Alyssa Hempfield-Best | staff writer

In the gymnasium of Peebles Elementary, Marshall Henry played the alto saxophone alongside his best friend, Max Golden, to a backing track of the song “Gonna Fly Now” by Bill Conti. Looking out into the audience of friends and family that surrounded him, he realized he wanted to play music forever.

“That was kind of where I fell in love with music and thought this was something that I could do as a career,” Henry said.

Henry is now the director of the Duquesne Pep Band, a group of musicians who perform during Duquesne football and basketball games, creating school spirit through sound.

For students, Henry’s goal is to build a space where they can relax and forget about the stress that may come with school.

“I try to build a culture where once we’re together, that’s all there is. I think that separation between the chaos that some of these kids have in their daily lives and being able to take that away and be involved in music is really helpful to them to become a team together,” Henry said.

With the help of his leadership team, Henry said he has created camaraderie within the pep band through a variety of get-togethers, such as a pep band class, pep band club, a Halloween social and a pep band carnival.

Kasey Higginbotham, who became Henry’s graduate assistant in 2023, said Henry is all about open-mindedness, trying different styles of music and balancing the requests of the athletics department with the pep bands’ style.

“I feel like a lot of people in his position would try and just alter our style to what the athletics wants rather than the other way around,” Higginbotham said.

Still, Henry said that it is the group effort that has made everything entirely possible.

“Without him and the rest of the school music team, the athletic department, the student leaders– the ship will not be able to sail at all,” Henry said.

Outside of the pep band, Henry is the elementary band director at Peebles and McKnight Elementary in North Allegheny School District. He is also the assistant high school marching band director.

“He has always been extremely passionate about music and teaching. He wanted the music for all students,” said Will Guess, Henry’s past student teaching cooperating teacher from Pine-Richland.

Henry said the students drive him to continue.

“The students are everything,” said Henry. “Their future and just trying to provide a good experience and lessons along the way, I think it’s what motivates me at the end of the day.”

Learning music is not just about the skill of playing. Henry said it also teaches other valuable lessons.

“For kids to be able to play a B-flat on their clarinet doesn’t really impact their life one way or another, but it’s really all the other stuff that music teaches like the leadership, communication and the collaboration that all really comes together,” said Henry.

In addition to music, Henry is big on prioritizing his mental health. He does other things he finds fun, such as attending hockey games. While doing so, he makes sure to keep music away from those hobbies.

“That really made me understand how valuable music was in my life and that’s why I’m still loving it and enjoy it.” said Henry.

He hopes to teach aspiring musicians to do the same.

“The goal of any music teacher should be being able to make an impact on the lives of students in a very positive way,” Henry said. “I think that getting music students’ minds outside of the practice room, like going on a walk [and] taking care of [their] mental health, is really important to be a music educator.”

As band director, Henry hopes to grow the Duquesne Pep Band into a creative staple at the university.

“I feel like in every community, there’s always an art group. There’s always people collaborating. There’s always people being creative, and I want these bands that I’m a part of to be that pillar of art that the community can rally behind.”

Students can see the pep band in action at 7 p.m. on Nov. 19th when the men’s basketball team takes on Loyola-Maryland.

Alyssa Hempfield Best can be reached at gasparrohempfia@duq.edu