Major Fun

Thu., June 29, 2000

Story

Half time at high school football games isn’t just a hot dog break,” said Mt. Spokane drum major Chris Parkin during a camp last week for drum majors from all over the Northwest.

Parkin and 67 other high school musicians gathered on the campus of Eastern Washington University to get ready for their upcoming duties as drum majors.

The occasion was the first of seven International Marching Clinics across the nationwide organization that works with the leaders of high school bands. Each of the students at the camp was chosen, either by a band leader or by fellow students, to lead their high school band during next year’s season.

So, off they went for a week of learning from people like EWU Director of Bands Patrick Winters. In daily classroom sessions, the students studied subjects like “Problem Solving in Your Band” and “Conducting and Body Language.” On the field several times a day, they drilled their marching skills.

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