Edmond Memorial High School’s (EMHS) percussion section has gone above and beyond to take themselves out of their comfort zone and improve their skills.

 To do so, they are participating in an off season drumline called winterline. This provides percussionists the chance to try another instrument. This gives the students who don’t normally play marching drums during the summer, a chance to improve and be a well rounded percussionist.

“Right now, we have a tendency to [have students] specialize as a drummer or mallet player, and we need everyone doing everything,” percussion instructor Kevin McDonald said. 

Not only does this give the students another opportunity to perform, it also sets the percussion section up for success for the fall marching season.

“I’d say we primarily want to be able to curate talent and build relationships for the incoming fall season,” Junior vibraphone player Ben Lin said.

While this program is set up to run efficiently, one hour and a half rehearsal a week can have its challenges. Rehearsals consist of sight reading and working through the show music. Individual practice time becomes vital which is a change for some of the players.

“One thing [the players] need to be better about is practicing effectively on our own,” Junior center snare Blaine Pullen said.

Another barrier is that there are veterans to the drumline, and completely new people playing together side by side. Patience has become important as the new players improve to the level of the veterans.

“Posture, arm width, heights, and aggression are completely different [between players] and they are easily noticeable,” Pullen said.

While there may be a lot of things to fix, it only takes a little time, patience and cooperation from the students. 

“I would like the students to have a sense of fulfillment from having worked hard on something for so long,” McDonald said.

The goal of this organization was only to improve the student’s skill, but has quickly morphed into performances and the full experience of being a part of a professional team.

Contact Ian Humphreys at [email protected]