Senior Profile: Larson Woolwine – Marching On

Percussion has always a part of senior Larson Woolwine’s life. When he was a kid, Woolwine would entertain his parents by drumming with his silverware at the dinner table. If he heard music, he’d try to tap out the beat with his chopsticks. Playing the drums was always a recreation for Woolwine, but it wasn’t until eighth grade when his parents offered up drum lessons and he replied, “Sure, why not?” to taking his musical inclination to the next level.

High school band was a new experience for Woolwine. He had never even been in a band, but quickly caught up to the level of his peers at the summer band camp.

By junior year, Woolwine was involved in marching, symphonic and jazz band. Junior and senior year Woolwine was a part of the Kansas all-state band. Playing with nine of the best percussionist, Woolwine came to the realization of what he wanted to pursue in college: music.

Woolwine narrowed his choices down to the University of Kansas (KU) and University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) – both of which have excellent music schools. Woolwine thought about UMKC, a college just down the street from his house. He knew they had a great music program, but wanted somewhere further from home and a bigger university. KU, a top 25 music school, was his golden ticket.

Already accepted into the school as a normal student, Woolwine still had to audition to be accepted into the KU School of Music. This was Woolwine’s shot. There he sat in front of three members of the percussion department faculty, and began playing.

“Once I started playing, I settled in and it was normal for me,” Woolwine said.

A month later, Woolwine received a letter in the mail, reading “Congratulations, you’ve been accepted into the KU School of Music.”

Along with his music major, Woolwine had one more goal-to play with the KU drumline just like he had at East. After another audition, Woolwine became a member of the KU Drumline.

“Being on drumline it kind of had the same sort of camaraderie that you have in like sports,” Woolwine said. “But I just like to be well rounded; like playing an instrument, for an example, and still playing sports. I still love sports and I’m going to follow them my whole life, but I’m not always going to be able to play them. And I’m probably going to be able to play drums my whole life.”

Even though he is a  music major, Woolwine will also still take basic freshman classes, along with finance and business classes, just in case music isn’t right for him and his future.

“I don’t know if the music major is going to hold out through my four years, I might just decide it’s not for me,” Woolwine said. “But I want to go in as a music major because it’s something I really like to do and just have a lot of fun with and see where it takes me.”