For the first time since 2019, the Starr’s Mill Panther Pride marching band has its very own drumline. The percussion section is made up of 12 students, three of which are seniors. They are now working on marching alongside the band in their routine.
“We haven’t had the number of students participating to justify splitting up and having a drumline,” assistant band director Dr. Bert Groover said. “In years past, it was a more sound educational decision, in my opinion, to have all the mallets like we’ve been doing for the past few years.”
While the switch from marimbas to marching has been exciting for percussion, it has not been an easy change. The adjustment of learning new techniques and, in some ways relearning the skill entirely, has been challenging for everyone involved.
“The physicality of carrying a drum is a bit difficult. [I’m] splitting my brain in a way that I’ve never had to before, between my feet moving and my hands moving,” senior Emma Hutcherson said. “In the pit, you’re keeping the tempo. But, when you’re in the drumline, if you don’t move you’re gonna get run over; so there’s a whole different aspect to it that you have to put a whole new level of importance on.”
The increase in physical strength required for percussion has also led to more intense warm-ups. Instead of just playing the drums, the full drumline is carrying 40 pounds worth of them, while playing to the beat of the music and moving at the right time with correct footwork. The percussion section now stretches alongside the rest of the band before a marching routine instead of doing their own warm-ups.
“We didn’t really have to work a lot on our drum warmups because we would spend all of our time with the mallet warmups,” percussion section leader and senior Victoria Magaña Luévano said. “Learning the drum warmups, which are very much like what a difficult drumline would do, that’s been really exciting.”
Not only is the new drumline physically difficult, the mental challenge of the marching has also been a major adjustment. Adding marching steps in has required an altering of mindset for the students in percussion.
“It’s made me care a lot more about stretching and actually being prepared for a performance because, in [the] pit, you can warm up and sort of just be there,” Hutcherson said. “Out with the drumline, you have to really lock in to what you’re actually doing.”
It is so demanding that Groover has been preparing the percussion section for the drumline since March of the 2024-2025 school year. It is a visual component of marching added on to playing drums, and the organized mentality behind it has brought the band closer together.
“We move with the band and we’re connected with them,” Hutcherson said. “Even if our relationship with the people as friends may not have changed a whole lot, I just feel more connected with the band, because we’re all going through it together.”
The band has an upcoming competition on September 27, 2025. With the rate everyone is improving and learning new techniques, Groover is certain they will succeed.
“I think [the drumline] is absolutely gonna help with the competition because they’re playing very well already,” Groover said. “We have more time to work on things and get things cleaned up, so I think it’s only a positive thing.”
The Starr’s Mill Panther Pride Marching Band is prepared and excited to bring a drumline to the field this year. Groover encourages anyone interested in joining percussion or coming back to percussion to come and talk to him.
“If we have one again next year then we’ll know how to improve everything,” junior Liam Vandergrinten said. “We’ll know more of what we’re doing to do better next year.”