Major Candidates: With Drum Major auditions upcoming on March 21, three of the eight candidates have unique motives to compete for three slots

Then-freshman Alex Shrock was overwhelmed by the 80 instrument-clad high schoolers bustling around him at his first-ever band camp. He knew no one, including the three upperclassmen drum majors – so he was shocked when they invited him to lunch.

The kindness of his older Drum Majors inspired Shrock to audition to become one himself so he can help the incoming freshmen find a place in band.

“The first time that the band played music and marched at the same time, the Drum Majors really helped us freshmen be able to be a part of that,” now-sophomore Shrock said. “That moment felt so amazing that it really made me want to be able to help other new freshmen.”

So Shrock applied to be a clarinet section leader this past fall and was accepted — he passed out music, answered questions and sent out important announcements through GroupMe to other students in the clarinet section. 

After consistently going home and excitedly giving play-by-plays of being a section leader to his parents last semester, Shrock now turns to the Drum Major applications to take on more responsibility like conducting.

“I want to make everyone enjoy coming to band every day and to make it a very tight knit and social community,” Shrock said.

Warm up the fundamentals. Take it slow. Work out the kinks.

It doesn’t matter if he’s sitting in a band practice room or standing on the red umber track, junior Davis Muther starts off each practice session the exact same way. 

As both a first-chair trombone player and avid track runner, Muther spends most evenings working on improving his skills in both areas.

“As individuals we always strive to make things perfect,” Muther said, “For me, I want to make my music as perfect as possible while also perfecting my form and how I run.”

Musicians, much like runners, put in the time and energy to practice in order to see the results pay off in performances. Though he realizes that he can’t force the band to spend more time individually practicing at home, he plans to encourage it.

“People can tell if you practice a lot and if you’re doing good things in the practice rooms,” Muther said. “Being a perfectionist is all about being a musician.”

The only band member that can be identified from even the worst seats in the stands at Friday night football games is sophomore Madi Moormann — unmistakable in a Lancer Dancer uniform instead of typical marching band attire.

As a Drum Major, Moormann simply wouldn’t be able to miss a meeting or a warm-up, she’d have to be present for each band event — undoubtedly conflicting with dance at some point. It already has this year.

“We’ll be warming up for band and I’ll miss a picture that I was supposed to be in for dance,” Moormann said. “Or I’ll be stretching with dance and we’ll be having some meeting for band.”

She hasn’t decided what her dance career will look like next year. But she knows she doesn’t want to quit band.

“[Music] has always been in my life,” Moormann said, “It’s one of the biggest factors. And I just don’t even know how my life would be if I didn’t have music in any form.”