What Is A Drum Major?

Over time, our experiences in life add up and contribute to who we are. The longer we live, the more we add to that vault of knowledge, perception, and should we allow it, character.

One of the experiences in my life that I often think on, dream about, and rely on for inspiration, was my time as the Drum Major of the University of Michigan Marching Band.

How I got the honor and privilege to be voted into that position is a long story for another day, but I’ll summarize by telling you that it was one of the toughest, character-building, and soul shaping journeys of my life to get to the point where I was worthy of that position.

Now let’s get into what a Drum Major is, and more specifically, what that role entailed for me back in 2002/2003.

In my heyday, the Drum Major was the student leader in the marching band. At the beginning of the season, the drum major would train and work with the leadership core of the marching band, both section and rank leaders, and would work them through a marching and pre-season “training camp” for several days. After returning to campus, the new marching band students, mostly freshmen, would join us, and the leadership core and I would work on training them for almost a week. Finally, the rest of the veteran marchers would return, and we would all begin to prepare for the first performance for the first football game right around Labor Day.

During the season, at practice, I would provide voice and whistle commands to the band, taking my cues from the director up on the tower as well as the staff surrounding the field. This allowed for efficient and well-organized rehearsals that enabled well over three-hundred people to learn a new half-time show with new music and formations week in and week out throughout the season.

Right about mid-week, we would start to string more of the music together on the field, and I could start integrating my baton twirling routine with the formations and music of the band. I enjoyed these rehearsals immensely as it allowed for a dynamic performance to evolve based on how the music inspired me, and how I expected to interact with the audience at the upcoming game.

Before kickoff, the band would load up in the tunnel of the stadium and get ready to perform the pre-game performance. Once the band was on the field and playing our school’s iconic fanfare, I would run out, cut through the formation, remove my hat, or “shako” and bend over backwards in full control, touching my head to the ground.

Whether back then, or today, over one hundred thousand people are tuned into that moment to see this feat performed. After touching my head to the ground, I would pull myself back up, and we continued the the rest of the pre-game show.

One of the games during my first year as drum major in 2002, there was a rare energy that afternoon. I could feel it before we even left for the parade to the stadium. And as we were all “loaded” in the tunnel for the pre-game performance to start, my hands were shaking with that energy.

We started the pre-game show, I ran out, executed the backbend, and when I pulled back to a standing position, I turned to the crowd, raised both hands, and roared in triumph. They roared back in return, and for this ever so small of a moment, I felt my consciousness expand with the connected focus of so many. Perhaps all of us, ensnared by this incredible energy, created some connection, only made possible by this special place and time.

In the Eartherians Series, I will expand and overly dramatize this little experience, as it will become a very important aspect of our lead protagonist’s journey. For me personally, I don’t think anything esoteric happened in that moment, but I am glad I can share it through my science fiction writing.

Now stepping back and having a little bit of fun, let’s theorize about the next step in human evolution when it comes to consciousness and our perception of space, time, and life itself.

Will we simply just get smarter and smarter until we perceive everything in this dimension and the next? Will we leverage technology and somehow combine the mind and artificial intelligence to create something new, and capable of perceiving, understanding, and navigating all that is out there from the quantum to the macro? Has anyone else, out there in the universe, figured this out already? Have we?

The Eartherians Series is going to give you an example 😉