Drumline show at BHS tonight

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BROOKINGS – Eight drumline teams from various high schools and two independent groups will participate in the Brookings High School drumline show “Bobcat Beat” on Saturday.

The show starts at 7 p.m. in BHS Jostad Gym; it is a fundraiser for the Brookings High School student group. Tickets are $10 and $8. Concessions through Optimists will be available, as well as ear plugs.

The Brookings band program has been providing the competitive drumline experience to its students for several years now, and its goal of expanding the activity to more South Dakota groups is starting to happen with four of the competing lines coming from South Dakota: Brookings, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Brandon Valley and Mitchell. Others are coming from St. Cloud, Hutchinson and Minneapolis in Minnesota.

Drumline is more popular on the west coast and in central Midwest states.

Because there is no statewide association that provides high quality adjudication, Brookings winter drumline has been participating in competitions within the Minnesota Percussion Association.

“Locals will get to see and hear this exciting and entertaining indoor activity right here in Brookings because of a great group of parents who take on the big task of putting this show together within the guidelines of the MPA organization,” BHS band director Ron Stary said.

Stary said the Saturday show is not competitive for Brookings students, but it is their first public performance of the season in front of friends and families. They’ll be critiqued by MPA judges they’ll see later in the competition season.

Many different percussion instruments are involved in the performance. In the battery – the part of the drumline that marches – students play snares, tenors, bass drums and cymbals. The pit contains mallet instruments like marimbas, xylophones, bells and auxiliary percussion instruments. 

Members dramatize the performance through facial expressions and body movements. Judges score a show based on marching, theatrical expressions, props, music quality and overall performance. Jon Sundet, a member who plays bass drum, says that “memorizing the music, especially when you don’t have a lot of time, and also incorporating drill with the music” is a definite challenge.

Brookings drumline still has a busy season ahead, traveling to competitions in March and April. The MPA finals are April 7.