Have you ever had that feeling where you love someone or a group of people so much that you can’t even describe how you feel about them because you love them so much? Well that’s how I feel when I’m talking about my drumline. For the past 2 years of this program I learned not only the basics like how to play snare, learn rudiments and specific vocabulary words that are important to this topic, but I also learned how to grow a family with people who don’t live in my home or are a part of my family tree. In my second year of doing drumline, I met a group of kids who I’d never ever thought I’d be close with. They all have personalities which are pretty different from mine, a different life, and in general a different background. Once I met this group of kids, I knew that our friendship was going to last for a while.
To be a part of something that had such a deeper meaning than what it actually means helped me open my eyes more about other extracurriculars I did.
When being a part of a drumline, you learn core values like “One Band, One Sound” or “Weapons of Mass Percussion” but the one that stuck out to me the most is when my instructor always brought up the idea of us being a family, a brother/sisterhood, if someone did something, we all did it. These lessons taught us how to become together as one while performing and in practice, and to have everlasting memories you’d never forget.
The importance of my blog is to not only hope you (the reader) relate to this feeling, but to show that sometimes doing something that you’d never thought you’d do can open your surroundings. Growing up, I’d never thought I would play drums, no one around me thought this way, it was only my brother who played the drums and he still does. When I started doing drumline, I was inexperienced and needed something to do from an afterschool point of view. The more I was apart of this program the more I learned about my drum (snare), the importance of practicing all of my rudiments (even though I never actually did), all of the fancy vocabulary like crescendo or cadence, but I learned how to find myself, build relationships on a more personal level with my teammates, and to be comfortable performing.
Some of my favorite memories from my drumline was this year on Thursday May 7th (the Bandwidth and After School Matters Showcase). The reason why this is my favorite memory is because it was our best performance this year. It took place at the Bandwidth Chicago and my drumline was the first performance. Every cadence was played well, and we did so well that our coach was playing like he was about to cry, knowing he wasn’t. This is my favorite memory because since it was the end of the school year, this one meant a lot to me, and because I truly had a lot of fun that day. It wasn’t about competing or having to worry about being the best in my opinion (even though we were), it was about doing what we did best, and that’s putting on a show. The best performance is a performance where you have fun, and your crowd does too, which is why it’s so important to have such good stage presence.
In conclusion, sometimes it’s better to do things that you would never do, because it can allow you to meet a group of people that you’d never thought you could get close with. This also allows you to learn more lessons and expand your horizons as well. I’m so glad to be a part of something that I’ll never forget and will always be a part of. This is such a talented group of young people who have such bright futures and can achieve anything they want too. So to Wynnter, Mia, Terrell, Isaac, Bryan, Jasani, Jamaya, Jayden, Kamauri, Terriyanna, Ziyane, Amari, to both of the Ray’vens, Niamaje, Micah, and Ryen our team manager, thank you for all of the love, support, and all of the fun moments we had together because I’ll never forget. You guys truly had such a good impact on me, and made me into the person I am today, and helped with the person I’m growing to become. I lastly want to thank my instructor Mr. Jones because I wouldn’t be so in love with drumline without his help, so I want to give a huge thank you to him. And as always:
Funk Nation, Forever Funk!
Chelsie Dew – Fenwick High School – DMSF Class of 2030
Photo Credit: Chelsie Dew