Promoting school spirit, keeping the marching band in time, and entertaining the student section are a few of the many responsibilities taken on by the Johnston High School Varsity Marching Band (JHSVMB) drumline. 

The drumline is an instrumental subsection of the marching band comprising three different types of drums: basses, snares, and tenors. While drumline is a component of the marching band, it is also a separate extracurricular activity. The drumline performs at events around the school and community to provide entertainment and promote school spirit. Aside from on the football field, the drumline can be found performing “cadences”- special songs performed solely by drums- on the track in front of the student section, at Overtime after football games, and occasionally at school sporting events. 

Ariana Murdock ‘25 and Sophie Wall ‘25 are the drumline section leaders for the 2024 season, both have played percussion for eight years and have been on the drumline for three. Murdock and Wall collaborate to assist with drumline rehearsals and coordinate extra events. 

“I’m in charge of making sure that everyone is staying on task doing what they’re supposed to, and I’m also a person to turn to in case people need help. If they have questions, then they go to me before they go to a teacher, just to take some stuff off of the teacher’s plate”, Murdock said. 

Excellence

The drumline has a crucial role during marching band performances: keeping the rest of the band in time. Other instrumentalists listen to the beat played by the drumline and march to the beat of the drums. JHSVMB co-director Craig Crilly provided insight into the impact the drumline has on the performance of the entire marching band. 

“The marching band is completely dependent on the sound from the drumline. It [the drumline] contributes all the ‘punch’ to the whole marching band experience,” Crilly said.

The clean rhythms, steady beat, and tempo maintained by the drumline not only act as a built-in metronome to ensure the band stays together, but those elements add a layer of complexity to the overall sound of the band. 

“The drumline is the ‘pulse’ of the band- it’s like the heart of the band. In our marching band show, the drumline is keeping the tempo for the whole entire band, so the whole band is going to be listening to the drumline to stay in time and stay [together].” Murdock said.

Great responsibility comes with being the ‘pulse’ of the band. Drumline members must play the correct rhythms using the proper technique to ensure a clean and accurate sound. 

“It’s so important that we play together. We spend a lot of time playing the same thing over and over again, so we need to practice playing all at the exact same time- or else it will sound really obvious since the drums are so loud.” Wall said. 

Drumline members gain precision and accuracy skills through countless hours of practice throughout the winter, summer, and fall.

“ [The drumline] started off-season clinics in February, and our official rehearsals started in June,” Murdock said.

Each week, the drumline rehearses with the marching band for nine hours and has a sectional rehearsal for one and a half hours. Additional rehearsals include a week-long marching band camp over the summer and extra sectionals during competition season. The large amount of time spent rehearsing has allowed drumline members many opportunities to learn and memorize repertoire, along with learning to play cohesively as a group. 

“There’s always challenges with people learning their music, that can take a while, and so we always try to help each other and work with each other to see what they need help with. … We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, so we know what we need to work on as a group and as individuals”, Murdock said. 

The new show music wasn’t the only change drumline members faced over the past season.  

“We’ve had a lot of changes this year. We got a new drumline instructor this year, so we had a big change in leadership,” Murdock said. “We have a full drumline this year. We’re using basically all of our drums. We have three tenors this year, which is new. We usually only have one or two. We have five snares and five basses. It’s been good. It’s been a lot to keep track of, and a lot to make sure everyone’s on the same page.”

Tradition

The drumline is a critical element in many aspects of JHS football games. Following the JHSVMB halftime performance, drumline members are positioned on the sideline in front of the high school student section performing cadences that contribute to the atmosphere of the event. 

“I think the drumline plays a great role in helping the football team win. The drumline most definitely brings a different type of energy to the game. They help the student section stay engaged and loud throughout the game. The drumline has learned different songs to help us stay locked and loud and we couldn’t thank them enough for the juice they bring to games.” Said student section co-leader Sonny Deering ‘25. 

Cadences are a unique form of repertoire composed entirely for drums. These pieces not only provide entertainment for their audiences, but they also give instrumentalists an opportunity to showcase their techniques in a smaller-scale performance. 

“[Cadences are] mostly just to highlight the drums. Sometimes each of the drum sections like the tenors, or the quads, will have their little feature in the cadence, and then the snares will do something.” Murdock said. 

The drumline has a total of seven cadences that they perform throughout the season. Crowd favorites include “Shots”, “Jig 2”,  “Kroozin’”, and “Fleet”, but each cadence offers unique elements that engage the audience.

“We have one called “T-Rex”, and it’s supposed to sound like a T-Rex “walking”. We play on the rim of our drums so it gets a bit of a different sound,” Murdock said.

The drumline has created traditions not only for JHS student life but also for its members. 

“One thing that we’ve started doing this year that we haven’t done in years past is we’ve started getting involved with the dress-up [themes] for football games. The pink-out we all got little pink accessories for our hair, the black-out we wore our black shirts, homecoming we taped our sticks purple and gold, [and for beach-out], we decorated our drums with leis.” Murdock said. 

One of the drumline’s major traditions is “Drumline Dinners”- when the entire group goes out for dinner together prior to big events. The most frequently visited Drumline Dinner locations include Slim Chicken’s, Pacheros, and the Culver’s in Grimes.

Family

Since the beginning of rehearsals in June, Drumline members have spent countless hours practicing, learning, and growing as musicians together. This level of time commitment not only results in high-level performances, but also in the friendships developed throughout the rehearsal, competition, and performing processes. 

“[Drumline members] watch out for each other. They act like a family, and all the dynamics that are with family,” Crilly said. 

The “family dynamic” not only fosters meaningful relationships between students but also adds to the overall success of drumline performances. 

“Once we’re acquainted and good friends with each other, it’s always easier to play together when you’re happy and listening with everyone around you,” Wall said. 

In addition to the personal relationships developed throughout the season, Drumline members have also experienced tremendous growth in learning to collaborate with others to perform at a high level. 

“It’s really exciting because people really grow, especially throughout their first year. There’s a lot of fast-paced learning and trying to do your best in so many things and multitasking, and people really grow. … Especially as a senior now seeing people grow and I’m like, ‘wow- this is really cool,’” Wall said.

Throughout the season, the time, growth, and leadership of the Drumline has contributed to both the success of the marching band, and the addition to school spirit showcased throughout the community.

“I’ve seen them grow tremendously throughout the whole year. The bass drums are wonderful, they play so well together. The snares have some older people [seniors] in there and they do a great job, and there are some younger people [sophomores] playing quads, they’ve done a terrific job. The sound has improved, their playing together has improved, they’re just really good musicians,” Crilly said. 

2024 Johnston Drumline Members:

Basses

Rachel Hentscher** ‘25

Madeline Allemagne ‘26

Tim Pohl ‘26

Luke Thilges ‘26

Peyton Jackson ‘27

Snares

Ezra Green ‘25

Ariana Murdock* ‘25

Jonah Rowland ‘25

Lulu Kang ‘26

Ella Chan ‘27

Tenors

Sophie Wall* ‘25

Abe Prince ‘27

Noah Hadley ‘27

*Section Leader

**Squad Leader