Sophomore Noor Sakhai, Junior Laya Mani, Junior Chiara Shawver, and sophomore Izzy Arnold pose victoriously at the Lonestar Drumline competition. The drumline placed fifth in their class, ending the season with a success. "[The season] was very productive since we have good leadership from Mr and Mrs Murphy," Sakhai said.
By Collin Berger
It's a Friday night football game, morale is low and the student section is silent.
Suddenly, cheers erupt from the stands as an exciting rhythm fills the air. The drumline has arrived.
Drumline, a group of twenty students that are part of the band, have been preparing for months to perform this years’ show: Into the Attic.
“I think it's a really great show,” sophomore Noor Sakhai said. “It's significantly better than anything else I've played.”
The drumline is a diverse ensemble that consists of many different types of percussion instruments.
“You have the front filled ensemble which is all the keyboards: marimba xylophone vibraphone, and synths,” percussion director Quiyan Murphy said.
Like other students in the Highlander Band, members of the drumline began their percussion training several years ago.
“I think it's a really great show. It's significantly better than anything else I've played.”
“You start drumline your freshman year of highschool but you start percussion in sixth grade,” junior Graham Longhofer said.
Drumline accompanies the band for all performances, including the annual University Interscholastic League (UIL) marching contests as well as regional competitions such as Bands of America Prosper. This year, the drumline also performed in the school’s marching show, Be Our Guest.
After the marching season wrapped up, the group performed in one final drumline-specific competition, the Lone Star Classic. This competition includes both solo and group performances.
“For solos, I [won] first in the tenor division and Chiara Shawver won third in the keyboard division,” Longhofer said.
The drumline also did very well as a group, placing fifth in the Standstill II Red class. Murphy is immensely proud of his students' accomplishments.
“They were fifth out of 11 in a competitive class,” Murphy said. “So it was a really good day.”
This win was consistent with the drumline’s legacy of high performance in competitions. Highland Park had previously scored the highest in the Lone Star Classic. There is a red poster hanging in the percussion room to display this accomplishment.
“In 2014, Highland Park, under Mr. Labreque, won the Caldwell Cup, which is the highest overall score in Lone Star,” Murphy said.
After their most recent win at Lonestar, the drumline plans to move onto bigger things. One such activity is indoor drumline, a type of marching band practice that takes place during the spring season. It is designed to keep marching bands in shape during the offseason, as the height of marching band is in the summer.
“Our indoor drumline show for this coming season is called ‘. . . Should You Choose to Accept It.’” Longhofer said. “It’s spy themed.”
Murphy picked “. . . Should You Choose to Accept It” as a show after he had gotten to know the drumline and the kind of music they were most confident playing.
"Our indoor drumline show for this coming season is called '. . . Should You Choose to Accept It.' It’s spy themed.”
“We picked a show that we thought they would enjoy practicing the entire time,” Murphy said. “Something that's intriguing and will always hold not only the performer’s interest but the audience's interest as well.”
The show also includes a color guard and a visual ensemble made up of various band students. Practices and auditions were held to determine who will be in the show’s visual ensemble and cymbal line.
“Rehearsal was good,” Sakhai said. “It was very productive since we have good leadership from Mr and Mrs Murphy.”
Even though the school has never participated in this contest, Murphy has had extensive experience with the indoor drumline competition throughout his career with other bands.
“[Indoor drumline] has gone really well,” Murphy said. “It kept students engaged and our retention numbers were really high.”
Despite experiencing multiple leadership changes, the drumline now reflects on a great season and looks forward to even better ones to come.
“We can tell that Mr. Murphy will fight for us as students, and that he wants this program to be just like every other program at the school,” Longhofer said. “Just like the Belles and just like the football team, he wants us to be a dominant program.”