Nineteen Percussionists led by Shawn Cerully tear up football games with drumming talents.
Ten months ago, the schools drumline started to do weekly practices. After weeks of practice, the schools drumline pulled off over 10 cheers and their own feature. Even though the drumline performed for football games, the entire school started to recognize them on Oct. 1, the day of the “Roar Assembly.”
“They were really awesome,” eighth grader Brandon Kahley said. “I really liked them. They kept in sync, really in sync. They kept the PBS assembly energetic with their mix of songs.”
The drumline underwent musical challenges to get the feature and the 17 cheers they had done.
“I think the feature was pretty nice, you can tell they worked really hard on the feature, and it shows. The cheers really liven up the stands. Instead of just doing the same cheers the drumline figured out a lot more cheers to use and it worked pretty well,” ninth grader Jimmy O’Donnell said.
The feature and cheers were accomplished because of the days of practice the drumline had.
“The extra practice really helped out our drumline. I mean last year our drumline was OK, but it really worked for the band this year because you can tell the drumline practiced a lot harder and you know the music a lot more,” O’Donnell said.
“I think the extra practice helped the drumline improve and learn more cheers and helped pump up the crowd at football games,” ninth grader Trent Miller said.
A week back, the entire band went head to head with Hollidaysburgs band. They too had a drum feature and multiple cheers.
“We did better because we knew what we were doing, played loud and even played good in the rain,” ninth grader Bailee Loughridge said.
“I think if we go up against Hollidaysburg again next year, the drumline could be even better. The eighth graders are determined, focused and have already experienced the feature and different cheers. The factor that really depends on how the drumline will do is how current seventh graders will cooperate and concentrate with the others,”
“I think as long as they keep practicing they could do better next year,” Miller said.
Besides the individual performances the drumline has held, they have also been recognized for performing with the band.
“I don’t think the band would do very well without the drumline because they wouldn’t have the beat. You wouldn’t hear the tone and the band wouldn’t be balanced. The band would just sound like high notes because without percussion it would just be woodwind and brass,” ninth grader Azar’Eyah White said.
Drum coach Shawn Cerully has used these shows as opportunities to gain more drummers, and the gigs did pull some attention.
“I think the drumline attracted attention,” ninth grader William Martin said. “In fact, I wanted to join just because of the Roar Assembly.”
Cerully and the band hope the drumline continue to do as well as they have in the football season for concerts and parades.
