Becoming A Drum Major Essay

To become an exemplary leader, one must first possess prior knowledge of how to follow a leader. One must know how followers feel before they act as their leader. Luckily, through my experience as a member of the band, I learned how numerous different types of people learn and reason; which marks one of the reasons I believed I was a favorable candidate for drum major. The path to becoming drum major was not an easy one to follow, but definitely worth it in the long run. At the end of this path, I acquired the chance to place my mark on the band, to help change and mold it into an efficient machine and better in general; a chance that fills me with glee and excitement.
In the beginning, my decision to try out for drum major remained unclear,
however, as I continued to learn what exactly a drum major carries out, I made my decision; I planned to try out for drum major to create a difference in the band. The majority of people perceive a drum major as simply an attractive face that waves their arms around while the band blares loud noises. Conversely, the drum major plays a pivotal role in the band: as a beacon of hope and guidance to show the members the light and glory of music. Also, as a teacher to seize the fledgling band members under their wing, and show them the ways of the band world. Finally, the drum major is a servant, to wait on the needs of the band, thus not to find them uncomfortable, and to create an amazing experience for them with music that they will remember for the rest of their life. At the mention of this, what the drum major carries out for the band, I knew that I needed to try and acquire this position. I became determined to make a difference.
Alas, I came to the first stepping stone of many on the path to drum major—learning how to conduct. In all honesty, it was much easier than I originally thought. I picked up the skill fairly easily and all of the basics came to me with plenty of time before tryouts; still, I labored away at night to work on the conducting routine, the complexity of listening to the rhythms and finding where cues should be placed was not something stopping me from becoming drum major. My home life consisted primarily of practicing the conducting routine, set to a marching band arrangement “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin. Mostly, I focused on cues; that is the part of conducting that either makes or breaks the conductor of a band.
The second stone on the path hit me like a brick wall—commands.
It was only a few days before the tryouts and I still needed to set aside time to practice the commands; that goes to show that too much practice on one thing hurts if one does not pay attention to how much time still available to them. Fortunately, as a captain, I already experienced working with the vocal commands, and with my time spent in MCJROTC, I already knew how to project my voice in a clear and concise way that people can both hear and understand what commands I give. Whistle commands gave me extra stress. Only two of them exist, but they sound extremely similar in the middle of a parade and easy to jumble up and use the wrong one. Even the drum major of the previous year mixed up the whistle commands every once and a while. This combined with the fact that I never manipulated a whistle in my life gave me a quite grim outlook. However, practices held after school, at which the field sergeant and drum major give advice and show the potential drum majors how the world of being a drum major operates, gave me much help and insight on what I needed to work on. After a day or two of receiving help on my whistle commands I was confident I could perform them without messing
up.
The last day of practice was the day that terrified me more than any other.
That was the day we stepped on the podium. A fear of falling plagues my life, which made all of the confidence brought to me before dissipate into a cloud of dust. I climbed up the steps of the podium for the first time and shook like a leaf; this was not exactly my cup of tea. Regardless of this fear, I managed to survive my first time performing on the podium, but I had yet to add verbal cues. One of the cues that our band director, Mr.P, suggested was a stomp to indicate an exciting hit or drastic change in the piece; this terrified me. I cannot remember a time I ever felt as frightened of something as I did during my first time trying the stomp cue on the podium. I stomped, the podium shook, but I gritted my teeth, held my ground, and finished the routine identical to a
champion.
Then came the day where everything I practiced for mattered; the day of tryouts arrived. The wait before trying out killed me and churned my insides like a melting pot of fear and determination. One by one, people went into the room and came back out; nobody uttered a word after they left the room. At last it was my turn. I entered the room, a panel of three judges, containing Mr. P and two other band directors, awaited my performance. Fortuitously, they provided a calm air, which lightened my mood and helped me shake a little bit less. The tryout went relatively smoothly and in no time I was on the way home just as all the others did before me.
Later that night, tension rose up again. I awaited the call, the call that would tell me if I was drum major or not. It was around 8:30 when the call finally came in. I looked down at my phone and my heart dropped. “Mr. P” showed the luminescent screen. I hastily answered the phone. “You’re our guy Brian” stated Mr. P. It was finally over. All of my work had finally paid off. I was the drum major of the band and I planned to do all I could to become one of the best. This experience changed me for the better and I now act with a higher sense of respect and maturity than previously.