UT Drumline gets ready to recruit

The sounds can be heard from halfway across campus — the sharp taps, shimmering crashes and gentle thunders. Walking closer, the beats can almost be physically felt as the sun catches the edges of golden cymbals and drumsticks rapidly rise and fall. This is a typical practice with the University of Toledo Rocket Marching Band drumline.

Consisting of 23 students and an instructor, the RMB percussionists plan to show off all their hard work at more than just the halftime of a football game. They will be recording a DVD to give out as recruitment material.

“We’re basically taking all of our really cool warm ups and they’re really groovy … and we’re taking some show excerpts and our cadence and we’re putting them all together and we’re just going to film some clips of them and put them out there,” said Dani Armstrong, a third-year music education major.

The idea for the DVD came from Drumline Instructor Drew Parent, who knew the percussionists wanted to showcase their work.

When Parent brought the idea up, he was given the verbal green light by the higher ups for the project. There was only one condition — the percussionists had to find a way to pay for it themselves.

“They [the band] were already running their own campaign,” Parent said, “… they exasperated  most of what they had on that.”

Not to be thwarted by this, the drumline used an online, crowd-funding website called Kickstarter to raise the 850 dollars required to record, make and print the DVDs.

Andrew Rhodes, the assistant director of bands and the director of athletic bands, thought the idea was great.

“Drew’s been doing a lot with social media for the drumline,” Rhodes said. “We’ve got a lot of positive feedback … so we just decided to go for it.”

Rhodes said the percussionists received a lot of support from RMB alumni and friends of the band, especially those who had been in the drumline previously.

In the end, the drumline members met their goal Sept. 10 — only 15 days after they created the kickstarter.

Soon, the six snare drummers, five quad players, six bass drummers and six cymbalists will begin recording the DVD, which should come out around the end of October.

They will print about 200 of them, and Parent said some of the clips will be posted to YouTube.

The DVD will have 10 to 12 tracks on it, according to Parent, and will be given to alumni and current drumline members, as well as those who want to become a part of drumline.

For those interested in playing percussion for the RMB, email Parent at [email protected] or attend the free clinic they are planning to hold in February.