Majorly Leading the Band

Talking with Drum Majors Ved and Aubrey about their band experiences and what it means to be a Drum Major of a marching band.  Hear how they got started in band, how they chose their instruments, why they recommend band and how the drum major audtion process went for them.  This episode has a serious issue with sound as one of the microphone chords was not doing its job and we did not know it until listening back.  We apologize for the bad volume control.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Hi, and welcome back to our special episode of Fans of the Band. I am here in the Harp Room with Tanya, of course. So excited to be here to be back. It's been a long time. I know. And our special guests, the two of the drum majors from the Westlake High School marching band, we have Aubrey and Vade.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Mm-hmm. Hi, thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yes, we're so excited to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Tell us about what instrument you play and what is your leadership position in the band.

SPEAKER_04 0:52

Yeah, well, I play trombone. I didn't know that. That's exciting. It's the the slidey one, which is love it. And of course I'm a drum major, but I've also been, I was the uniforms officer for two years, which was crazy and so much fun. I had the honor of being the uniforms officer when we went to the Rose Parade.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Can you tell us what that what that means? Yeah, what do you do?

SPEAKER_04 1:16

So I'm in charge of all 300 plus uniforms that we have here at Westlake. That's all of the jackets, bibs, baldricks, hip capes, shoes, socks, gloves, everything.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

I had to pause. I'm sorry. You mentioned one word that I don't think. Yes, what is that?

SPEAKER_04 1:34

That is the little like shoulder cape thing we had last year during Nouveau, the blue like it fun shoulder thing. It was really fun. I got we like had all the uniform wraps, uh racks, and wrapped them up in a bunch of cellophane and put them on a big truck and shift them across the country. And yeah, I've had a lot of fun doing those positions, but drum major was what I was this year, which is obviously the best thing that I could have ever hoped for.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

So why is it the best thing?

SPEAKER_04 2:03

Because it was just like when you're a little freshman and you imagine what like your goal is. I was like, Yeah, I'm gonna be a drum major someday. And then I worked my butt off when I got here.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Well, congratulations. Thank you. Awesome. Okay, tell us about your instrument and then your leadership positions.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, for sure. So in concert band, I play the French horn, which we like to brag and call our ourselves like the hardest instrument, but I think we're just like the worst section at it. But in marching band, we play the mellowphone, which is like kind of like a fat trumpet almost. I have so much fun playing it. I haven't played it in what two years, but wait a minute, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

You haven't played it in two years? Yes. Oh, like because you haven't been marching. Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Uh-huh. And so, like Ari was saying, I'm a drum major. I think before that, sophomore year, I was a VP of membership, so I had to kind of make a way to take attendance for all Tilt, like to take 200 plus people, but we have a new system now.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

So tell us what Tilt is.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Yes, absolutely. So um at Wasick we have a kind of quirky name for section leaders, Tilt, the instructional leadership team. We like to call ourselves Tilt because it's uh feel we feel more special basically. And so sophomore year, I was the VP of membership, and so I basically was in charge of attendance. I told Tilt Tilt take attendance and all that. I felt very important my sophomore year. But then after that, my junior and senior year, I've been drum major both years. My junior year, I had the privilege of being the first junior drum major in like six years. It set me up well for senior year because I got to learn from the seniors that year. I was in the back during the show, and so I wasn't watched very much, which at the time I was a little bit um upset about upset about a little bit, but at the end of the day, I it was just an opportunity for me to learn and get better so that my senior year I could actually like um lead the band properly. It's kind of set a precedent. Like this year we had another junior, Jacob, become a drum major, and he kind of learned from us, and now he is I'm sure he is ready to be head drum major next year. I've had a lot of fun being drum major. Our team of four people um were all really close, and it's just been such a good experience to be a drum major.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

So why has it been a good experience? That's what I want to know.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Like Arby was saying, when you start out as freshmen, you look up to these people, these drum majors. They are sort of the people at the very top. Every single day you look at them on the podium and you see how much they lead, and not only are they leading on the field, but they're leading like outside outside of band as well. Like you see them as these role models. And so, my entire time, my sister was in band, right? And so some of our best friends were the drum majors that year. So I got to see them not just in band, but when they came over to my house and I talked to them and they told me how much they love the position, how much they love being able to talk to the freshmen, and talk to me included. That was a role that I really wanted to experience and really wanted to get to. And so, like Aubrey said, I worked really hard, my freshman sophomore, and then I got it my junior year, which was really exciting.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Okay. Tilt that's like all the different leadership positions.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

That's just section leaders.

SPEAKER_02 5:08

So when you have like the trombone section leaders who are in charge of just the trombones, I want you to cast your memory back to instrument selection day. So it's been a while since that happened. Can you tell us why you chose your instrument? And at the time, were you scared or concerned about committing to one?

SPEAKER_00 5:31

I vividly remember this day. My sister is three years older than me. So um she played flute and band, and she would always talk about how much she loved band, how much she loved being able to spend all that time with her friends. And so, of course, from day one, I knew I was gonna be in band. I had like no doubt in my mind. My mom played violin, and so she was like, Are you sure you don't want to join like orchestra? Like, it would be so fun. I was like, No, like no way. I walked into the band hall. This was I think my first time coming to Westlake actually, and so we had instrument selection day in um the main band hall, and I walked in and I had absolutely no clue what instrument I wanted to play. I knew I didn't want to play flute because I was not gonna like copy my sister, but I didn't really understand what the instruments were, so I was like, okay, I'll try everything out, why not, you know? And so I walked to the one room that was empty, it was the French horn room, and Miss Signs, who was a band director at the time, she left like the year after, but she plays French horn, and she was sitting there and she was waiting for like anyone to walk up. So I walked up and she gave me the mouthpiece, and I was so confused because I was like, What is this? Like, is this an instrument? Like, what am I supposed to do with this? Um, and she was like, No, you're supposed to like buzz into it. And of course, I had no clue what that meant. So she walked me through it, and it actually I like could make a sound, and she gave me the instrument, and it was like this huge. I was of course like three feet tall because I was in fifth grade, but it was huge, and I I had so much fun, and I made a sound, and she gave me so many compliments because she was like, I haven't heard anyone be able to make a sound yet, and so she gave me a five plus. It was like a rating out of five, and so the fact that she gave me a five plus was like astounding to me. I was like, Oh, I like I love this. But then I went to the clarinet section, and he also gave me a five plus, and then I went to the trombone section, he gave me a five plus, but I didn't love it so much because the mouthpiece on a trombone is huge and it covered my entire mouth, and I was like, No, I feel like I'm suffocating, I can't do this. And so at the end, I had like no clue what to pick. I kind of striked out trombone, but um I almost went to percussion, but percussion had like a line out the door, so I just like gave up. So I went to the sign-out um table and Mr. Taylor was there, and he was like, Do you know what you're gonna pick? I said no. He was like, I want you to envision yourself in your room and envision yourself practicing an instrument. Like, what instrument do you see yourself playing? And so I thought about it for a second, and I was like, Well, French horn is like the obvious choice. I mean, like, I I just like fell in love with it, even though it's like huge and it's like really heavy at the time. I was like, Yeah, of course, like I have to pick it. And so I was actually the first one to make a choice that day. So they had like this poster, and I wrote my name like huge on the front of the poster. I felt very proud that was the first one. I wasn't necessarily scared because I knew how much fun it was gonna be, but um I guess I wasn't sure exactly how French horn would pan out, but I know I was excited, especially because um she had bragged to me, Miss Signs, about how we play all these amazing like movie soundtracks like Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and all that. Uh-huh. And so I was just like excited. I was like, oh yeah, I'm gonna play like all these movie soundtracks.

SPEAKER_04 8:43

I want you guys to know that all those five pluses he got gave him such an ego that he still talks about the fact that he got a five plus on French Warren to this day.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

There's a whole world of like kind of other things that the band directors are thinking about in addition to you know, does it fit all your features? And can you make a sound and do you like it? There's all sorts of other things too that they kind of consider and then kind of help you find your place.

SPEAKER_04 9:09

Yeah, one of our friends got put on bassoon solely because he has big hands.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Oh, and they said, You can reach the keys, you're playing bassoon, and they just that's where he's been. Now I have to look at mine because they wanted me to play the bassoon, but I wanted to play the saxophone, and so my mom was like mama bear, and like, no, my daughter is not going to play the basoon, she's gonna play the saxophone, and so I ended up playing the saxophone. So you got lots of fives as well?

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Well, actually, I wasn't going to choose bands. Oh my gosh. I was dead set on playing volleyball, and I was like, I'm I'm an athlete, I'm not a band person. I that's like so weird. Like, why would I ever do that? And so they forced us into one of them, and so you know, I was like, okay, I'll do band. But I was out of town when we did the like selection here at Westlake. So they have me come in like a couple of days before the start of sixth grade, and my little Westridge band director, Miss Tate, she was like, Okay, she pulled me into her office and she was like, What instrument do you want to try? And back when they did instrument instrument tryouts, the guy that I had a huge crush on at the time ended up picking trombone. And so I was like, I'm gonna play trombone so I can spend time with him. And so I ended up I walked in there and I said, I'm gonna play trombone, and we tried it, and she was like, Ugh, I don't know. Like, are you sure? You know, I'm I think you might be better suited for something else. And she really tried to get me to pick clarinet, but I was so dead set on spending time with this really not even that cute boy that I had a crazy crush on. And so I picked trombone and and that was it. And I was one of like two girls that played trombone. But hey, I ended up dating him, so I got things done. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Like a middle school relationship.

SPEAKER_04 11:11

Yeah, well, it was a big deal to me. That was like my whole life. I hated trombone too. I really did not like the instrument, it was heavy and big, and I couldn't reach all the way out to the last position. And I I really didn't like it. But our band director, Mr. Leprae, he had just started, it was his very first year being a band director, and I was in first period low brass class, and so it was his very first day, his very first period, and he gave us this like emotional speech about how like honored he was to be here with us, and that we were like his first ever students. And so, like, from that moment I was like, I need to make this guy proud of me. Yeah, and so then I then I ended up liking trombone just because I wanted to be good enough to get his approval about it. Noir year, they told us that we were gonna have a really cool trombone feature, and so they put all of us on trombone for marching. Cause normally most schools and what Westlake used to do is all the incoming freshmen march baritone, which is like the smaller tuba.

SPEAKER_03 12:19

Right.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

And they were like, We're gonna have a jazz like trombone feature this year, and so they put all the freshmen on trombone, and then we were so bad that they didn't give us a feature no and so we were just stuck playing like boring trombone parts with no feature.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

We're sorry about that, but we're excited you played the trombone. Okay. So you mentioned that you had played volleyball, but then you did um go ahead and choose band. Can you tell me why you chose band over other performing arts, like over choir or or orchestra?

SPEAKER_04 12:53

Yeah, it's actually it was a matter of process of elimination for me because when I was younger, I played piano for a long time. I played piano for about four years, starting in second grade. And I loved piano, but I moved schools around a lot when I was younger. I went to like a different school from second grade and different school for third grade, different school for fourth grade, and a different school for fifth grade. So I was bouncing around a lot. And every school I went to I did a different thing. So in second grade I played piano, third grade I also played piano, but then fourth grade I decided I wanted to play violin. Because I went to this cute little like preppy private school right outside of Tyler in East Texas. And all the smart people played violin, and so I was like, maybe if I play violin, I'll be smart too. And so I played violin and I hated it because it's so squeaky and loud right up next to your ear, and you never sound good, and like it's just so loud and annoying, and I hate violin. And I played it for like three years. I played it even here at Westlake at the little Armstrong music place right across the street. They gave me the option in sixth grade. I was like, okay. Oh, I also I did choir in fourth grade too. I was in the sound of music. I did musical. I was the little youngest girl. Um, but I was like, I've already done orchestra, I don't like violin, I've already done choir, I'm not that good at singing, so I guess I'll try band if I have to. Yeah. And then I loved it, so I'm still here eight seven years later.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Right? Awesome. And so did you choose band because your sister had been in band?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Is that what kind of was the determining factor or yeah, I think um I think that was definitely the biggest factor. I think she might have been a little bit biased, but she was like spending hours telling us stories about how they'd gone to like SeaWorld with her friends and like how they went to Six Flags and how much fun she'd had. And I wasn't thinking about the playing part, honestly. I was more thinking about the fact that I would have so much time with my friends and we'd go on like trips and stuff like that. Uh-huh. And so when I went in there, I was thinking about um I wasn't thinking about like sitting down spending hours rehearsing. Um, but honestly, both both of it is fun. Although I will say going on trips is probably more fun than rehearsing for just like sitting in the same place for hours. I definitely do think in sixth grade, of course, French horn when you start out is very difficult. Um to even like play the correct notes, it can take you like five tries, right? And so for the first year and a half, maybe I was listening to the orchestra and they were sounding good. And I was like, maybe I should have gone with orchestra because like they they like Are you sure they were sounding good? Okay, they sounded better, they sounded better than French horns.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Usually beginning horns sounded have a lot of work.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

Anything is better than beginning French horns. No, actually.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Um, in sixth grade, we would have each section play individually, because we'd never done a full band concert, right? And so we finally had a full band concert at the end of sixth grade, and afterwards I had kids from other instruments coming up to us and like telling us we sounded like ducks or like dying chickens. They really did and I was oh no, I was distraught because I was like, maybe I should have picked something, maybe I should have gone with like violin, like my mom said, right? Like maybe I wouldn't sound like a dying duck, although sometimes violins do sound like dying animals, but I decided to stick with it. And then we had COVID, and I was like, Well now I have to stick with it. Like, what else am I gonna do with my time, right? We had Zoom band, and which felt like a waste of time because we would just sit on Zoom, everyone would be muted, so we would just like play our own instrument, and I would just like sit, play skills, or do whatever, and just like not even listening to the teacher. But I stuck with it, and in eighth grade we started playing like actual music, because we'd never played with a band like actual band music before.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Good, good. Um, okay. So now if you'd think back not that far, but still a little far. Tell us about your first day as a freshman in summer bandcamp and learning to march. What was that like?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Hmm. That I honestly don't fully I remember the experience of freshman bandcamp. So back then we had this um freshman bandcamp at the end of May or beginning of June about. Now we don't have that anymore. But we had a full week of just learning the fundamentals and learning how to play. Only the tilt, so the section leaders and the band officers came to that. So my sister was um the flute section leader that year, so she was like showing us like the ropes, and so she was teaching us, she was driving us to school, and I remember being a little bit in intimidated by the band director. Actually, um, Mr. Leprae, who had taught her in sixth grade, had moved up to the high school. He was teaching us, and he was in DCI, so he was like professional, and he expected us to like learn super fast, and so he would like be yelling at us to like move faster, run back and forth, and so by the end of like each day at the end, my feet would be hurting, I would like be exhausted, I'd just fall asleep on the drive home. But I knew then that I would love marching simply because each day I felt tired, but it was like a good kind of tired, right? I would be like, Oh yeah, I got work done, I gotta spend time with my friends, I feel good about this, and so that really solidified for me that like marching band was something that I really wanted to do. And of course, we had fun, we got quote unquote hazed because at the end um they brought out like two coolers of water balloons, uh-huh, and so they would just attack all the freshmen with water balloons, and that was like a tradition of the end of camp.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

I don't think you were really being hazed. I think everyone I I think they just wanted to make sure you weren't overheated.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Oh no, you're right. Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

And they just wanted to cool you down, it's very nice.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

I mean, the next year I also partook in that tradition. It was a very loving tradition, making sure that you were ready for band camp. Yeah, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Well, he also spent half of freshman camp walking around campaigning because Vade wanted to be the freshman representative.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

And so he walked around to every little freshman at freshman camp and was like, Are you gonna vote for me? Will you please vote for me? And then somehow it worked and he ended up winning freshman representative. But I just my first impression of Vade for the whole first week, because we didn't know each other in middle school, was who is this kid walking around and telling me to vote for him? Like the audacity.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

Did you vote for him?

SPEAKER_04 19:50

No, I didn't.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Betrayal, right? I voted for Bruce Parker. Who was also a drug major. So we all ended up in the same place anyway. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

So tell us about what else about your your first first day.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Well, I actually have a very vivid memory of my first day because um when when I first started freshman camp like four years ago, Mr. Le Prairie ran all of Marching Band. And Mr. Taylor was kind of more of like an auxiliary teacher. He would kind of walk around and give individual comments. And so our first day out on the field, we were standing there practicing, like learning the very basics of marching band. And Mr. Taylor was walking around with a clipboard. And I don't know if he even remembers this interaction, but it really stuck with me. He was walking around, and you know, I'm standing there doing my thing, and he comes up behind me, and he was meaning to to like not distract anyone else, but he kind of like whispers in my ear from behind me, and he goes, You're doing a really good job, writes something down on his clipboard and walks away. And I was like, Oh my goodness, what on earth did I get myself into? Like, what is this? And so, of course, like as we're like going back inside for the day for our lunch break, I'm telling my section leader about this. His name is Graham Simpler, and I'm telling him about this, and he pulls me aside and he goes, Aubrey, I want you to know that sometimes the directors can be a little bit weird. Mr. Taylor is not a weird guy. He's kind of like a scary teddy bear. And he like had this conversation with me about how like they may seem a little weird sometimes, but I just have to like trust the process. And I'm I don't know, how old are you when you're a freshman? Like twelve or three? 13, yeah, 14. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, I should have picked a choir. Like, why am I here? But I like the more I thought about it, the more I was like, maybe I am doing a good job, and like I started to get more like confident in myself, and then I was like, I became really competitive because I was like, Oh, if Mr. Taylor thinks I can do a good job, and then I was like, I have to be the best on the field.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

And as you continue, like as you're in band, well, before he left, you would know that like he rarely tells people that they're doing a good job. So when he tells you, like when he comes up to you, anytime he says you're doing a good job, you'll like get so excited. And so I guess as freshmen you don't really understand. Yeah, exactly. As freshmen, you don't really understand, but like anyone else, if they've been told they've been doing a good job by Mr. Taylor, I mean, yeah, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

It's actually funny you say that because I play um I play in the Waterloo wind band, um, and he is the conductor of that band. And I had played in it a long time ago when he wasn't the conductor, and I just started back, I guess, last year. Um, but the girl who sits next to me, shout out Nicole. Um, she also went to Westlake, and so she knew Mr. Taylor as her band director then. And um I guess a few weeks in or something I played part of a solo and he did say good job to me, and she was like, Tanya, that's pretty good. He doesn't say that very often. I was like, Are you sure? Are you sure that was good? I don't know. I think he was just trying to be encouraging, really. But but it's interesting because she said the exact same thing to me. That's what she remembers.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

His praise is is frugal with his praise, and so it means a lot when it comes.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

I mean, I guess that's why he's such a respected band record, and he demands excellence, and I mean that's what he gets.

SPEAKER_04 23:58

He's also just been doing it for so long that he's not impressed by basic things.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

All right, um okay, so I'm still casting your memory back, but what do you remember about your first performance on a Friday night? Andor for contest, and how were those things different?

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Football games freshman year felt so different because they kind of just felt like practice but just in front of people. They didn't really like have that much standing to me when I was a freshman. Then when we got to our first competition, that's when it was like, oh my goodness, this is like a real thing that we're actually doing and we're actually competing. And I think that just the feeling of performing something and putting something out there that you've spent so much time on is so rewarding. And freshman year our show was called Noir, and it was it was a very cute show. I really liked it, it was really built around this phenomenal clarinet player we had, but it certainly didn't win like everything, it was not like a super super high achieving show, but we still like especially one of our competitions, we drove up to North Texas and we won second, and we like got handed out medals, and I was like, wow, this is like a real thing that we're doing, and real people are saying this, and real people like what we're putting out, and it was such a rewarding feeling, and that's been kind of the motivator I've had throughout all of Marching Band, is just the feeling of like finishing your show and you're standing there and looking up at the judges and you feel like a sense of relief because nothing went terribly wrong and you you made it through the show, but also as much as people like to say that it's really not about the scores you get, and it is important not to base all of your sense of worth on that, it's really nice to see a good score come out of it and see a score that you were really hoping for, and just that sense of like achievement that we did score well and people are receptive to what we do is just by far the best feeling that I have ever had from like a performing arts thing like this.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

What about you? Do you remember your first football game and first contest?

SPEAKER_00 26:36

I think after four years, um it's kind of all blended together. But there have been certain football games that I do remember. Noir, I think it was like October 14th or something. So in movement four of Noir, we have this part in the show where the band plays like quarter notes separated by quarter rests, and this time the percussion came in early, I think, or low brass came in early, and so half the band played on the upbeat, half the band played on the downbeat. So we the whole band was torn by a full beat, and it was the most chaotic thing I'd ever been a part of. Like people were stopping in the middle of the field, like we didn't know what to do. And there's a video of it actually on YouTube, um, and sometimes we go back and watch it and we laugh, but in the moment it was heartstopping. But I think the thing about football games is that it is a practice field. I mean, even though there are like more people than at a contest sometimes, they don't really they're just there to enjoy the performance, right? They're not here to judge you or to like make comments or anything. So we took this as like a there we got it out of our system. Now we can like perform at the contest and like actually like put our best out. I think that was a really formative moment for us for the band in general, like knowing that we can make a mistake, but then we can also like we know we're better than that. And for me as a freshman, it was a good experience because I learned how we bounced back from that. Like the directors afterwards gave us this huge speech, they weren't even mad at us, they were more like this is a good experience to learn about this moment, and I think that was a very good um lesson that we took from that. And so at the next contest, I don't know if that was right before the North Texas thing or not, I think it was close to it, but then we went and we got second place, which was probably one of the highest placements we've ever received, and so um it was like an excellent feeling, just like knowing that we made a mistake, but now we come back and we come back stronger than before. But they are definitely different. I mean, I think for me the most important part of a contest is the audience who comes out specifically to watch us, and like after every hit, hearing them applaud for us, it's like that feeling of being like, Yes, we did it, we wowed them, and I think that's definitely like one of my favorite feelings of being in marching band for sure.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

So, why have you stayed in band?

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Basically, just exactly what I was talking about that feeling of um showing off of bragging of what we are able to perform. That's the performing part, but then equally important, I think, is a part of like this culture of a family that we are able to create in band. I think that's like a really, really important part. And that's something that you don't see a lot in a lot of different activities. I think football also has this kind of culture of like family because of how much time they spend together. I think that's something really special that even though our worlds are so different, I mean you'd never compare like football jocks and band kids, right? But we share a very similar culture in the sense that we're all so close because of the hundreds of hours that we've spent together. So I think that's something that I really value and cherish.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

Okay. What about you? Funnily enough, I actually quit band for a year. Really? COVID hit at the end of sixth grade, seventh grade rolled around, and I was staying at my dad's house, and m I was I for most of like sixth grade, I was staying in my mom's house, and she has a nice big house for practicing, and my dad lived in a smaller space, and I was like, I for one, don't want to play trombone in a like small little house. And for two, I was like, I wasn't really intending on staying in band from the beginning. My goal was of course to play volleyball, and I was like, I did my year of band, I'm done now. So this was of course during middle school, this was before, you know, all of marching band and everything that brings with it. And yeah, for all of seventh grade, I did athletics, I played volleyball and basketball, and I had so much fun. But the friend group I was in, I was definitely trying to be friends with them as opposed to just having friends, and it was a lot more like stressful of an environment, and it was just not my people, and I was really trying to make it work, and it just wasn't working. And so one of my really good friends, again, Brooks Parker, he came up to me at the end of seventh grade and he was like, Rejoin band, it's not too late, come back, you'll have so much fun. And I was like, Okay, and so eighth grade I came back. I they I was lucky enough that um Miss Tate put me in wind ensemble, and um I had so much fun and I met so many amazing people, and then when I joined in freshman year, I fell in love with it all over again, and then it was just the the community, and it wasn't it didn't feel like I was trying to have friends. It felt like I was just could be myself and do whatever I wanted and my friends wouldn't judge me or not talk to me for a whole day because of one thing I said, you know, they were real normal people and I just I loved the community has always been the biggest thing for me, the friends that just come with it. When I was with that more like this is no shame at all to people that play volleyball or basketball, but when I was in those friend groups, it was so much work to be friends with these people, and they're all such nice people, but it just it wasn't perfectly who I was, and so I was like forcing myself into this group and it wasn't working, and then as soon as I joined back into band, and I was surrounded by all these people who did not care, and they were like, Yeah, we're weird, we say whatever we want, like so what? And then if you do say something stupid or something cringy or weird, they don't even think anything of it because they're all weird all the time, so it's great, it's so much less stressful and so much easier.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

So you're both drum majors, and so I'd like to talk about that a little bit. First, tell us what are the responsibilities of a drum major.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

It is a lot different than what it seems like. I feel like when I first joined band, my kind of perspective of what a drum major was was just the person that conducted the show, and they stood up on these cool little podiums and they waved their arms around for eight minutes. But the more I kind of learned about the role and the harder I worked towards like getting this role. It's basically an IT job. It's getting there an hour early to rehearsal and setting up these speakers and learning how to fix cable issues and setting up microphones and figuring out these new Bluetooth microphones and like making sure the metronome works and doing all these fun, like little problem-solving technology things at the beginning. And then after that, then you now have to set up all the podiums, and those podiums are heavy when we have to wheel them out every single day, and then you're in charge of leading the band and setting a good example and always having a good attitude and really the fake it till you make it, and it's really like you get there early and you do one job, and then that's job finished, and now you have a whole other job, and now that job is finished, and now you're in charge of like Vid has to like time water breaks, and you know, if we're feeling like tilt is or like any of the leadership are starting to have low energy, we call them over and we're like, hey, we need to pick up the energy, we need to be more motivated, and so then we're doing that, and it's all these different things, but it's so much fun, and there's so much happening, so you're never bored and you always have like a new problem to solve, which is my favorite part.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

I think the most important thing is how much you grow from it, learning how to deal with multiple problems at once, learning how to talk to people, both by inspiring them, but also being able to talk to people and tell them that you need them to put more energy in or put more um of their effort in. I think it's an important skill that we were uh kind of forced, not forced, but we kind of learned how to talk to people about that. I think that's something that when you enter the job, you don't really realize that there's so many responsibilities, but as you grow into them, you re you realize how much um how important they are and they make you feel valued. We do sections of the week every week, and Mr. Turpin one week chose us as the section of the week, and he gave a speech to the band about how important we were. We all were so happy at that football game, but I think for the most part, we work behind the shadows, and being recognized for all the work that we do was a really um awesome experience. And even though we do work behind the shadows, I think that we are appreciated a lot, and that appreciation, that respect that we get from the job is definitely something that I value a lot.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

So tell me about the selection process. What was that like to become a drug major?

SPEAKER_00 36:02

It's kind of changed every year. This past year we kind of we went through the selection process of tilt first, and then after that, we had to conduct the first part of the show. Then we also had to do a tempo maintenance and also a time signature.

SPEAKER_02 36:19

Tempo maintenance, what is it?

SPEAKER_00 36:20

Yes, so throughout the show, we don't have a metronome, and so we just have to conduct based off a tempo in our head, and so if we slow down too much, the entire band could tear, or if we speed up too much, the entire band could tear. And so our job, the most important part of our job, is making sure that the band stays a pretty consistent tempo the entire time. And so a big part of the addition is making sure that we are able to start one tempo and end the same tempo. I think that part is the most nerve-wracking because you have no nothing to go off of. They play the metronome for eight beats and then you conduct for eight measures, and then they bring the metronome back on and you're completely off, and you're like, what is happening? That's definitely the part that you have to practice the most as a drum major. Overall, the process isn't as nerve-wracking as you psych yourself out for it to be, because you're just surrounded by people you've been with for the past three years.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

Did you have anything you wanted to add?

SPEAKER_04 37:15

Yeah, I was, I guess, unlucky enough, but also lucky enough to go through the process twice with two different outcomes. The first time I auditioned, the I guess the end of my sophomore year going into my junior year, I didn't get selected, but it was a really amazing process to go through because I I practiced so much for that audition. I worked super duper hard, and honestly, the thing that was the most lacking for me that year was just like my teaching ability because I hadn't had the opportunity to be a section leader yet. But it was so amazing to go through that process. And you know, to anyone out there listening that wants to be a drum major, I would so so recommend auditioning your sophomore year because just doing all the work and going through the motions and then getting to sit down with the directors afterwards and be like, what didn't you like? What did I do poorly? Like, what should I improve on? And getting that experience to be able to build on that for the next year was so so helpful. And I also I reached out to the head drum major for my freshman year, who I would consider like one of the best drum majors we've had um in my time here at Westlake, and I sent her a video of myself conducting, and I was like, Do you have any tips for me? Do you have any like comments or corrections you'd make? And I spent lots of time practicing with other drum majors to get it exactly where I wanted it to be, and then it really paid off, and I think that my ability to conduct, not having to learn after I'm already in the position, allowed me to learn all the other stuff we had to do, and that was just something that I didn't have to worry about. So yeah, it was it was awesome.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

So you're leading the band, you're problem solving, you're the IT people, you're doing all these things. Um, and so honestly, you're not playing your instrument. Did you ever feel cheated um about the playing time you missed out on on the fall? Or when there were those like incredible big hits that really, you know, caused the audience to have so much emotion and excitement, but you're not part of the big hit in that way. I mean, obviously you're conducting, but you're not playing. Did y'all like miss that? Did you feel cheated out on that? Or what'd you think?

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Don't tell my band directors I said this, but I would conduct a million times over playing in a marching show ever again. Something that I felt a lot marching on the field for my first three years was I was like, man, I wish that I could sit up in the audience and hear what our show sounds like. Because that's an experience that you never ever get. You never get to hear the show. You're always playing it, and yeah, you you miss out on actually you can listen to recordings of it, but it's so much different when you're sitting there and actually like hearing the sound hit you. And so that was something I was really, really lucky to be able to stand on the side where all the brass was during our big hit during the corral, and just the moment they turn around and start playing, and you're just hit with that wave of sound, and your ears are ringing, and it's so loud and crazy. And sometimes some people there's there'll be that one first trumpet that sounds really out of tune, but they it's so amazing to hear the show, and that was honestly one of my favorite parts about being a drum major.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Okay, before you answer, I do have to ask this what about all the choreography and the special move? Did you ever miss doing that? Actually, a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 40:51

I really liked choreography, that was fun, but it's also I did it for three years.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

I think that's kind of where we differ. Like my junior year, I didn't miss marching all that much, but this past year, especially with this show, oh my goodness, every single day I was like, Oh, I wish I was playing the melophone because we have the best parts of the entire band. I mean, we have all of the rips and like all of the amazing highlights when we have that like long sustaining chord. We have the mellow hold in um part three this year, where like the entire band drops out except for the melophones, and those parts are just like incredible, there's like no other way to describe them, they're goosebum-inducing, right? And so I would just like miss playing so badly, but then also at the same time being on the podium, being able to hear like how much better we've gotten over the season is like an equally amazing experience. And so I don't know which I would choose just based on the field itself. But the other parts of being a drum major, the responsibility being able to really guide the band and be a role model for all the other band members is something that I valued a lot and something that I would choose over and over again. So despite missing that playing time and like missing being on the field, I would still choose being a drum major simply because of the difference that I get to make every day.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

Okay. And just for fun, did you learn the melophone part this year?

SPEAKER_00 42:19

I actually I learned part of it. I know it was the ballad, of course. The ballad, oh my goodness, I loved the ballad. Yes, I did. Even last year, I actually learned some of the stand tunes during band camp. We weren't doing anything, so I like rented out a mellophone for Mr. Pearson. I was like, Can I please go play in the sectionals? I went and I played like peptunes with my section. The mellowphone section is kind of unique in the sense that we have this we have the mellow sleepover, which is something that no other section does, but we all like spend the night at a senior's house and we like go to the middle schools and play like kickball and we go to the pool and stuff, and our section is like really close, and so just being able to spend time with my section was something that I really cherished.

SPEAKER_04 43:01

And every other section makes fun of them for it.

SPEAKER_00 43:03

But I mean, we are like the closest section, so I wouldn't trade anything for it.

SPEAKER_04 43:08

My freshman year, I I went up to my section leader and I was like, Why don't we have a sleepover? Like, I want to hang out. And he was like, 'Cause we're not weird like the melophones are. Like, I don't want to I don't want to have a sleepover with you guys. Like, are you kidding me? And then I was like, Oh, okay. So we're the cool ones here.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Alright. So, what has been your favorite thing about being a drum major?

SPEAKER_00 43:33

That's a difficult question. I mean, there's so many different facets of being a drum major. I definitely think being able to go in every day and like make a difference, being able to hear how people are doing, how they're improving, it's definitely definitely something that will stick with me for a long time.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

And there's a lot of really amazing like human connections moments you get. Like people come to you and Times of need, because that's another part of our job is to be there to help and support people and kind of always be prepared for anything that can happen. Like when people are sick, like being the first person to run over and be like, What do you need? What can I do for you? Like, we have crackers, we have liquid IV, like you just tell me what you need and I can get it for you. People would come to me because they're just like, I'm so stressed out and overwhelmed, and I don't know what to do. And I would just sit there with them and kind of like talk them through it. There's just all these really amazing, like, personal moments that you get to have with people as you help them through what is the most stressful time of our whole year. Marching season is so intense and so crazy, and just getting to be there for people and have those really amazing personal moments is so special. And I also loved our team. We had an amazing team. It was some of my best friends in the whole world, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to do this with. So getting to make those memories with my favorite people has been so fun.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

I think we should go back to the state marching contest. So you talked about a tear earlier, Vaden. How twin the band is not exactly together on the field. And I was at the performance and the band started with a tear. Yes. And as the drum major, what is going through your head?

SPEAKER_04 45:32

I remember that moment so vividly. Cause we all kind of went into state with the mindset of like, this is our chance. State is just six A bands, and so we're not competing against any of the 5A bands like we would be at BAW San Antonio. So there's a a couple fewer bands that we're competing against, and so we were all like, okay, if we're gonna get to finals, like this is our chance, we can do this. And then we s we start playing, and in the very first movement, we have a terrible tear. Like my training and what I'm supposed to go through is look at Vade, because he's the head drum major, and just go with exactly what I see with Vade, and the percussion is supposed to go with him. Everyone is supposed to go with Vade and what they see because he's the head drum major, which did happen eventually, but not right away. So it was just kind of this like gut moment of oh my goodness, we're not gonna make finals. And that was my first instinct, and I was so sad, and I remember I started crying on the podium because I was just like, I cannot believe that this happened. I was so upset. But then I was actually really proud of us because we recovered pretty fast, and the rest of our show was a really amazing performance for us, and so I ended up walking out with this kind of idea of well, we recovered really well, and I'm really proud of us, and I'm happy that we didn't let that ruin everything. But yeah, when I was standing in the there on the podium and I first heard it, I started crying, and I was like, Oh, our our chance is gone. But we made the most of it and it ended up being a really good performance.

SPEAKER_00 47:15

I think um that was another one of those heart-stopping moments. I don't really remember what went through my mind at the exact moment, but I just plastered a smile on my face the entire time because we've always been drilled like fake it till you make it. And I was like, Well, if I start like making faces or doing something different, then the entire band's just gonna collapse. And so I was like, No, I have to like stick with it, stuck a smile on my face and just like stayed that way the entire time. And we recovered really well. And afterwards, actually, at the state contest, we have um an interviewer come up and talk to us, and so all of us after this performance are like emotions were high, we were just like shaking, and then we had to like stand in front of a camera and like speak for like five minutes. Something that Turpin brought up a lot was that this band, the culture that we created this past year, has allowed us to become a band that can move past mistakes. I think last year in Nouveau, we were really shaky, our foundation was shaky because we had a whole new director team and it was really just the band was trying to change its culture. What we had thought was that if we had had the same tier last year, we would not have recovered the same. But the fact that we had put in so much effort and not just in the show but in our culture allowed us to really come back for the rest of the performance and put it out of our minds and really show the audience that we are capable of showing our best selves despite making a big mistake like that. And I think that's something that the entire band was really proud of. And that following Friday, this was on a Monday, that following Friday, we came back for San Antonio and we had the absolute best performance we've ever had. And so ending on that high note was a really amazing feeling, and even though there were more bands at San Antonio, we were second out from finals, and so that feeling of knowing that the effort that we put in and that we put our best foot forward despite not playing our best that Monday allowed the season to really have or to really end on a positive note.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Do either of you plan to march in college or do DCI?

SPEAKER_00 49:22

It honestly depends on where I go to college. Um, right now I'm looking at a lot of East Coast schools, and they don't really do football and marching band, they do more basketball. And so there are some schools that have basketball like pet bands, and so I would love to be a part of a pet band, of course. Like that that feeling of like being part of the school spirit is something that I absolutely adore. A lot of my friends, seniors last year went to UT and they have been telling me about how amazing the UT band is. And I've gone and seen it like um for football games where they like march past us into the stadium. I think that being a part of that band would be a fantastic experience because I've heard it's less stressful but more fun. Yes, and so that just sounds like an amazing experience. And so I absolutely want to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

I do really. That's also where I met my husband. So lots of folks meet their significant other there.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

Yeah. And when we played the national anthem, the basketball band let us play the game with them. They did, it was pretty funny. It was basketball band. Did you still play triangles? I played the a lot of progression. I played the cowbell and the cavasa. Oh nice. Yeah, I tried it all out. That's so fun.

SPEAKER_04 50:34

But there was like a short period of time in during marching season where I was like, I really want to do DCI, I love this. But I was like, I want to conduct. I don't want to march an instrument in DCI, I just want to go up and be a drum major. But there weren't a lot of opportunities to go like straight into being a drum major. That's kind of a really hard thing. And then I had an opportunity, and one of our music writer, Mr. Suladen, he works for the Mandarins, and he came up to the four of us and he was like, if you guys are interested, like we need a whole new set of drum majors, and like I would love to have any of you. And I was like, you know what? Yeah. And so I was like, I started working on my audition material, and I was like, this is so exciting, like I think I'm gonna do this. I was kind of like having to make a decision because I go to Camp Longhorn, which is a summer camp, and I'm a counselor and I love it. This is gonna be my tenth tenth or eleventh year there. Like, I have been going for my whole life, but I was like, this is such an amazing experience, and I'd love to just do like one last thing in marching band. And then the Mandarins decided that they were gonna take a year-long hiatus. And so I was like, okay, well, it makes my decision for me.

SPEAKER_02 51:52

Alright, so you're ending your senior year, you've had an amazing time in band, it's brought you all sorts of memories and opportunities and ways to learn and grow. And so thinking about all of that, what advice would you give to a freshman coming in?

SPEAKER_04 52:08

I would just say make the most of it. There are so many times where you have the opportunity to either put in a bunch of effort and really try, or just be a surface-level band member. And I promise you that you will have such a more fulfilling time and have so much more fun if you work harder and really lean into it and go the full mile on being in band. It's awkward at first. I have a ton of friends who aren't in band, and for the first like two or three, even to the beginning of this year of my time in high school, I was always so embarrassed to be like, oh yeah, I'm in band, but like I promise I'm not weird, like I'm I'm I'm a normal person. And so it was I was always so embarrassed to like tell my like non-band friends about it. But eventually I realized that they didn't care and they thought it was cool that I was doing something and that I had like leadership positions and this thing I really cared about. And so now I've like I've always leaned into it on the band side and I've you know been in an officer role for forever and all my friends are in band. But even like more recently I've been more like accepting to myself about telling other people and being confident about telling other people that I'm in band because it is such an important thing to me and it's such a big part of my life, and just feeling more like free to talk about it to my non-band friends has been something really fulfilling for me and like very validating for me as a person. So don't be embarrassed. I know it's awkward, and I know that you would think that there's a lot of social stigma, but people don't care, and it's cooler to do something in high school than to do nothing and just sit around at home on your phone. So lean into it.

SPEAKER_00 54:03

Awesome. I'm just gonna mirror what a lot of other people say. Make the most of it, have fun, and I know a lot of parents might force you to do this, but you will never know how much fun you can have unless you actually try. And that's a lesson that um you can apply to a lot of different things throughout your life, but being able to apply that in high school is um a really good skill and will allow you to go to places that you never thought were possible and like have experiences that you never thought were possible, and that's something that band can give you, and I think sticking with it is just a really important part of rowing, and sticking with it in band especially allows you to make the relationships you never thought you could and have so much fun and be part of something bigger than yourself and something that's extremely meaningful, and so just stick with it.

SPEAKER_01 54:59

So I I hear a lot of parents are like, have you seen the time commitment? Have you seen the pickup times? Picking them up at 4 a.m. What? And even Wednesday, dropping y'all off at the airport for a 4 a.m. departure. So what would you say to parents that are looking at the time commitment for their kids and are not encouraging?

SPEAKER_03 55:22

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 55:23

I'm gonna kind of circle back to what Aubrey said earlier in the podcast about how band allows you to find your people. And s in middle school, you're hitting puberty, you're growing up, you're kind of awkward, you are trying to make friends, but then also afraid to make friends. And then you hit high school, and some sometimes you're still trying to find that group. And in band, if you're if you're sticking with it since middle school, you know that you already have that group. And even if you join in high school, you find your people. And I think growing up, finding your people is an extremely important experience because it allows you to be yourself and to grow into yourself, which is something that a lot of high schoolers don't really get to do because they're worried about how they will be seen by the people around them. And so being allowed to be yourself and to grow into yourself despite the time commitment is something invaluable, and even when we have to wake up at 4 a.m. or when we have to wake up at what 5 30 to go to a 7 a.m. rehearsal, it's all worth it in the end because of who we grow to become to be.

SPEAKER_04 56:33

And specifically to the parents that are worried about the time commitment, get your kid to find a friend who can drive them. I remember when whenever we send out um we do this thing at Westlake called Band Siblings, which is really amazing, and it kind of sets up freshmen with an upperclassman who can kind of like guide them through the beginning of their years um here in the band. And one of the questions on the Google form we send out is, do you need a ride? And then they'll make sure you're paired with someone who has a license. And I know it's really scary sending your precious little baby with a 16-year-old who just learned how to drive, but you can either choose to wake up at 3 a.m. and drive your kid or trust trust someone to drive them for you. And I I got my license really early. I'm an October birthday, and so I had my license first semester of my sophomore year, which was amazing because I could start driving myself, and I gave someone else a ride to or from most marching band rehearsals. It was just random people who are like, Oh, my mom already fell asleep and she can't come pick me up. Oh, no worries, I'll drive you home. And every time I leave the band hall and I see other people in there, I'm always like, Are you guys good? Do you have a ride home? Like, I'm happy to take you if you need me to. It's really, you know, no big deal. And so it's really amazing to have, you know, other older students who can take give rides. Also, I know a lot of people that set up like kind of ride share things where on Mondays, you know, kid number one's parent takes all six of them, and then on Tuesdays then the other parent takes them. So just like finding fun parent friend groups or like finding older kids that you trust who you know are good drivers, helps a lot and it makes those hours and it's also way more fun waking up and getting to do that drive with your friend. It kind of gets your day started in a really good and like happy manner.

SPEAKER_00 58:35

So, really what I guess what we're saying is that band, despite the time commitment, it all is all worth it just because of the relationships that you make. I mean, even these random moments, driving um band members back home, even spending 15 minutes with them in the car just talking about our days, talking about how life is going. Um, we make these really special relationships that despite having to wake up, despite having to have what, 12-hour days, it's all worth it in the end because of these short 15-minute car rides home.

SPEAKER_02 59:08

Last piece of advice um, what would you say to a younger kiddo that is picking out their instrument or trying to decide what their instrument should be?

SPEAKER_04 59:17

I think it's really interesting. At our school, at this point in our band program, every instrument is really like a different personality. Like our clarinets are very, very professional and they try really hard. And so we have like five clarinet all staters, and it that whole section has a very strong practice regimen, and they all push each other to try really hard. Whereas like the trombones, we just kind of hang out and have fun. Like we don't we don't try as hard, and so um every different instrument has its own personality and um culture. Culture. There we go. Every different instrument has their own culture, and I can never tell if the instrument, you know, morphs the kid into that kind of culture, or if the kid is what makes the instrument that kind of culture. And I think it's a little bit of both because I think like we have such good clarinets that when freshmen come in, they push the freshmen to try really hard, and then they kind of create that culture within the section. And so it's really you will be where you need to be. No matter what instrument you pick, you will either be kind of morphed into the culture that your instrument is, or you'll just fit right in, and it it always ends up working out. Everyone always fits really well with their instrument, and if you hate it, there's always opportunity to change. I know a bassoon player that played trumpet and she'd loved to trumpet, and she played bassoon sometimes, but she really fit more into that trumpet culture, and she just that was like where she was meant to be, and she got there, she ended up playing trumpet in all of marching season. So just play something that you're gonna have fun practicing because you're gonna have to do that a lot. So pick based on that and the people will all kind of figure themselves out. Do you have anything you want to add?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

Um, it's almost kind of like in Harry Potter where it's like the wand chooses the wizard, right? It's like you everyone is drawn to an instrument and you just feel that pull towards that certain instrument. And I think a lot of people's person like take, for example, the trumpets. I mean, if you think of a trumpet player, you just know they go with the trumpet because of their personality. True, right? I'm sure you know that, right? Um so yeah, just like be comfortable allowing yourself to be pulled to an instrument because your your soul knows which instrument you're meant to play, and so just follow that and you will choose the right instrument.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:58

Okay, do y'all have a favorite band memory?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:01

I honestly don't have a memory itself, just like more like the feeling um that I get from contests and like being able to spend time with my friends at contests. I think the day you wake up for a contest, you're immediately filled with this sort of like nervous energy, right? That like stays with you the entire day. You get up and you feel energized and you feel ready to go, and you get on the bus and then you sit there for four hours, right? And even when you sit there for four hours, you're just like waiting to show off what you've learned and what you've practiced, right? And I think that energy that the whole bus is filled with is really special because I think it's an energy that people feel in everything, every performing art, even like football and like choir, like going to a performance or a contest and knowing that you're ready to perform and knowing that you're ready to show off to the audience. I think that's probably my favorite part of band. My that feeling that energy, that joint energy that everyone has together.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:03

Okay. My favorite moments are the I like to call it like the in-between time. It's after rehearsal, and like the four of us drum majors are putting up all of our stuff, and everyone else has gone home and the band hall is empty, and we just kind of are like running around and laughing and being stupid, and like those moments of just getting to be with your friends and not really caring what you're doing, but just the fact that you're all hanging out together, those are by far my favorite moments. It's walking down to the stadium and like complaining about the band fantasy football league or running around the band hall after everybody else has left with my uniform crew when it's just the six of us cleaning everything up and talking about who knows what. But those little moments in between when we're not stressed out about marching rehearsal or freaked out about the competition that's coming up when we can just be around each other and just do whatever we want. Those are always my my favorite moments.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:13

What do you do to entertain yourself on long band trips or on the bus rides?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:19

One of our friends has this game called Astro Party. It looks like like an 8-bit Atari game. Like it looks really old, and you just play it on your little phone screen, and four people can play it, and you just touch a button in the corner of the phone screen to make a little ship fly around in circles and like shoot each other. It's kind of like they it looks like Space Invaders, but you're shooting against each other, and it's the simplest game, and it's like really there's not a lot to it. But there would be four of us crowded around this one tiny little phone screen, like jamming our fingers into the phone, trying to like shoot each other's little spaceships, and we would have so much fun, and we would play that game for forever. We'd play heads up on the bus. We'd play, oh my goodness, we made Among Us have a comeback. Like years after it was dead. We'd be like, Well, Vade loves playing Among Us. He'd sit on the bus and go, anyone want to play Among Us? And everyone would go, Oh no, no one wants to play Among Us. And then eventually he'd convince everyone to play, and we'd have like 20 people on the bus all playing Among Us, like yelling at each other. And so that's always fun, just playing those little games with each other.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:29

I'm just gonna pair it exactly what you said, Among Us. I mean, I cannot, I cannot overstate how amazing it was. I mean, we would spend hours and hours just playing it on the bus ride, and we'd like um add different they added new features like having different power ups, and like the imposter would always like have so much fun. I sadly I would never get imposter. It's like I'm cursed or something, but we just have so much fun and just like play heads up. We brought Cards sometimes, although on bus rides they like fall everywhere, so we've lost like countless cards, but just really talking and like just spending time with each other, not isolating each other or ourselves on the bus rides, just like spending time with our friends. I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:15

What is your favorite band meal?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:18

That's a good question. Um, I think the past two years we've had Ean's catering a lot, which is kind of a sore spot with a lot of band members. Uh-huh. It's not bad. I will say it's not bad at all. But a lot of the kids are like, oh, we want Chick fil A or we want Canes. And so they're so spoiled. Yeah, they're spoiled. Um, so there's there's some people complain, but honestly, some of the best meals have been eat Ean's catering. Like the Orin Chicken, I will say, is really good. But I will also say canes, Canes is really good. Although it can be messy. Like sometimes the sauce from Canes, oh my, it gets everywhere and it gets on bibs and uniforms and it like stains, and people are just like, of course, Aubrey had to deal with that for two years. I had to do all the laundry. Yeah, because uh VP of uniforms has to take home all of the uniforms and wash like um the ones that have been borrowed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:18

People wash their own uniforms, but when they borrow parts, they bring it back and then they're sweaty and gross. So we have to do laundry and it always smells like bad burritos.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:28

Yeah, so that's probably not fun. But I will say canes and then orange chicken eats tandering.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:34

I feel like I'm kind of a hater because I'm never in the mood to eat food when I'm like on a bus around a bunch of people, I'm and I'm like always a little bit stressed out, and food just does not sound appetizing. But I will say I love Miss Meekin and Miss Grimm. They're amazing and I'm very appreciative that they feed us. But every once in a while we'll get these like wraps, and they're like green or orange, and I can't stand them. We get them all the time. I really don't, and so I don't have a favorite, but man, those anytime those wraps come around, I'm like, ugh, I'm I just I just get an apple and I hope that it'll last me. But everything else, I like usually just kind of like pick out stuff. I will say though, we have um cobble bobs sometimes. And everyone keeps telling me how amazing cobble bobs is, and I've never actually had cobble bobs except the ones that they give us at band performances, and it's so bad when they give it to us at band performances. But I'm also I don't like beans on my burritos, and it's mostly beans, and so I have this really negative like perspective on cobble bobs, and everybody loves it. I think that they're all pretty, they're all pretty okay, except for those green and orange wraps.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:59

Yeah, they keep us healthy.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:01

The last question we have here is basically anything else that y'all would like to add and maybe something, a message for your parents.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:10

Thank you for putting up with me playing. I know that I sound really awful sometimes. So thank you for putting up with listening to me practicing. I just cannot overstate it enough to, you know, all the young students out there in band that as much as this sucks and as much as it's long and exhausting, you will not get a better, like, high school extracurricular experience. Like this is the best thing we have, and you'll make so many close friends. And there are some people who go through it for the first two years and then they get their PE credit and then they quit. And I've never understood how there are people out there that don't have any extracurricular. And I'm like, what do you do when you go home? Like, what do you mean you just go home at 415 and don't do anything? And so really, really, really stick with it because I promise that it'll end up paying off and you'll have so much fun and so many friends, and just go for it, because band is crazy and fun, and you'll love it, no matter one way or another. Some fun someday you'll find your people and you'll find your little niche and you'll just have so much fun. So just yeah, stick with it. Alright, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:25

First off, to my parents, thank you for waking up at 5 a.m. and waking us up and driving us everywhere, and for staying up until like 2 a.m. when we get back from a football game in Dallas and driving all the way to Westlake to pick us up.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:41

Your father Shepherds Less, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:43

He is, yeah, he's actually coming to Hawaii with us. Our band is just such a good family and such a good place to be. My mom and our parents, when they come for the dead day, um, when they make the posters, she kept talking about how when she met all the other parents, they had so much fun making the posters and how the culture, the family isn't just for the kids, how the parents all make connections too. And I think that's what makes band really special. It brings the whole community in together and it connects us all. And I think having that connection, having that culture, that community is what makes band so special. Going back to my parents, thank you so much for thank you so much for dealing with us playing in your bedroom, playing our trumpet and our French horn, some of the loudest instruments in band for hours and practicing and telling us we sound good when we actually do not sound good. Um, but yeah, I I would just say band is just such an amazing community and such a great place to grow into yourself, and you should just stick with it to all those underclassmen, even upperclassmen, just staying with it, staying in the moment with your friends and creating those relationships.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:57

We just want to thank y'all for spending your afternoon here on a Sunday afternoon talking on your podcast with us. Um, you've given us lots of great information. I know for any younger students or just you know, anybody wanting to become a drum major, I think that um y'all have talked about a lot of interesting things and kind of it'll be helpful, I think, if they listen. So get your friends to listen. Yeah, but um, thank you again. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:22

Thank you so much for having us.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:24

And listeners, if there was something that our drum majors spoke about or something that we talked about that you want to hear more about, you are welcome to email us at fans of the band dot whs at yahoo.com. We would love to get an email from you. And I think that's a wrap for this afternoon, this episode.