How Drumline Took Over My Life

It was the summer leading up to my freshman year of high school and I decided to join the drumline. I was weary at first about joining the drumline because previously I watched the movie Drumline and thought my rehearsals would be similar to that of the movie. During high school I struggled to manage my time efficiently with schoolwork, family, friends and drumline. I realized managing my time efficiently would help me in high school and in the future. I accepted an offer to join the drumline, without knowing what I was in store for.
One evening in June of 2004, I received a phone call from a man named Matt Lusky. He introduced himself and asked me if I was interested in joining the Downingtown East High School drumline. I was not planning on playing the drums in high school but unenthusiastically I replied, “Yes.” Matt, excited to know I accepted his offer to join the drumline, went on to tell me that their first rehearsal was in two weeks in the school auditorium and I assured him I would be there. I walked in and headed straight for the auditorium where I saw a few students bringing in a variety of drums. Bass drums on the left in an ascending order by size, snare drums in the center, and tenors, a series of five drums of all different sizes attached together to create one hell of a backache, on the right. As I walked towards the auditorium stage a man, not much taller than I, looked up and greeted me. I introduced myself and he said his name was Matt Lusky, the man I previously talked to on the phone two weeks prior. Matt stated, “So what we are going to do today is try you out on all three drums and see which you like best.” I agreed with him and said, “Sounds good,” and asked if I could start out on the bass drum. He said that would be fine, I walked towards the bass drums and picked up the smallest one. One of the upperclassmen, Ben, handed me a piece of music that happened to be one of the exercises we would be playing. We played several warm-up exercises and before we knew it, practice was over. Matt told all of us to go practice the warm-ups and to begin memorizing them. I never had to memorize any type of music before, so this was a new challenge for me. Once school let out, practices began every Thursday night from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. This weekly rehearsal schedule continued throughout summer until the start of band camp.
Band camp is ten days of rehearsals, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., with the entire marching band and drumline. At these intense and long rehearsals, we practiced and marched or walked around on a fake football field to prepare ourselves for the upcoming football season. These practices consisted of sectionals, or practicing music with people that play the same instrument, marching on the field, learning your specific spots on the field, and a one hour lunch break. Band camp was the longest and hottest days imaginable, sunburns and suntans can be seen just after the first day. It was at band camp where the freshman received notice of the drum – bass, snare or tenors – we would be playing for the rest of the year. I received a spot on the bass line; I would be playing the smallest drum. Band camp was very fast paced; you had to be able to memorize the show music and your specific spots and movements on the field. I was not having any trouble at this point and time but I had a feeling that once school started, this would not be as easy. My first day of school began after the ten-day band camp and the band director announced the rehearsal schedule that would be in effect until mid-October. Practices would be Tuesday and Thursdays for two hours, Wednesdays for an hour and fifteen minutes and Friday nights two hours before kick-off. Tuesdays through Wednesdays were my least favorite days because I would not get home until just after 5:00 p.m. and on top of that I had a lot of homework to do. When I came home after practice I was always exhausted and just wanted to lie down. School was the farthest thing from my mind after coming home from practice. This continued all the way through mid-October and at this time, practices were cut down to two days a week with rehearsal still an hour or two before kick-off on Friday nights. Eventually practices were cut down to just the practices before kick-off on Friday nights. As football season was coming to an end, indoor drumline was beginning.
In November, Matt Lusky as well as the other upperclassmen in the drumline, started to talk about indoor drumline. Indoor drumline was a mini version of what we did as a marching band at the Friday night football games, however, it only consisted of percussion instruments and we performed in school gymnasiums. I heard from my friends in band and drumline that indoor drumline was like hell, if not worse. Practices were Mondays and Wednesdays 6:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. and on Saturdays 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. When I heard that for the first time I was turned away instantly because I could not imagine giving up my weekends. My dad and I went to the indoor drumline informational meeting one night and he said to give it a try and I agreed with him. Unlike football season, which lasted from September to November, indoor drumline lasted from November to April. After the first couple weeks of indoor drumline practice, I realized that it was a lot harder to keep up with schoolwork and family.
Indoor drumline was slowly taking over my life; I would come home from school around 3:00 p.m. and have to leave for rehearsal around 5:30 p.m. I was at drumline rehearsal for a longer period of time than I was at my own home. Hardly ever being at home, I did not have enough time to do homework on Mondays and Wednesdays. In order to avoid doing any kind of homework after drumline practice, I would rush through all of my homework to get it all done and over within the two and half hours I had at home. At least once a week, I would be doing schoolwork until midnight and by that time I realized I should probably go to bed because I had to wake up in about six hours for school. There were clearly not enough hours in the day, especially for me. The homework I completed and handed in was not my best work but rather my worst. I started to get more answers wrong and was beginning not to understand much of the information that was being taught in classes. To make it all worse, I was not nearly getting enough sleep as usual. My tests grades slowly began to slip from A’s and B’s to C’s and D’s and sometimes F’s. I could not tell my parents that my grades were slipping because they would make me quit indoor drumline and I did not want that to happen. I did not want to quit indoor drumline because if I left I would be screwing everyone over because everyone would have to learn new drill spots in the gym. Not only were my grades slipping, but indoor drumline was cutting into my social life. I hardly ever saw my family because I was either up in my room doing homework or at drumline rehearsals. The only time they saw me was when we dinner together. I also did not have time to hang out with my friends because I was so caught up in drumline and school that I did not want or have the time to go watch a movie or go out to eat with my friends. Even though I was not getting enough sleep and the rehearsals were long, hot, and with not enough water breaks, I enjoyed the indoor drumline.
A few months went by and it was nearly the end of February. The end of February meant that the indoor drumline competitions were to start. Starting from the last weekend in February to the first weekend in April, competitions took place at various high schools within the Greater Philadelphia area. At these competitions, indoor drumlines from other high schools competed against each other for first, second, and third place trophies. Indoor drumline competitions usually lasted most of the day and people were able to see what other school’s drumlines were playing. Rehearsing for an average of thirteen hours a week plus at home practicing really paid off for us because we were winning the second and third place trophies. The drumline season was becoming even more fun and exciting, but my grades were not improving. I was doing a little better in school but not as well as I had hoped. I had not shown my report card to my parents since the beginning of the year, and I was beginning to feel guilty, but I could not let them see it otherwise I would not be able to live to see another day.
Eventually indoor drumline season ended in April and that meant no more late nights and rehearsals. I was happy to have my life back, more time to do my homework and understand it at the same time and most of course, I got my weekends back! I was able to hang out with my friends and family without having to worry if I had drumline practice or homework to do. In high school, I had trouble being time efficient and in doing so I had no social life, hardly ever saw my family and my grades slipped. All in all, I enjoyed the year and I decided that if I wanted to continue to be in the drumline, I was going to manage my time more efficiently in the future so that I did not sacrifice my grades, family and friends for drumline or any other activity I become involved in.