At every football game, homecoming assembly, heritage fair, music festival, and some lunch activities, Carlmont Drumline is there to put on a show. These shows come with lots of preparation and coordination.
In the weeks leading up to a performance, Drumline has many brainstorming sessions where they collectively decide their costume. Then, mainly the captain and vice captains work on creating and perfecting the choreography.
Drumline tries to have practices at least twice a week, one day before school and one day on the weekend. It is evident that each member is passionate about drumming and looks forward to each practice and performance.
“It’s given me a really nice community of people who really enjoy drumming and something that’s fun to do outside of academics,” said senior co-vice captain Joshua Lin.
Lin has been drumming since he was in middle school. He joined Carlmont Drumline during his freshman year. Lin is a quad player. Marching quad drums, sometimes called tenors, are a set of four mini drums mounted on a harness that can distribute the weight equally.
The weight needs to be appropriately distributed as drumline members, including Lin, do various movements while performing.
“I’m one of two quads players. It’s really fun to make choreography and a lot of fun costumes and then see that all come together into a performance for other people,” Lin said. “It’s cool too to hear people say that our performance was good.”
Along with Lin, senior Angel Camacho Fuentes works as co-vice president. However, unlike Lin, Camacho Fuentes started drumming for the first time during his sophomore year.
“Some of the seniors from my sophomore year told me about drumline and encouraged me to join,” Camacho Fuentes said. “I was super welcomed by everyone and I just started playing.”
Camacho Fuentes notes that he wasn’t the best at first but got better as he kept playing and learning. He is one of the snare drum players. One job includes helping everyone in his section get into line.
The snare drum is a singular drum attached to a harness. The instrument works in the soprano line, setting the tempo and leading the main tune for the ensemble. They are designed to allow the user to maintain their posture while also being able to move swiftly. This is important for the Drumline to perform their unforeseen movements.
Freshman Zachary Robinson is also one of the snare drummers. Drumline at Carlmont was his first introduction to drumming, but he found it to be something he enjoyed.
“I didn’t have a very good start to the year with drumming; I didn’t know a lot of the things I had to do. I learned them throughout the year,” said freshman snare drummer Zachary Robinson. “My favorite part so far was the homecoming assembly, even though I was a little nervous.”
Lin, Camacho Fuentes, and Robinson are only three of the 12 Drumline members. Their strong and consistent teamwork is evident in every performance.
“We’re all friends, so we get along super well. We all goof off a little too much, but it’s a super friendly environment,” Camacho Fuentes said.
