WAUSEON - Precision percussionists Ryan Bashor and Amy Behrman can't guess how well their Indoor Drum line team will fare this weekend at its first international competition.
“As for worlds, you never can tell what you're going to get. I haven't seen half the teams,'' said Ms. Behrman, a Wauseon High School senior who plays the bass drum.
Today, these drummers and the rest of their team compete against 52 teams from around the United States and Canada at Wright State University in Dayton.
If it goes well, the group will move on to the semifinals tomorrow and perhaps compete in the final Saturday.
Last year, the novice team surprised itself and everyone else by winning the state championship in the Regional A division. This year the team has moved up to Scholastic A, a tougher class with more groups competing.
“We're doing pretty well,” said Mr. Bashor, a senior who plays tenor drums. “We're not scoring as high as we did last year, but we're still doing well.”
Last weekend, the team made it to the state finals and placed eighth - a good finish for a fairly new team. “For our second year, we're doing pretty awesome,” Ms. Behrman said.
The Indoor Drum line is a smaller and more precise version of a typical marching band. The 21-member line plays drums, keyboards, and bass guitars. Performances are judged on marching, musical technique, and how well the two fit together, said Bill Etling, drumline director.
The drum line concept has been around for about 12 years, Mr. Etling said.
Wauseon started its drum line last year. Swanton, Delta, Maumee, and Findlay high schools also have teams. Findlay Middle School has a team, too. Maumee's team is competing this weekend.
In competition, each team has nine minutes to set its stage, perform its music, and tear down the set. Wauseon will march and play a compilation of music off the CD Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.
“It's well-known from [the movie] The Exorcist,'' Mr. Etling said. “We've put a light twist on it. It's not devil-worship music.''
The 41/2-minute performance is tricky, Mr. Bashor said. “The music's not all that hard, and the marching part isn't hard, but putting it together, that's the hardest part,” he said.
It takes a lot of practice and a lot of people to make it all come together, Mr. Etling said. The Wauseon team utilizes a number of sectional professionals, a program coordinator and visual designer, and music arrangers. Parents help set up and tear down stages before and after performances.
The drum-line season starts in mid-November and ends with the international competition this weekend. The training is grueling, Ms. Behrman said. “It makes you work. It's tedious, and you just have to suck it up when it gets hard.''
Why does she subject herself to three-hour practices twice a week and 12-hour sessions every other Saturday?
“It's taught me discipline, and I like being pushed to do what I can do,'' Ms. Behrman said.
This weekend Wauseon's drum-line team will show the world what it can do. If the line doesn't bring home a world title, that's OK, Ms. Behrman said.
“Just as long as everyone goes out there and does their best,'' she said.
First Published April 11, 2002, 7:16 a.m.
