Carlmont’s Drumline, the musicians that tend to steal the show at every assembly, is gearing up to pass the leadership role to junior Peter Brydon.
Brydon will be faced with the challenge of maintaining the impressive image that seniors and current co-captains Josh Fagel and Ryan Wong have created over the past two years.
“He’s been taking a lot of notes internally from Josh,” said senior Drumline member Ethan Wallace. “I have a lot of confidence in him. He has most of the skills it takes, so I think it’ll work out in the end.”
Drumline is definitely in good hands in terms of drumming skills. Brydon has been playing the drums since fourth grade, a total of almost eight years of experience playing the instrument.
He’s also been a Carlmont Drumline member since his freshman year.
“I mainly joined because I love playing the music associated with Drumline, as well as the choreography and visuals that make a performance awesome,” said Brydon.
Wallace even noticed that during Brydon’s three years “he has become a lot tighter as a drummer.”
And within those three years, Drumline has become almost like a family to Brydon.
“It’s like having 12 other brothers,” said Brydon.
His fellow Drumline members are confident in his leadership skills as well.
“I know Peter is a good leader and I feel confident in his abilities to keep us organized and on track,” said sophomore Drumline member Matt Veronda. “As a fellow Drumline member he’s critical but helpful as well. He’s a skilled musician and can be depended on to know what to do and when to do it.”
Wallace also has faith in Brydon’s responsibility. He said, “He’s a talented musician, his head is in the right place, and he knows how to get work done.”
However, Brydon does have big shoes to fill, and there are some concerns.
“I’m worried about the logistical aspects. I know that I can get all the Drumline members to work together, but organizing events and writing choreography might be a challenge,” said Brydon.
Indeed, Drumline has a busy year-round schedule. They perform at football and basketball games, the homecoming, heritage fair, and celebration assemblies, the Belmont Save the Music festival, San Carlos Hometown Days, the crab feed, and other short notice events, such as the opening of the bike bridge over Highway 101.
The majority of the Drumline members are also seniors, making Brydon’s challenge even greater.
“We really have relied on the skill and leadership of Josh and all the other seniors quite a lot, so next year we will all have to step up our game to keep focused and meet the high expectations everyone has for us and to make sure next year is the best year yet,” said Veronda.
Onlookers and drumline fans are confident that Brydon can step up to the plate and continue Drumline’s positive legacy at Carlmont.
“I think that Peter will be successful in continuing the drumline legacy because he’s always been a strong member of the group, keeping members motivated and excited about the performances they give us,” said junior Jasmin Riedel. “Drumline is probably what I look forward to most at assemblies and they never have a boring performance. I love bragging about them to all of my friends that don’t go to Carlmont.”
Drumline won’t be the only thing Brydon juggles into his schedule, either. He plays lacrosse at Carlmont and for a travel team, and works for Boston Scientific, a mechanical engineering company that builds artificial coronary valves for heart surgeries.
However, with all of those activities, Brydon still has goals set for next year.
“My goals are mainly to maintain everyone’s expectations that they have for Drumline. It’s going to be hard with so many seniors graduating, so just continuing the legacy is enough for me,” said Brydon.
It’s up to the 2014-2015 student body to find out if Brydon can lead Drumline in continuing to live up to the high standards they have set over the past few years.