So you’re joining the high school drumline, eh?
Chances are you’ve got mixed emotions. Part of you is extremely excited, part of you is really nervous, and the other part of you is wondering what you just got yourself into.
Don’t worry though, this high school drumline survival guide will let you in on the things that will make your transition as smooth as possible. So, go grab your pencil to take some notes - this stuff is good.
1) Learn your Drumline Exercise Packet inside and out
It’s very likely that when you had your
drumline audition, you were asked to play a few exercises from the packet. If that’s the case you should already have a fairly respectable grasp on some of the exercises in it. That’s great news!
However, you need to know this thing like the back of your hand. There’s a reason your drumline instructor or band director put all of those exercises in there so at some point throughout the season you’ll probably be asked to play each one. Don’t be the person who doesn’t know an exercise when it’s called out (talk about a big no-no!).
Put in the time to learn and master each exercise so that you’re comfortable playing every single one of them.
2) Show up early
Weird things happen - it’s life. Someone knocked your snare drum off the shelf and the head broke, you need to make a copy of your drumline music, a clarinet player is hyperventilating in their car at the stop sign right outside the school so traffic is at a halt and you can’t turn into the parking lot...who knows?
If you get in the habit of showing up early to rehearsal you give yourself some extra time to deal with any odd situations that come up and still gather all of your equipment and get to the rehearsal on time. #Win.
3) If you’re struggling with something, get help
If there’s a term that you don’t understand, an exercise you’re struggling with, or show music that you can’t seem to learn, ask someone for help!
Struggling with something and neglecting to address it won’t solve the issue. Be sure to seek out help. Ask your instructor, ask an older member on the line, or ask the
Drumline Chops forum. Everyone should be happy to help you out and there will be a day when you can pay the favor forward to another drumline member.
4) Memorize your Drumline Music
In the marching percussion activity, there’s not really a way around memorizing your music. It’s just something you need to do and the sooner you do it, the better.
As soon as you get your drumline music, start working on learning it. Once you can read through it, start memorizing it. The sooner you can get your eyes off the page and play it from memory, the sooner you can focus all of your attention on your tone quality and playing clean.
5) Memorize your drill dots
No one wants to watch a show where one of the tenor players is marching circles in the end zone because s/he doesn’t know where to go. Start memorizing your dots as soon as you start learning them and make mental bookmarks of where each set starts and stops musically. The better you understand the relation between your music and your drill the more confident you’ll be come show time.
6) Always have the necessary materials and equipment
Water, sun screen, a pencil, your drumline music, dot book, sticks, sun glasses, ear plugs, shoes, athletic clothing, etc. There’s a decent amount of equipment and material that you need to bring to every rehearsal so that you can be as successful and comfortable as possible. Make sure you’re always on your A-Game with bringing this stuff.
7) Work hard
Let’s not beat around the bush here: drumline takes up a lot of time and is physically demanding.
If you work hard and focus on improving during rehearsal time, you’re going to get really good and you’re going to have a blast doing it. If you don’t work hard during rehearsal time and instead focus on how much easier it would be to sit on your couch and play xBox, you’re not going to get much better and the time is going to go by really...really...really...slow.
Keep your mind engaged and get a little bit better every single rep.
8) Practice and improve
No one becomes an overnight sensation. Improvement takes time and consistent practice.
Make sure that you’re dedicating a little bit of time every day towards practicing your drumline music and drumline exercises to improve the things you’re struggling with.
If you do this and make consistent improvement throughout the entire season, you’ll feel really good about yourself come time for the big state contest or regional at the end of the year!
So, keep these things in mind as you go into your first season of High School Drumline. If you follow these guidelines you’re almost guaranteed to have an excellent experience and a ton of fun.
Oh, and by the way, once you make it through your first season, good luck quitting. This activity is kind of addicting and you’ll probably never want to stop. Welcome to the club! :-)
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