Click, click, click, BOOM! CRASH!
The heart of many parades and events, drumlines have been around since the beginning of marching bands. Drumlines consist of a variety of percussion instruments performing the same way as a marching band and are used to bring excitement and energy to the band and its listeners. They’ve been a crucial part of military bands and marching bands alike.
Enter second-year NUHS chemistry teacher Ashley Hoefker. She has been in the band since high school and her passion is the drumline.
Ms. Hoefker has been instructing the Trojan Marching Band in Worthington since 2016. She has lots of great memories but her favorites, she said, “are the trips we take. The Worthington Marching Band has gotten to travel internationally.”
Hoefcker has been assisting the New Ulm High School marching band by teaching them how to march and maintain proper form when it comes to different movement techniques. While playing for a marching band the musician is almost always moving, either marking time or doing different choreography; rarely are they standing still.
The New Ulm High School band performs for the homecoming parade and game as well as an indoor marching band show. Each song is choreographed and musicians perform alongside their fellow marching band students.
New Ulm High School also has its own drumline. Performing at the winter parade, a group of students march through downtown beating their drums, crashing their symbols, and waving their flags. The drumline has been instructed by Senior Joey Kotten for a few years. Joey teaches the new students the cadence and then practices marching as a group. Students inside and outside of the concert band are allowed the chance to join and participate, giving them an opportunity to learn how to play percussion instruments and march.
