By Eva Xu
Staff Writer
Gymnasium lights illuminate colorfully-dressed musicians as the tempo of booming drums carries them across the floor, conveying indoor drumline’s story of an imaginative future through the blending of percussion. Thunderous applause erupts at the Southern California Percussion Alliance competition on March 2 as the last ring of music dissipates through the audience. This comedic five-minute show brought home first place at their first two SCPA competitions, at Monrovia and Temescal Canyon High Schools. Scoring 80.95 and 85.7 points respectively, they prevailed against over 20 other high school teams in the Scholastic A division.
“My favorite thing about drumline is the people,” senior snare drummer Theo Lu said. “I’ve always loved the community. Just being able to hang out with friends while creating a really good production for people to see, while learning visual, musical skills- and winning.”
Composed almost exclusively of percussion instruments, this season’s ensemble features 33 students, split across three sections: the front ensemble, battery and visual ensemble. The front ensemble consists of instruments like the marimba, xylophone and drum set, closest to the audience. Battery features the snare, bass and tenor drums and cymbals, creating the bulk of sound. The visual ensemble provides artistic movement to illustrate the storyline.
This season, for the first time in five years, indoor drumline will be going to the Winter Guard International Percussion World Championships in Dayton, Ohio in April.
“It’s basically like the highlight of every year,” drumline director Jason Hillegaart said. “If you don’t want to go and compete at the highest level, then why compete?”
To make up for the lack of melodic instruments, indoor drumline has more creative freedom through dance and props such as a food cannon and fashion machine.
“[The theme] fits really well into the show, and I think it really helps people understand the music and the meaning behind the show,” freshman bass drummer Jasmine Li said. “In marching band, percussion isn’t really the center of attention, but when it comes to indoor drumline, it’s like you’re the center of attention and music gets harder.”
This year’s theme, “In The Year 2000!”, tells an imaginative narrative of how the 2000s were perceived to be in the 1950s. Donning silly, futuristic costumes, members of indoor drumline present original music along with new inventions that do not seem to work.
“When you’re at the competition and you see other people smiling down at you, and you’re making these people so happy- that’s my drive to perform,” sophomore cymbalist Mia Echeverria said. “I love the people, I love the environment, I love being in this position.”
Practice begins after Thanksgiving and lasts almost until April. Musicians rehearse nine hours per week after school and on Saturday, working towards a total of eight competitions.
“It’s something you can’t really get anywhere outside of high school,” Lu said. “It’s a very unique experience which I will miss dearly when I graduate.”