Three hour practices two or three times a week. Visual body work. Warmups. Show music practice. Practices at home. Performance day rehearsals. Winter drumline members put in all of that work for every competition day.

“I think there gets to a point in every season where it’s kind of like ‘Oh, I want to quit right now,’” center marimba junior Lydia Wisdom said. “But it’s worth it honestly.”

A lot of work and dedication goes into the winter drumline program every year, and it can be beneficial to the students in the ensemble.

Jeff Maupin, the winter drumline supervisor, believes that it can be an outlet for students along with a provider of life skills.

“(It) definitely teaches them number one teamwork,” Maupin said. “The difference between drumline or any band activity and a sport is there really is no bench, so every person’s position is super important to the group’s success.”

According to Maupin, it is a great opportunity for students to work “incredibly hard” and travel to “a lot of really cool places.” 

It has also provided a space for friendships to form among many students, including drum captain junior Jasmine Alexander.

“It’s how I met most of my friends,” Alexander said.

Forming friendships is not the only thing the drumline does. The team puts in work to drill, working with sections and building skills that make up their performances.

Being a part of the winter drumline can be very time consuming. Maupin noted that the students also learn time commitment from their experience.

”It takes a lot of hours,” Maupin said. “We rehearse a ton, and they need to learn how to manage their time in order to be successful in drumline and school.”

Rehearsals can range from three hours starting around 5:30 p.m. to seven hour practices at the school on Saturdays.

Competition days also last hours. From rehearsing for a couple hours in the morning to getting back to the school late, a lot goes on.

“A typical competition day is getting there really early, doing some rehearsal stuff before, loading up the trailers, and then going over to the performance site, unloading everything, going into a practice room and warming up, performing, taking everything down, staying to watch other performances, having awards and then going back to the school,” Alexander said.

Even with how busy they are though, the winter drumline still has a friendly environment.

According to Maupin, the program gives its members awesome opportunities to create memories with friends and other surrounding musicians.

“It’s just a really fun thing to do,” Wisdom said. “And I am friends with a lot of people here so this is where I get to see most of my friends. I really, really like it.”

All in all, the students love to perform. A huge part of being a part of the team for Wisdom is because she is with her friends and gets to see them through their work. 

“It’s great to see how dedicated everyone is to all of their performances, what they do and just see talented people musically,” Alexander said.