It’s difficult to imagine a high school assembly or a Friday night basketball game without the pep band, the spirited cheerleaders, or the halftime dance routines.
And if you’re from Pleasant Valley High School, it’s also hard to imagine an event in the gym concluding without at least one malfunction of the school’s sound system.
For many years, Pleasant Valley High School has experienced technical issues regarding the sound system in the gym. The sound system has interrupted Spartan cheerleading and dance routines for longer than students and most staff members can remember. Whether it be the music stopping mid performance or the inability to start the audio, the sound system has become a laughing matter among the students and faculty of PVHS.
Luckily, the Spartan dance and cheer teams are trained to keep performing even after the music cuts out. Continuing to perform without music may appear to be impressive, but for those who are performing, it can be frustrating and embarrassing.
In 2017, JV Platinum members were on the gym floor, prepared to dance at a basketball game against the Bettendorf Bulldogs, PV’s biggest rival, when the music wouldn’t play. Performing in front of a crowd so big is nerve-racking enough, but nerves turned to humiliation when equipment failures inspired Bettendorf’s student section to chant “that’s embarrassing.”
For a school that supports so many outstanding sports and extracurricular programs whose teams perform in the gym, having a reliable sound system should be a given. Platinum and cheer might make it look easy, but continuing to stay on count and in sync after the music stops is very difficult.
Allie Zucker, a senior Platinum dancer, is no stranger to disappointment caused by the inadequate speaker system. Zucker stated, “It’s really frustrating when we are trying to do a performance for an assembly or a game and our music goes out. I wish the school would invest a little more money into a new sound system.”
Marilyn Waterloo, the audio/video coordinator, mentioned some of the issues affecting the audio might include a broken fuse, a malfunctioning adapter, an improper phone setting, or a message causing a notification on the device. Most students use their smartphones to play their chosen audio, which is a form of technology that is constantly changing.
After multiple attempts to pinpoint the problem with the school’s principal, the audio/visual coordinator, the head custodian, a secretary and the athletic director, the source of the issue was found.
Athletic director, D’anne Kroemer, claims that a leading cause of the sound issue is the lack of training those playing the audio have. Many students play the audio from the black box, but are not properly trained how to do it. When students turn the volume on their device to the maximum, and the black box volume to the maximum, the surge protector becomes overwhelmed causing the audio to stop.
Kroemer explains that a solution to this issue could be students testing their music and the volume levels before playing it for the performance. This could alleviate the issue of the volume levels clashing.
Kroemer suggests that the best way to solve this issue is by assigning an expert to play the music at each event. A simple solution such as a specific person dedicated to running the sound system doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
