Welcome to The Podcast a podcast featuring the dynamic drum majors, Elizabeth Hillier and Priscilla Orta! Fresh from their outstanding performance at the State Marching Band Competition, where they clinched the 11th spot in the state, these talented ladies are here to give you an insider's perspective on the world of drum majors.
Join us as we delve into the unique experiences of being drum majors, navigating the intricate world of playing in the band, and embracing the responsibilities of leadership within their class. From the exhilarating highs of commanding the band during performances to the behind-the-scenes challenges they face, Elizabeth and Priscilla share their insights, stories, and reflections on the multifaceted role of drum majors.
Welcome to The Podcast a podcast featuring the dynamic drum majors, Elizabeth Hillier and Priscilla Orta! Fresh from their outstanding performance at the State Marching Band Competition, where they clinched the 11th spot in the state, these talented ladies are here to give you an insider's perspective on the world of drum majors.
Join us as we delve into the unique experiences of being drum majors, navigating the intricate world of playing in the band, and embracing the responsibilities of leadership within their class. From the exhilarating highs of commanding the band during performances to the behind-the-scenes challenges they face, Elizabeth and Priscilla share their insights, stories, and reflections on the multifaceted role of drum majors.
Speaker 1 Students being able to do more than one. It's more about like the practice times. Speaker 2 Right. Yeah, exactly. And I would even think of the coaches being like, you got to I would almost think you'd have to. Speaker 3 A sense of how demanding the schedule goes. Unknown Yeah, yeah, yeah. She said Yeah. Are there, what time in the morning. Speaker 1 Okay, so our schedule this year is a little crazy because we don't have a band hall. Yeah, but we have been doing three hour rehearsals after school instead of before school, and then we have like one before school. Speaker 5 Friday morning set at 645 to 7. Speaker 1 Something like that. Yeah. Speaker 2 Okay, so but in the summer you're doing summer, you're doing what time. Speaker 1 7 a.m. to. Speaker 3 430. Speaker 1 4:30 p.m.. Speaker 3 On Friday. Speaker 1 No. Speaker 3 No. Know I thought it was, It is. Speaker 1 Well it's every day three weeks. Speaker 3 Before school starts. Every day that it's a nine. Speaker 5 It's a nine hour day. Yeah. It's outside, it's the first 4 hours and then. Speaker 3 It's in Texas when we have 105 degrees on Friday. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Speaker 2 I've always wondered how band can get away with that. Newell and other sports really very regulated on their time. Speaker 1 We're very regulated. Once school starts. Speaker 3 We have 8 hours. Speaker 1 We use three weeks before school starts. We do these super long, like nine hour days, which are outside for the first 4 hours, inside for the afternoon, for hours. But then once school starts, it's only 8 hours in a week. Speaker 2 Not on eight, 8 hours in a week. Speaker 3 We could only. Speaker 5 Practice 8 hours in one. Speaker 2 Oh, that's drastically reduced. Speaker 3 Oh, okay. So you all are like. Speaker 5 Praying, ready for the. Speaker 3 School? Let's see. You think you'll. Speaker 2 Love it, though, in the summer? Speaker 5 Don't really like summer. Speaker 3 Yeah. Speaker 1 Yeah, I like summer band a lot. We get to do. Speaker 5 A lot more fun activities. Dress up days. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 Oh, okay. So they make it fine. It's not just. Speaker 5 Grinding it out. Speaker 2 Grinding it out. Speaker 3 The winter there. I saw that, but yeah, yeah, there's a lot of it. Nick did it. It if you, if you can't see us. Speaker 2 We're not on YouTube yet. Speaker 3 Folks, but. Speaker 2 We have started, Right Kelsey And so I'm sitting here playing the. Speaker 3 Flute. Yeah. For those of. Speaker 2 You that don't know much about flute, you play the flute out to the. Speaker 3 Side of your mouth. You just learned that, okay? You just learn. Speaker 2 And then the clarinet goes. Your fingers will go in front of your body, not out to the side of your face. Okay. Speaker 3 Oh, she's. Yeah, She's so knowledgeable. Speaker 2 Let me know if you have any questions. Call us. Call in. Will answer any questions that you have. I do believe we've started. So welcome to season three. Episode six of Fire is the podcast where Kelsey goes. Speaker 3 That's. Speaker 2 Me and Dana Owen That's me. I have the pleasure of interviewing interesting people and discussing anything and everything. Friendswood, AC Today our special guests are two incredibly talented young ladies from Friendswood High School state ranked marching band. Drum majors know it's a mouthful. Elizabeth Okay. Lizzie Hillier and Priscilla Audu. Speaker 3 Welcome. Unknown I got here today, so yes. Speaker 2 So let's just kind of jump right in with the obvious to me. Tell us, what is a drum major? Speaker 5 Okay. A drum major. Mainly what everyone sees is that we conduct the band. If you're at a football game, you'll see us on ladders in front of the band conducting. But there's kind of a lot more to it that no one really sees. Only us. We like during summer, we plan activities and we lead them. Like if the directors are gone, like, well, plan sectionals and stuff like that. Speaker 5 Or we also motivate the band. Okay, Kind of lead them. Like we'll give them pep talk. We're like. Speaker 2 Team captains for. Speaker 5 Sport. Kind of, yes. Speaker 2 More but more. I mean, it sounds like you have a lot more responsibilities. So when do you fight? When do you try out to be a drum major? Speaker 5 We try out in the spring of the school year. Speaker 2 Before, right in the spring, before. And so. Lizzie, how many people tried out last spring? Speaker 1 I think it was around 20. 20. People tried out for drum major. Speaker 3 Okay. Speaker 1 Like April. Speaker 2 20. People tried out in April. And then you, too, found out you made drum major one. When did you find out and how do they let you know? Speaker 1 Okay, so the process to make drum major is like a really lengthy. Oh, like leadership application based. Okay, So there's a lot of, like, different forms. We have to turn in different questions we have to answer. And then after we turn in our paper application, which is an essay, short answer questions, some self-reflection questions, a resumé. And then we have a conducting audition where we show like we can actually conduct. Speaker 1 After that, they pick the top. This year it was the top six. Normally depends on how many people try out. They just take the next. It's like callbacks for a musical and those six people go in for an in-person interview and it's like all the directors and just you and you get to answer some questions. Speaker 2 Give us a question. Give us a taste of a question. Speaker 1 I remember one question they asked me was, How do you think leadership, the leadership teams, the section leaders could improve as a team in this upcoming year? And they want to see like how you would help facilitate that, how you would try, translate what you would keep, what what you would change, stuff like that. Because part of the job of another reason, another job of drum major is you're in charge of not only the band, but you're also in charge of the leadership team and the they call it like the band hierarchy. Speaker 1 The idea is that there's so many kids in band that if all of them are going to the directors to ask questions to this, not the other thing, it's like very difficult. So the hierarchy kind of is set up in a way that the leadership is in charge of more of the general population and then the drum majors are more in charge of the leadership, and then we take stuff, concerns, questions, etc. to the directors. Speaker 3 Oh, I love that. Yeah, there are a. Speaker 2 Lot of things I like about that, so I could see where it makes you as leaders take ownership in what you do. Right? This is where my I'm going to ask some silly questions, but like, have you all created like, do they have to call you special names? Like do you take your role? Do you take your power authority? Speaker 2 You know, excuse me, you need to call me madam or to. Speaker 5 No, no, just call us or our names. Speaker 2 Just your name, sir. Okay. Any special handshakes or anything like that? Speaker 3 No, I gave you had to choose a special name. Speaker 5 Like an authoritative. Speaker 3 Name. Why would it be well known? Speaker 5 Maybe I'll go with, like, Ms. or something like this. Speaker 2 They'd say, Priscilla, and you'd say, That's Ms.. Priscilla. Do you? Speaker 3 Yes. Speaker 1 I would definitely use something with Elizabeth, because Elizabeth is such a historically like nickname, yet. Speaker 3 Queen Elizabeth and Queen Elizabeth. Yes. Yes. I don't know who to offer their heads one wise, but we can still do it. So we frame it your way. I think it was it was. It was it. There's many Elizabeth's up. Speaker 2 With their head and can you deal ever get have you heard stories of drum major said, like, let the power and authority go to their head and they kind of mistreat people like. Speaker 5 Oh, I'm seeing some. Speaker 2 Verbally. Speaker 3 Or No, no, no, no. We're not going to have no. Speaker 2 No, we're not saying you'll have. But, you know. Speaker 3 There's. Speaker 1 No there's definitely it's a struggle with drum major because a lot of the direction that you're given is in like it's not like you never get a bullet point list that's like, here's all the things you need to do. Right? So so much of it is just intuition and like, guess and check basically. So there's definitely been some struggles in past years, even when I've been here where people just they try and they're trying to like find the balance between we're still the band's peers, we're still the same age as we still go to school with them. Speaker 1 I still see all of them in the hallway. Speaker 2 You don't get a salary. Yeah. Speaker 3 So you're right. Speaker 1 Right. But it's there's this balance where you have to be. You still have to be friends with them yourself to see them all in the hallway. And so there's not the separation that, like the directors have where they are older. They do have a degree in what they're doing. They do have like, I guess, justifications behind like authority, I guess. Speaker 1 And where we have an application, it's still a lot closer of a gap to like the general population. So there's some difficulties in that balance that I've seen here that I'm sure I've had issues with at some point this year. It's just hard to sometimes manage that balance. I guess, and sometimes it gets a little you get a little excited and you try and enforce things and they remind you very quickly that you don't actually have that power. Speaker 3 This to the students. Speaker 2 You are the directors? Speaker 3 Yes. Speaker 2 But, you know, it's very interesting because what you'll find in the professional world is it's really the same. You know, you may have a title. You're still working with peers. Yeah. You're still working with people, you know, that are your same age and you know, a title doesn't necessarily bring authority as much as respect and connections and that sort of thing of people. Speaker 2 You are the drum major, but if you treat people well and you have good connections with people, they're going to respect you and you're going to respect them, you know? Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. But I think it's great. What great leadership skills that you're learning and you're so I found out you're both juniors. You're not. Speaker 3 Seniors. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 So I would even think that's even more difficult. You had seniors that you're, that you're meeting. Speaker 1 Yeah. No, that was definitely something we had to I guess overcome this year. It was a lot of there's a lot of stigmas behind like how age affects authority, I guess. And in a sense with age comes more authority. But with us both being juniors, especially, at least in my experience with me being on center ladder and a lot of junior year and a lot of seniors on the field, there comes to be some disagreements or spots of like, well, I don't have to listen to you. Speaker 3 Mm hmm. And how do you handle those those moments? I mean. Speaker 1 I found this year that I'm by trial and error. There's always going to be some mistakes, I guess, that are made along the way. But I found this year it was a lot easier if you just talk to the specific people that were like, we have a relatively small senior class and the majority was never problematic to either Priscilla or I. Speaker 1 But every once in a while you'd have one or two that were like frustrated about circumstance or this or that. And I found that, like, you just pull inside before, after practice and you're like, Hey, like, I didn't mean to, like, hurt your feelings or say you were wrong or anything because like, every once in a while we'll have to tell people like, No, that's not right or call them out. Speaker 1 That's a really big thing. If you. Speaker 3 Want people. Speaker 2 Out, like, what does that look like? Speaker 5 So as an example, say if someone's not in standby or they're keep on moving whenever they're not supposed to be moving, we have to make sure procedure is right the whole time. So if someone's like, move moving around, we have to say like, don't move. Or if they're talking when they're not supposed to be talking, don't talk. But we yell this because we were on the ladders because we're in charge of procedure throughout the whole rehearsal. Speaker 5 And our directors give us permission to like, call people out by name on the field just so that they will know not to do it again. I could be like, Hey, so-and-so, close your feet or something like that. Speaker 1 That sometimes is very frustrating to marchers. Like because we were both marchers before drum majors. So we like have experienced both sides. It's really frustrating. Like if Priscilla's moving around on the field, it's frustrating for me. But then if I call her out from the water, especially if she's a senior and I'm like, Priscilla, close your feet, Priscilla, stop doing that. Speaker 1 Then the whole band just witness that whole thing happen and people don't like getting called out. Speaker 5 So sometimes I was a little hesitant on like calling seniors out or like other people on leadership out in front of the whole band because I didn't want people to like, be like, Oh, she's younger or whatever. Yeah, stuff like that. Speaker 2 Yeah, it's hard, right? I mean, that's not an easy, which is the leadership, I mean, but it's if you step back and think about, well, what's the purpose of doing this? I mean, if you're being malicious and trying to embarrass someone that's different than you're doing it. So everybody can be better, you're doing it to make them better, then that's what you know, that's life. Speaker 2 That's the way that it is. Speaker 3 So no doubt now, because you all are junior as well, you have to try out. Speaker 5 For a drum major again next year. Yes, we have the retrial. Speaker 3 Okay. Speaker 1 So this is kind of a new situation for Friendswood and for a lot of schools. Don't experience this normally you'll have returning drum majors from previous years helping the new junior. Normally, junior drum majors are not put as like head drum majors or the center ladder, because normally they have a previous drum major. Well this year are drum major from last year chose to go back to marching just as an interest like she wanted to be back on marching. Speaker 1 So then Priscilla and I ended up having to, like, take on this, like, completely new role without anybody who had done it before. So then this next year will be kind of a return to previous ways where we will reapply and if we make it again, then we will be the senior drum majors, the mentors for the maybe other drum majors. Speaker 2 And are there always to. Speaker 3 Know. Speaker 5 Usually there's like four or five. Speaker 2 Okay, so usually there's like four. But this year when they have so they bring it down to six and they decide with six. Based on these six, we're really just going with two. We're not going to go with four. That's kind of what the decision that they had to make. Is that something I don't want to talk about or you want. Speaker 3 To talk about? Speaker 5 I'll talk a little bit. Oh, there were originally supposed to be four drum majors. One of them, like she said, was our returning senior. She chose to go back to marching. And the other one, she was a drum major with this for a few weeks during the summer band. But then now she's been marching the rest of the season, so it's technically just us two. Speaker 2 Okay, So it's kind of a. Speaker 5 Complicated situation because now we also have two conductors. They're not drum majors, they only conduct. So they're on like the two side ladders, one on the back, one on the side. And they only conduct for the band like they have no other leadership responsibilities. Speaker 3 Okay. So we have. Speaker 1 Two drum majors right now who are conducting. That's me and Priscilla, right? The conducting part of drum major is one of the lowest responsibilities of drum majors. It's not unimportant. It's definitely important, but it's not. Speaker 2 Like other responsibilities. You take a lot more time. Speaker 1 Yeah. For example, like if you were in a sport team captains, yes, they have to play. But part like the team captain role itself is more about helping people practice and stretching and this and, and the other thing. And so we have two drum majors who conduct and are like in charge of band. We plan leadership meetings, we plan activities for the band. Speaker 1 We're getting people set up at practice. Sometimes we were running practices this summer. We would do whole band rehearsals without directors there. Speaker 3 Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 So we are like, that's the leadership part of drum Major. But then due to like the needs of our show to conduct, you need people keeping time. So we had two more conductors who didn't go through the application process to become a leadership like drum major, and they hadn't been on leadership in previous years. We were both section leaders our sophomore year and then applied for drum major and then our now drum. Speaker 2 Major get to help pick those to people. Speaker 5 Now they just kind of like brought them in. Speaker 2 They brought in like. Speaker 5 These are your conductors. Yeah. Like, oh, okay. Speaker 2 So are there other bands? I feel like I used to watch Mr. Dick up on the ladder. Deja I thought directors also used to get up on the ladder and direct. Is that going to just drum majors or as long as you've ever known. That's just the way that it's been the show. Speaker 5 It's only drum majors, but for like name ups and stuff, sometimes directors just lead that. Of course, at the time it's us. Speaker 2 Okay. And that's for all schools. Speaker 1 Yeah. So for competition season, you can't have directors on the marching field for really any reason. I don't think you can't. They can't be walking around, They can't be conducting this. It's all high school like once. Speaker 3 Wow. Speaker 2 Can you think of a sport or any other things? It's like that where the kids are leading it. Speaker 3 That's amazing. Speaker 5 That is amazing. No, I can't think of anything else. Speaker 3 Oh, very. Speaker 5 Cool. That's why the application process and stuff is so long and so thought out is because of the amount of things we have to do is in charge of. Speaker 1 From when we first submitted our like application of Hey, I want to be drummer too. When the actual decision was, it was probably a month or a month and a half in like May. Speaker 5 Oh, I remember you asked, how do we find out? They just put a piece of paper on a bulletin board. Speaker 1 It looks like a cast list. If you think like musical, they just post it. Speaker 3 They're like. Speaker 2 Going the words where somebody comes and knocks on your door and like they have balloons or they see. Speaker 3 You and then they take you to say, Oh, yeah, congratulations. Speaker 1 No, it's a size 12 aerial font on a white piece of paper. It's not even big order in the corner. He's in me. It's like literally if you open a Google doc, they type four names like hit enter in between each name and then they staple it onto the bulletin board. Speaker 3 Oh wow. Speaker 2 You'll need to change that. I'm about to get a little sexist here and I apologize, but I would think based on the description of what you're saying, being a drum major, I would see girls being able to accomplish what you're talking about a lot. Speaker 5 I personally think me and Harry did a great job this year. Like, yeah, no one's perience. Speaker 1 Like, we just jumped. We just had a guess and check our way. Speaker 3 Through this year what we had. I know we do. Speaker 2 And yeah, I don't think boys in general would be able to meet the criteria that you're describing in general. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like you'll have to be creative. I'm not saying boys are not creative. Listen, I raised all boys. I love boys. Boys are awesome. But I would think there are certain skills. Speaker 3 That girls possess. Yeah, it's more inclined to. Speaker 5 Everyone has their strengths overall, and that's probably one that we tend to as. Speaker 3 A whole collective as a whole, possess a little more. Hey. Speaker 2 If you have to come up with some creative fun, this I would think, girls. Speaker 3 We kill it. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 5 So the thing is, in the past two years, when we were both archers. Speaker 1 It was guys, two. Speaker 5 Guy hydro majors. Speaker 3 That's why have this size, aerial, whatever, 12 rifle. Speaker 2 I would agree with that. I agree with that too. You get a woman in there in some kind of like where they're all men that used to just post names and then women are be like, we have to make this a little more special, like let's give them balloons and let's to kidnap them and let's take them to. Speaker 3 To paper. Yeah. Size 13. Yeah, that's enough. Speaker 5 Just some fun things that we like to do to get like feel closer to ban like make it more family is for example for the first competition me and her. Speaker 1 Oh yeah yeah. Speaker 5 Individual notes for every single person. Speaker 3 This is what I'm talking about right here. Yep. Yeah. So good for you. In the long time it. Speaker 5 Was worth it. It was a. Speaker 3 400. Speaker 1 And 39 notes. Speaker 2 Wow. And each of you wrote 139? Speaker 3 No, no, no. We split up, so. Speaker 1 We split it up with the third drum major to. She wrote a 30, I think. And then we each wrote like 50. And yeah, it was like two weeks and we had 50 notes right? And they were all personalized. They were all like, Why didn't. Speaker 5 We write the same things for. Speaker 1 You? So they were all they were all different. And mine, I think ours were both like 6 to 7 sentences long each. And then they had like little hearts on them and they were like, just little like. Speaker 5 This is what. Speaker 3 We're talking. Speaker 2 And my point. Speaker 5 You and for the state trip me and her made so word rooms we're in rooms of four and so we made these big goodie bags one per room. There were 45 rooms. So. Wow. Speaker 2 Yeah. Now when you get the money to do that booster. Speaker 1 Yes. So the band Booster Club is really supportive of they really like student lead soon led social media student lead goodie bags like stuff like this. If a students are willing to bring it to them and be like hey, they'll support the fund raising money. And it's like all as long as you like, use it for that, I guess. Speaker 1 So I went to the like the treasurer of the booster club and I was like, Hey, we want to make some goodie bags. We also used. So whenever we have band social events, one of the ways the band does it this different from others is we have like all the freshmen bring water and all the sophomores bring soft drinks and all the juniors, so that way we can use our fundraising money for like. Speaker 3 Other. Speaker 1 Show design and stuff and or like the venue or other things. So we had a ton of like treats and like there was like Rice Krispie treats and Debbie cakes and stuff like that. We had a ton leftover from one of our social events. So I reached out to the booster club and I was like, Hey guys, I know you have a ton of extras and we don't have a band hall, so how about you give them to me and I'll make them into these goodie bags? Speaker 1 And then they also supplied some funding for this. And we went on Amazon. We found cute little things like we have these bracelets that we put in. Each bag is going. Speaker 2 Nice for you. Speaker 5 We put bubbles in there, we put a. Speaker 3 New bag. Speaker 5 We put a cute little like, motivational pencil. Yeah. We also wrote another note for the group. Yeah, but it was like the same one for each bag. And I wrote some funny puns. Speaker 3 For the. Speaker 5 Things that we put inside the bags. Speaker 3 That. Speaker 5 They're pretty funny. Speaker 3 Yeah, there were funny things to boys. You have. Speaker 2 You would have had one of those beef jerky ropes just jam. It would've been a Slim Jim. They would have just had it. Speaker 3 Everybody walking out on TV. Here's the food, guys. Speaker 2 We love y'all for sure. We love y'all. Your I'm sure you're awesome in what you do, but girls do bring that little extra special. Now, do the band students, do they vote on? Is there any voting at all from individual band members? Speaker 1 Not for drum major, no drum major majors to avoid popularity contest right in a leadership setting, they make drum major and section leader. Those are both positions that are director decided who and they do have some there's some sway. So when we went into our interviews which was the final six, they one of the interview questions was who out of this group of six, give us two names of people that you would see yourself working really well with and why? Speaker 1 And it was more it was more. Speaker 3 Of. Speaker 1 How I think they wanted to see more accurately how peers thought about people in that group, because you can get a certain understanding from a director. But also drum majors are more in charge of the peers. They want to see how the peers respect. Sure, stuff like that. And then it was also like, okay, if we're leaning towards picking someone, we want to make sure that they're comfortable and like would feel good working with whoever they're working with. Speaker 2 So awesome. Okay, so here's another question. Probably the most asked question of the year is why the red uniforms? Speaker 5 Oh, because it matches our show. Our show is a broad Broadway themed. Speaker 2 Okay. So tell us, the Broadway theme is okay. Speaker 1 So the Broadway theme is Stephen Sondheim, musicals. So like Into the Woods, Gypsy. Speaker 5 Oh, Sunday in the Park. Speaker 1 George Yeah, with George, there's a bunch of Stephen Sondheim musicals, and his music is what our music is, all arranged songs from his musicals. Speaker 2 Okay. Speaker 1 And that was it was more of a theatrical design for our show. We wanted to give a, oh, a standout feature from a lot of a lot of marching shows that you see right now are stand and play loud. And so we wanted to add a little bit more. We wanted the audience to be like clapping, have fun, jazz hands kind of thing, and the red fit that. Speaker 1 And then also red contrast with green. So the green fields. So it was really bright and it popped really well. Speaker 2 Nice. What is your had these red uniforms and you walk out and the Alamodome had completely changed their field to be like a bright blue or. Speaker 3 Yeah, red. Completely red. Yeah, I think that would be so. Speaker 2 But that would have worked against Joe, wouldn't it have. Speaker 3 Yeah. Okay. Speaker 2 Just we've had people ask that question, so I want to be able to explain why Red So you're going to continue on with the red uniforms? I assume this is not a one year thing. Speaker 1 Oh, no, this is it is this is the one where they. Speaker 5 Just based off with the show. Like last year, our show was Mary Poppins. So we were dressed up like. Speaker 1 Mr. Banks. Speaker 5 Mr. Banks. And then this year it's a Broadway show. So. Red. Speaker 2 Red. Yeah. Okay. Speaker 5 Gosh, it's based off of what our show is like. Next year, we'll have a completely different uniform. Speaker 2 You change uniforms every year? Yeah. Has it always. Speaker 3 Been like that? No, just. Speaker 1 This is just last year. And this year this. Speaker 3 Is a new thing that he's going to. Speaker 1 Set. So the. No, sorry, this has just been since my freshman year. Okay. They used to do so. We have the traditional uniforms, which are the ones, you know, friends of ours which are which have not been pulled out of the vault recently because we don't have the space to store them. So they're in a storage container somewhere. Speaker 1 But then if you think about marching band more like a musical, you think about that set design that's why we have different props. That's why we have different costuming. That's why we have different musicals. It's like how the theater department switches their music, their musicals every year. Sure, it's very similar to that. Yeah, in that aspect. So, you know, those are just are like costumes, I guess. Speaker 3 And your work with color guard? Yes. So how does that coordination happen? Speaker 5 Like, did all you all make the decision about like the music first and y'all's look and then they. Speaker 3 Go from there. Speaker 1 So the directors arm. So the decisions aren't ever student driven. They're all like director based. And my understanding is that the directors all work together and come up with this idea. We have a design team, so we have like a drill writer who writes all the drill for our shows, which is how we move about the field. We have choreographers, music arrangers, and they all get together with color, guard, with band and. Speaker 5 And sometimes they come to our practices, help us out, sometimes they're busy, they're very busy. Speaker 2 So I would assume some of that is done by like technology. There would be a software program that would. Speaker 5 So the way we learn our drill is through an app, okay, UDP app and it tells you your exact coordinates on the field for each dot and there's like over 100 dots which you learn throughout marching season. So one has like 16 different dots and it tells you how many counts you rest, how many counts you move, it tells you like you're spacing between people. Speaker 5 It really helpful. Speaker 2 What is your favorite band to watch? College band. Do you have one? Speaker 5 I prefer watching high school marching bands. Speaker 1 So high school marching. Speaker 5 Yeah. Good one. Speaker 2 Give me one. Do you know the name of the school? Speaker 5 Hebron. High School. Speaker 2 Hebron. Speaker 1 Yeah. He run as well. They're music school. Yeah. So their marching band is a really, really good. Speaker 2 Now, were they part of the competition? Speaker 1 They weren't this year. They were Last year they went to Grand Nationals in Indianapolis. Speaker 3 Okay. Speaker 1 So they were not at San Antonio. Be away where we were this year. Speaker 2 Which you just got back from. So you went to San Antonio. You have to you go against how many bands whenever you first get there. Speaker 1 So when we go to San Antonio, there's two different competitions we're partaking in. It was over the span of four days. We performed three times. It was on the San Antonio Bay. Boy is all the different classes. Speaker 2 So of America. Speaker 1 Yes, all the different classes there is like. So it's how many students are in 10th, 11th and 12th grade at the school. So six A is like tons of students. Speaker 3 And. Speaker 5 They're there's five. A three. Speaker 1 Yeah, it goes all the way down. Santonio be away is all of the classes against each other. Speaker 2 Oh gotcha. Speaker 1 So it was 69 bands this year. Speaker 5 Alone that. Speaker 1 All against each other. Wow. And full scale of amount of students funding, etc.. Then we went to State, which was only our size schools. So all five schools. And that's where we made finalist. That's where we did more of an accurate ranking because it's in comparison to schools that you can compare better. Speaker 2 How did you all do it the way you did your due to your place it all to just do well. Speaker 5 Personally we did really good like as a group. Yeah, it was one of our best friends. But compared to like all the other. Speaker 2 Schools, right? I know it's hard to compete against. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So you all felt like you did okay? You were proud of yourself. Speaker 5 You're really happy. Speaker 2 With. Okay, good. Yeah. And so going into state or that's considered state. Yeah, right. So going to San Antonio, that's considered. You made it into the state. Speaker 1 Yes. You have to make it through region, through area to get to state students. Speaker 3 Tell us about that. Like, what was that process like? Speaker 5 Because you all made. Speaker 3 It to finals, right? So how how does that look? Walk us through that. Speaker 1 Okay. So we start here and. Speaker 3 We. Speaker 1 We start here at in Alvin and we compete against all the schools in our area that are same size. And the first step is region, which is not a competition based like ranking. It's it's purely how you are with yourself. So the judges give you a score, they say out of five, one is the best, five is the worst. Speaker 1 If you get a one, you move on to area. So some years, 17 schools from our region will make it. Some years, 30 schools. It's depending on like the personal level of excellence of each band and not like comparison yet. Speaker 3 Right? Speaker 1 Then we go to Legacy Stadium which is area and we that is the first competition of against other bands where you have to actually like rank higher than other people to move on. And depending on how many bands go to each area, they do the math and they say OC from Area E, which is the area we're in. Speaker 1 Three bands are going to move on to state and we ranked first in area and we moved on to state. So I think it was seven, 14, 17 bands were at area this year, something like that. Speaker 2 Okay. And so you won. Yeah. Speaker 1 We won. Speaker 3 An awesome we. Speaker 1 Moved on from there. We go to San Antonio, that's where State is. And then they say, okay, out of all the bands that are here in State, because all of you, it's like the top three for Mary, the top two from this area, etc. the whole all the areas. And they say, okay, the top 12 out of all the bands that are here are going to go to finals. Speaker 2 Gotcha. So you all made it to finals. Speaker 1 So here's why. Made it to finals. Speaker 3 Yeah. Speaker 1 So it was like top 12 out of somewhere around 255 schools is who makes it to finals And then. Speaker 5 We chose was actually the next day. Speaker 1 Yeah, it's the second day Right. Speaker 2 How did you feel about your performance? The second day? Speaker 5 The second day? We were really happy with that and like it was a great last performance. Speaker 3 Oh, good. Speaker 5 I thought I cried that day. Speaker 3 You know, I. Speaker 2 Just went to your. Speaker 3 Senior. Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's. Speaker 2 Good. So you felt great about your performance at State? Yeah. And you ended up getting 11th. Speaker 3 Yes. Okay. Speaker 2 Okay. So how did they announce that? Speaker 3 Okay, for a piece of paper on your face, this one's way different. Speaker 5 So for prelims, we have this thing called the drum major retreat. So all the drum majors get together from all the schools, like we're all together. And then they line us up by, like, performance order or something. Speaker 1 Yeah, sometimes it's random, but yeah. Speaker 5 And then we'll all walk into the field at the same time. And all of the bands, like everyone else, they're in the stands and like when they see you, they're all cheering and like, sure. So you, everyone's clapping. Speaker 3 Yeah. Speaker 5 And then we stand there on the field and they're, they'll announce each band. They're like participation. And then we have a salute. So every time they announce our name or step up, we'll do our salute and get go back. And then they're, they announce finals. Who The finals. And they're like performing at 605 though friends would high school marching band or whatever time it is. Speaker 1 You forgot to mention the fact that our director knew we made finals and didn't tell us, Oh, we were the second to last band. So they're like, okay, the 11th band to make it. We knew there were only 12 and they had like said all these other ten names and it gets to us and we're standing there and they're like, We don't we don't know it's us, because we didn't know until the announcement. Speaker 1 And they're like, okay, The 11th band to make finals performing at 645 is the end. We're all like, Oh. Speaker 3 Yeah, did. Speaker 2 You all go crazy? Did everybody. Speaker 3 Start? Yeah, well, see fun grades. Yeah, but we can't go crazy. Speaker 1 We can't have any reaction on the field because we're going we're doing our salute. Speaker 3 Like, that's what everyone lived. Speaker 5 So we're like, they're recording us. Yeah, but the band, the crazy. Yeah. And then for finals, it was different. It's full retreat. So our whole band walks onto the field like all 12 bands are all on the field the same time lined up and the drum majors go up into the center. We're in a little arc. Yeah. And then this announce. Speaker 5 And then I feel bad because the band can't go crazy there because, I mean, you can react, but as soon as we can break ranks for all the bands, we could go like, talk to other bands and start. Speaker 1 To have you eating pictures. Speaker 5 Easy. Yeah, it's it's really fun. Speaker 2 So how many how many people are in your band? Speaker 1 So we had I think it was 90 wins Marching on the field this year. That's not including percussion, which is like 12 drumline members. I don't know, like 15 in front ensemble. Speaker 5 Something like that. Speaker 1 It's it's somewhere it totals around 150 I think. OC including guard percussion is awesome. Speaker 5 And Bon Jovi. Speaker 1 They're going to be. Speaker 5 Props everywhere which is a really important role. Sure, if we didn't have them, the props will just stay in one place, right? Speaker 3 Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 2 So. So how does your band size compare to other band size? I mean, is that in general there are always about 150. Are there other bands have like 500 members? I mean, how does. Speaker 5 Those would be more of like the 60 bands. Yeah. So a ton of people. Speaker 1 Yeah. So bands of America normally ranks people or like brings bands more together. It's more consolidated groups. So in bands of America, we might be competing up against bands that have 300 people on the field. But for like State, for you, all that kind of stuff, they separate it more in a better class, like more accurate size representations, I guess. Speaker 1 So that's when you start seeing like pretty even numbers among all the different bands. Speaker 2 Were there any moments that you specifically can think about looking back at State this year? Really just over the year, you know, throughout this year, were there any moments that are like standout moments for you to being John Drumming majors your junior year? Like this was a great moment when this happened or would it be going to state what stands out? Speaker 5 I have one moment where in the warm up room before finals and state and we do this thing every rehearsal where we have a body warm up. So we have like a choreographed body warm up. And the song this year was You Belong You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. Speaker 2 Okay. Speaker 5 And we're in the warm up room and everyone's doing it, but everyone's singing the songs, the song, and just standing in front of everyone and thinking about how like, that was the last time we were going to do that, everyone was singing together. It was really emotional. I kind of cried after that know. It was kind of like a bittersweet moment because it was like an end to a season and everyone's like, together. Speaker 5 Like, it reminded me of how much of a family the band is. Speaker 2 Yeah, I'll tell you what your band is. That's one thing that I can say, is that the family atmosphere that band creates, it's it really is. It's a beautiful, wonderful thing. If every if any kid out there is wondering or parents, if you're wondering how you can get your kids involved to be a part of a strong team, family climate. Speaker 2 I mean, the band, I would say every time it's the band, I mean, y'all really do. And I know a lot of it is the amount of time that you put in together, but it just seems that you always rally around each other, too. And you have such a a family, you know? Speaker 3 Yeah. So we're all. Speaker 1 Really good friends. Yeah, for sure. The band is part of the reason that I became a drum major is because I felt so supported by the band program. And every group will have the people that are like, don't get along or don't necessarily agree with each other. And one of the most important moments of my season this year was someone who I didn't necessarily agree with very much of this. Speaker 1 My high school career as in band, who I've looked up to for different band like instrumentation reasons and this and that. We never really saw eye to eye on a lot of stuff. And it it never got super mature. I mean, everyone in band is pretty respectful and responsible over those kind of things. And then if there's any weird drummer or whatever, get sat down really quickly. Speaker 1 But we just we just always knew. We never really saw. I and I think it was going to area I got like a, a text message that was like, Hey, I just want you to know like drum major is really, really hard and I think you're doing a really great job. And this coming from someone who I had almost never seen eye to eye with, who had been kind of we kind of like we had our moments, I guess, cause there's a lot of times when you have to give instruction, but then they also have to be willing to receive it. Speaker 1 Sure. Yeah. And so there was a lot of like butting heads. And then that message just like, completely made my whole season because it reminded me how much that, like, you could, like, really never see eye to eye with somebody in band and they still have your back. They still like will support you and say, Hey, you're doing a great job. Speaker 1 You're like, I know that's hard in your different realm than what I'm doing, but. Speaker 2 Well, and Lizzy, it also says a lot about sounds like the leader that you've been because not everybody would necessarily have your back. So, yeah, you know, to be one of those leaders that just I think, I haven't known you very long, but just fairness, you know, goes a long way with people they can necessarily be jealous or not like what you do. Speaker 2 But if you're fair and you're just and you're just a good leader, you can't deny that. I mean, you know, so that's just easy to respect right there. Speaker 3 So. Yeah, well, that's awesome. Speaker 2 Well, good. Well, thank you for sharing that story. That's that's wonderful. So, Lizzy, I guess that was your story of of, you know, just a stand out moment for y'all. Are there any, like, silly, goofy, like, I love your sweatshirt, by the way. Silly things. Universally. Yes. I was. Speaker 3 Open earlier. You were there. Speaker 2 Any, like, silly moments, like pranks, dial pull pranks on each other? You know, your band directors really overall, I think, have really good senses of humor like, they're pretty funny, you know, they're really your pull pranks on each other. Speaker 3 Or. Speaker 1 So it's less about pranks but okay disclaimer Mr. Nelson is listening to this. Do not come for me for sure. Speaker 3 Yeah. Sorry. Speaker 1 I beat Mr. Nelson at air hockey in Dave Buster's in State, and he was kind of a little less than impressed about that because I forgot to mention that I have an air hockey table at my house. Speaker 3 Okay? And so. Speaker 1 When I asked him to play, I was like. Speaker 3 Oh. Speaker 1 That good? And then I beat him in front of all the band kids, you know? Speaker 3 Yeah. Nice. Speaker 1 And he he came up to me and he was like, Oh, So I found out you have an area hockey table in your house. You hustled me and he gave me a handshake. And then the next day was the day we were finding out if we, if we find didn't state and we came out from the like, drum major retreat and we're like, shaking because we, like, had gotten to the last two bands before we knew we made finals and we didn't know at that point. Speaker 1 And we're like, Mr. Nelson, we had no idea that we had made finals. And he turned to me and he goes, Yeah, I knew 45 minutes ago. Remember how you hustled me at air hockey? You it's, it's one of those kind of back and forth things that are just like, that's fun. Speaker 3 Yeah. Speaker 2 So going away to do both your plan to go to college after your senior year? Speaker 3 Yes, you. Speaker 2 Do. You want to play in the band? Speaker 3 I don't think I want to continue doing end. Speaker 5 I'm so after high school. Speaker 3 Yeah. Speaker 5 I want to go to a culinary school. Speaker 3 Mm. Speaker 5 I really like baking and. Cooking. Speaker 2 Oh, awesome. What is your favorite thing to bake? Speaker 5 I bake a lot of cakes and cookies. I kind of have, like, my own little business on Facebook. Speaker 3 Really What's your business? Yeah, Plug it. Yeah, Now's the. Speaker 5 Time. It's called Priscilla Sweet Treats. Speaker 3 Okay? Speaker 5 And I do a lot of, like, custom orders Sometimes. I do like big orders just for, like, a holiday. I'll be selling like, one thing. Speaker 2 Are you selling things right now for Thanksgiving or Christmas? Speaker 5 Not for funny, but I'm doing a custom order right now. Speaker 2 Okay. Speaker 5 Which is a gender reveal cake. Oh, I've never done one of those, but I'm excited for it. Speaker 3 That's awesome. Well, very cool. Speaker 2 Okay, awesome. So are you involved in Cake Wars? No, you're not. You're not in culinary at the high school. Speaker 5 I'm in culinary, but we're not in cake wars yet. Okay, That's more towards, like, the end of the school year. Speaker 2 Gotcha. Okay, Lizzie, what about you? Speaker 1 So I don't know what I want to do yet. I am. I'm looking at my options because I also play lacrosse. And so depending on that, I sent out a ton of emails to a bunch of different coaches and see if any of that lands. Speaker 2 So if you had a choice between playing lacrosse or band, you would choose lacrosse. Speaker 1 It really. Speaker 2 Depends. I mean, in college. Speaker 3 Yeah. Speaker 1 It really depends. Sometimes you can do both. Depending on the level of collegiate lacrosse you're playing, depending on the level of band. Speaker 1 I think it would all just I'm not really sure how it's going to land yet. I think a common misconception is that a high school band is a lot like college band, and they're not similar. Or at least for Texas high school bands, we're doing more of like show design, think more like a musical theater, and then college bands are more like pep bands playing loud for football games and stuff like that. Speaker 1 It's not the same like dynamic and aspect and stuff like that. Speaker 2 Yeah, that makes sense. Speaker 1 So if I were to like not continuing college, it wouldn't be like, not like we're both going to stop continuing a high school band, if that makes sense, because they're almost two separate things once you get into the college level. Speaker 2 Yeah, I don't know. That makes sense. So what's your favorite like are yo, what are you watching right now on Netflix or you had time to watch TV. Speaker 5 Recently since marching season just ended I've been having it's weird having so much time after school. Speaker 1 I got home at like six yesterday and I didn't know what to do with my life. Speaker 5 Usually we don't get home till like nine. Yeah, I'm on like a school day and then we still have, like, work. Speaker 3 And stuff to do. Speaker 2 Ton of homework. Speaker 3 Yeah, but. Speaker 5 Right now I'm watching Riverdale. Speaker 3 The last season. Really? Are you? Actually, I don't know. Speaker 5 I am watching. Speaker 1 It's funny on a different. Speaker 5 I was just watching something else. I don't remember what it was. Speaker 1 I'm watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Speaker 3 Nine types of girls are. Speaker 2 That's good. So who's your what's your favorite music like? Are y'all swifties or I'm not? Yeah, I'm not. Speaker 3 I don't know. You know, I. Speaker 5 Actually listen to a lot more Mexican music. I really like that more than normal pop music. Pop music. It's kind of not my thing. Speaker 1 I love pop music. Speaker 2 Who's your favorite? Speaker 1 Um, I like pink. Speaker 3 Okay, well. Speaker 1 I'm a big pink fan. Speaker 2 Have you ever seen her perform? Speaker 1 Yeah, I saw her when she came to you said. Speaker 2 Yeah, she's great. Speaker 1 She's singing. Speaker 2 It's amazing. I mean, the amount of acrobatics. I mean, if you know anything about playing, it's just. It's like a Cirque du Soleil, you know? So it's crazy. Yeah. Yeah, This crazy all at the same time. Yeah. So you're juniors and we're talking. We're in November and December, January, February, March, April. So you've got about five months before possibly trying out. Speaker 2 Yeah. I think you're both trying out for drum majors. Speaker 5 I definitely am. Speaker 2 Okay. Okay. Good to know. Speaker 1 Yeah, I will. I'll try. Speaker 5 Again. It did have like throughout the season there were its ups and. Speaker 3 It's definitely a lot. Yeah. Speaker 5 But in the end, especially going to stay in seeing how close everyone is really made me want to continue doing drum major for next year. Speaker 3 Awesome. Speaker 2 Well, is there anything else that you want to talk about or any other subject matters that we haven't touched? Speaker 5 There's a funny thing that we do every day after body warm up like one, and we call it our emotional release. Speaker 2 Okay, What is that. Speaker 5 So everyone can just like scream? You can just like, scream, do whatever you want. Just to get like. Speaker 1 Yeah, because we're to do it for practice. Speaker 3 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 5 And it's right after school. Like, you have to, like we. Speaker 3 Finish. Speaker 1 Stretching and then everybody's just like, Oh. Speaker 3 I find that really funny, so don't be concerned. Speaker 5 If you hear a bunch. Speaker 3 Of screaming adults. Speaker 5 Be concerned if it's between. Speaker 1 430 and 445. It's just the band kid. It's just been kids. Speaker 3 Oh, that's awesome. Well, listen. Speaker 2 For two people that didn't know a ton about band, right? We've enjoyed talking to you all and learning more about the band and we're so proud of you. All at State. Speaker 3 Oh, that's another thing. Speaker 2 We I know we need to have y'all come to the board meeting. Actually, I think in the past we actually invite the drum majors instead of inviting the entire band to the board meeting to be recognized by the board will be inviting just the drum majors, I think, in December. Speaker 5 Signing. Speaker 3 Yes. Speaker 2 Will. The board would love to recognize you all for your efforts and everything that you do. And Kelsey will specifically be reaching out to y'all to maybe get some information. Speaker 5 Yes. Already been talking with Mr. Nelson. Okay. Some of that. So trying to work out the specifics. Speaker 3 Yeah. Good. Well, precedent setting. Speaker 2 Lizzie, thank you all for coming in and visiting with us today. It was great to hear from you all. Speaker 3 Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 2 You'll have a good day.