Pinole Valley marching band overcomes obstacles to perform at Warriors game Tuesday
on December 2, 2025
The Pinole Valley High School Marching Band will perform at the halftime show of the Golden State Warriors game Tuesday at the 18,000-seat Chase Center in San Francisco after months of preparation.
The 33-member band will perform a two-song mashup of “This is Berk” by John Powell and “Locked out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars.
Under the supervision of rotating substitute teachers, the students have been running their own rehearsals since September, when the band director went on administrative leave.
Band Council President and Pinole Valley senior Allison Wilson said her role has significantly changed without a full-time music teacher running rehearsals.
”I didn’t become a teacher, but I adopted some traits of a teacher,” she said. “I’ve tried my best to keep the band on track, so once we finally get a teacher we’re not in shambles.”
Wilson’s new duties have included collaborating with other students to run rehearsals and coordinating logistics with administrators. Without a music teacher, the band has been struggling with attendance and with handling the logistical side of running a performance group. They have had to cancel some performances and competition appearances.
“The people that are here are consistently here, but there’s a few kids that kind of lost motivation to do it when there wasn’t a teacher here to enforce it,” said Andrew Lester, a Pinole Valley senior and marching band trombone section leader. “It’s student-run, so it’s hard to get people to do stuff.”
Parents jump in to help
On Nov. 17, Pinole Valley appointed a long-term substitute teacher to take over the band’s music direction and finalize preparations for the Warriors’ performance.
Parents from the Pinole Valley High School Band Parent Organization, established in 2023 to support the music program, also have taken over administrative tasks usually done by a music teacher.
PVH principal Todd Irving did not respond to a request for comment.
The organization has been trying to get someone with the knowledge and credentials to help the students, said Trever Joyner, a Parent Organization member. “We’ve really had to hold our kids up because their morale has been destroyed by this whole situation.”
To perform at the halftime show, the band had to sell 200 tickets. That task fell to the band director when the band played at a Warriors game last year. This year, parents sold the tickets. Parent Organization President Sarah Torney purchased 76 tickets a couple weeks before the performance to ensure the quota was met. She is still trying to sell many of them.
“I’m definitely going to lose money, but at this point, I feel like it’s worth it for us so that we can play,” Torney said. “One of the biggest reasons I bought the additional tickets is because I feel it is important to support music education in our schools, and I am so proud of what these students have accomplished without the support of a music director.”
(Photo: Pinole Valley Marching Band rehearses, Courtesy of Sarah Torney)
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