With marching season in full swing, it is necessary for every member of the band to be on their a-game. This is especially true for one of the two drum majors at the high school; who is Nora Ide, 11. 

Drum majors are the people who stand on podiums in front of all of the band. Their job is to direct the band during marching season. 

“Competitions are when I am more prominent,” Ide said. “I have to take that leadership role to keep everyone together. It’s super stressful, [but] I’m a motivator for [the band] during competitions and during rehearsals.” 

Since drum majors aren’t playing instruments, they have a unique way of preparing for competitions.

“I do a lot of staring at myself in a mirror while practicing all of our movements; that way I can make sure I get everything straight. [When] we mess up, it’s a spiral downhill if one thing goes wrong, so I try to prevent that

as much as possible,” they said. 

The process of becoming a drum major is quite different from anything else in the band. Every year, a few freshmen who are interested in becoming drum majors will give speeches on why they should be a drum major, and the band would vote on who they wanted. However, this was not the case for Ide. 

“In my case, no one else wanted to do it, and I got nominated by a lot of people, so I just got to do it. The only people who wanted to [be a drum major] couldn’t because their sections were too small and they were needed, but I think that [most] people just didn’t want to be in that leadership position.” 

While possibly overlooked, drum majors have arguably one of the most important jobs in the band. Although they don’t have flashy and shiny instruments, the band would be in a woodwind of trouble without them.