To most people, the drum line is just a group of people that bangs on things and play groovy music to get people “krunk,” but the drum line is actually much more than that – it’s a group of students who spend half of their summer dedicating themselves to learning their music and becoming better musicians. They are the first ones there, and the last ones to leave, and often are the backbone of the band.

It takes a lot of time, practice, and effort to be on the drum line. Not only do we have to memorize and perfect the whole show, they also have to learn cadences and stand tunes, whereas the rest of the band can depend on others to learn some pieces so they only learn what they want to. Depending on how well we learn the music, and how hard we push ourselves, we have the ability to either push the band to success, or make their marching season end early.

Because drum line members spend up to eight hours a day with the others, we have to love and respect one another and understand what they can and can’t do. We have to help each other to become great drummers.

Being on the drum line isn’t all about playing cadences and dancing around – it’s about the experiences we have with each other. We all love one another, so there are plenty of laughs and jokes, but there are also tough times. It takes a special group to be able to yell and get angry at one another, but at the end of the day, be able to apologize and love everyone.