 students in fifth through eighth grades, the band program, which includes students in sixth through eighth grades, currently has 55 students. The majority of those students are in the pep band.

“The only ones who don’t show up are the ones who are playing on the sports team,” Kerley said.

The appeal of band is not just about belonging but also about having fun.

“It’s just so much fun. It’s fun to be there, to be there in the atmosphere. The music is fun and interesting to play,” he said.

The AJHS band program starts in fifth grade.

“We have a recruitment night at the beginning of the school year. I show them all the instruments and play them all for the students, show them how they sound,” Kerley said. “Then we have a signup when parents come in and they get to try out the instruments they are interested in. I usually have them pick three and then whichever one of those three kind of clicks with the student is the one they usually end up playing.”

The school offers an instrument rental program through a music store in Bloomington, but also keeps a variety of instruments on hand for students who may not be sure of what they want to play or who may not be able to afford to rent an instrument.

Drums are a universal favorite - until students learn about the bells and whistles that accompany them.

“Everybody wants to play drums. What a lot of the kids don’t realize is that percussion is actually one of the more difficult options to pick because you don’t just learn one instrument; you learn everything that you hit. I’ve had a lot of kids who say I want to play drums and then you throw a xylophone in front of them, and then they are like, I don’t want to play that. But it’s an all-or-nothing kind of thing,” he said.

While the noise and activity of musical instruments bring students into the program, the connection keeps them going.

“You get them to start making loud noises on their own, and they start having fun. That will keep their attention for maybe a month. After that, one thing I notice with students is, with the rise of social media, with them being on their phones all the time, they really crave connection. They want something to belong to,” Kerley said.

Being part of the band and pep band provides that connection.

“Band is a big collaborative effort,” he said. “You don’t just have one instrument by itself. Everybody is a part of the whole. These kids spend so much time together and they get that interaction that I think they are missing. After that first month in beginning band, it becomes really about getting them to connect with each other and getting them to work together and getting them to appreciate that, then they really do that naturally on their own,” he said.

Kerley grew up in Vienna, Illinois, where he started music lessons at age 5.

“I have always been into music. I started taking guitar lessons when I was 5. I picked up an instrument in fifth grade and played all through high school. I started to give private music lessons, and I enjoyed that, and I wound up going to college for music education at SIU Carbondale,” Kerley said.

Amboy is his first teaching position out of college. Kerley was named Amboy school district’s 2025 Teacher of the Year.

He said the key to keeping students interested is keeping them busy – and the music helps.

“Part of it is the fun of music. It’s a brain exercise. It’s entertaining and something to do,” he said. “I always try to keep them moving. I always try to keep them doing something. I always try to keep everybody busy. I find the faster I can keep my own pace, the more energy I have, the more energy that they have.”

Another appeal of band is that students get to learn and perform music they hear on the radio and social media.

“For the pep band, primarily we do a big mix of pop songs. I try to keep a couple songs that are current and on the radio. Right now, their favorite one is Apt. by Bruno Mars and Rose. We just bought that one this year, and it’s been a huge hit. I also try to keep a few classic rock songs in the book,” he said.

Students also learn some tunes that have become instantly recognizable by all ages as pep band classics.

“In the world of pep band, there are some songs that have almost eclipsed their original meaning,” he said. “One that the kids really love is ‘Land of A Thousand Dances’ by Wilson Pickett. People have heard that song as background music in movies and TV. If you go to any high school in northern Illinois and ask if they play ‘Land of A Thousand Dances’ and every hand will go up. The pep band arrangement has eclipsed the original song in popularity. Another one is ‘Louie, Louie,’ that’s become more well known as a pep band song.”

After their IESA performances, the AJHS pep band will finish out its home basketball season, performing at two more games Feb. 10 and 24.