As winter begins, so does the winter drumline. With the front ensemble–also referred to as the pit–and the battery, students begin attending rehearsals after school to prepare for competitions in the spring.
“The drumline has two major sections. The pit has instruments like the marimba and vibraphone. The battery, which has snare drums, tenor drums and bass drums,” junior Kohlen Farah said.
Farah and sophomore Rudy Balu are both snare drummers and play the same music.
“Our only goal is to make it sound like there’s one person,” Balu said.
Senior Jesus Garcia-Ferrufino has been in the drumline for four years, and is one of the battery captains this year. With an already responsible group, the role of battery captain is more of a facilitator.
“We have to hold our group accountable for learning music and bringing everything,” Garcia-Ferrufino said. “But the members also hold each other accountable as well.”
Preparation is rigorous, even during years without big competitions. This year, they have smaller competitions in March. Leading up to the competition season, they have weekend camps and extra rehearsals.
“We rehearse twice a week, three hours after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They’re divided into multiple blocks, and we do different things. We start by stretching and warming up our bodies [and] we practice marching technique. From there, we put our drums on and play while moving around. After that, we head into music.” Garcia-Ferrufino said.
In the early stages of the season, they split into sections to practice. The battery split by type of drum while the marimbas and xylophones practice in one group, and the metals, electronics and drum set in another.
“In these subsections, we focus on breaking down and learning the music with good technique and cleanliness,” junior pit assistant section leader Kevin Chen said. “[This ensures] we don’t encounter problems later in the season where people didn’t learn the music properly.”
Ideally, each subsection of the battery gets their own staff member to help them with the technique of their instrument and how to perform their music.
“For a while, the snare line hasn’t had their own dedicated tech. The basses have and the tenors have. So, [our] snare technique and all the definitions have been a little ambiguous,” Balu said. “We all used to approach the drum a little differently, but this year we [are getting a new] snare tech.”
After January, they start to refine their music by practicing specific portions and they begin to rehearse together.
“At this point in the season, we lose a lot of time together as a pit because we spend more time in full ensemble with the battery,” Chen said. “We really have to stay focused in rehearsal to maximize the usage of our time together.”
For many members, drumline is a worthwhile high school experience to connect and develop valuable skills.
“[Drumline] has taught me how to manage my time–as after school rehearsals can be pretty long–and then taking a lot of time out of my day to study,” Garcia-Ferrufino said.
The dedication and teamwork in Jefferson’s drumline extends beyond music. From the community they build and the lessons they can learn, they can grow as both musicians and individuals.
“Drumline is very fun because we get to play challenging music and Jefferson’s drumline is top ten in the East Coast,” sophomore bass player Dexter Balrup said. “The community is amazing and we have sleepovers all the time. We have carpools and a bunch of stupid jokes. We even had a secret santa last rehearsal.”