By Lauren Pitts
The Logan County High School band is a group of individuals from grades 7-12, of all backgrounds and personalities. They are often recognized for their performances at football halftime shows or their covers of popular songs played during warm-ups and timeouts. However, there is a lot of the band world that isn’t seen. Unlike most after school activities, the band often splits up into smaller groups in order to get things done more efficiently.
The Percussion section is a little different from the others in that not only do most of the students play different music, but also completely different instruments. There are various pitched percussion instruments such as the marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, bells, and piano. All of these produce unique sounds though they look very similar. Along with these are the well-known, non-pitched instruments like snares, tenors, and bass drums. The two types break down the percussion section into subsections: front ensemble (pit) and drum line (battery). The two often rehearse together with a few more people who often remain behind the scenes. The percussion instructors this year are college students who all attended Greenwood High School. Austin McClain, Landon Owens, and Baxter Fee come to Logan County multiple times a week to listen, watch, and critique the percussion in order to help them improve. McClain says, “There’s something incredibly rewarding about seeing their hours of work, during and outside of rehearsals, turn into something that an audience of hundreds of people can enjoy. Seeing them grow as musicians, performers, and people is a feeling like no other.”
When asked what the band would be missing without a percussion section, band director David Dayton replied with an immediate, “Oh my gosh. Everything.” He then shared with me about something that happened this week during rehearsal. The whole band, with the exception of percussion, was in the gym playing through their show music when a group of students walked in and started watching and listening. Afterwards, Mr. Dayton went to thank them for being respectful and they told him that the band sounded really good. All Mr. Dayton and many of the band members could think was how much better the group would have sounded with the percussion there. “Without them we lack rhythmic drive and the foundation that creates a full sound.”
Many people may want to be a percussionist for various reasons, including exercise or simply that playing a percussion instrument seems like fun, but senior marcher and snare drummer, Mollie Crawford, responded in a very different way. “The bonds I form with the people in my section are a big part of what keeps me coming back every year. It just feels like home to me.” Although they operate mostly behind the scenes of the band, the percussion section at Logan County is a unique group of students who challenge themselves and each other while bringing power and passion to the group as a whole.
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