March 29, 2024

Drumlines help establish tempo for band

About 15 drummers among 125 Cardinal Regiment members

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When a coach, principal or director refers to some element as the “backbone,” that puts responsibility on that element’s individuals.

There are about 125 members to the Cardinal Regiment this year. Newton High School marching band — including the flag corps — spent its mornings and afternoons of the first week of August getting ready for the 2016-17 season, enduring the elements on the practice fields located on the east edge of the NHS campus.

“The drumline is the rhythmic backbone we rely on to have a strong marching season,” said fifth-year Regiment director Jim Beerends. “It’s the glue that holds the whole band together.”

The Cardinal Regiment had about 134 members last year. Its first public performance of 2016 fall marching season will be will be Aug. 26, when the Cardinal varsity football team hosts Ottumwa.

The first marching competition of the season will be Sept. 24 when the group travels to Pella for the Marching Dutch Invitational. Last year, the Regiment placed fourth in the Class 4A division at that event, behind Ankeny, John F. Kenndy of Cedar Rapids and Dowling Catholic.

The Regiment ended up losing some extremely talented four-year members to graduation in May. Natalie Camp, a junior, said one of the highlights of last season was helping Newton earn the best drumline honor at the season-ending Statewide Marching Competition in Waukee.

“That was incredible,” Camp said. “That’s what we work for. We worked so hard to get to that goal.”

It won’t be clear until school starts exactly how many freshman will be in this year’s Regiment, but there are always many. There were about 53 freshmen on last year’s squad.

Camp said this year’s goals include incorporated freshman and first-year Regiment members more. It’s one of a school band’s function to be inclusive to new members, but Camp said the drumline and the entire Regiment should always strive toward more of a family atmosphere.

“We’ve got to make the newbies feel like we own this, that the performance is from all of us,” Camp said. “A good show is something we all make happen together.”

One highlight for Newton musicians last year happened in the spring, when the school’s jazz band qualified for and competed at the state competition in Des Moines for the first time in at least the past 25 years. There was also the every-four-years spring break trip, which took the band to Orlando, Fla., in March for a performance.

Some of the Regiment members also play summer concerts with the Newton Municipal Band. A camp held the first week of August featured morning and afternoon sessions and allowed Beerends to build this year’s sound from the ground up, starting with basic marching fundamentals.

This year, Beerends will have some new personnel on staff.

Keliliah Brown returns to her alma mater after three years directing the Knoxville High School bands, as the 2007 NHS graduate will direct the “second” band or the symphonic band. She takes the place of Michelle Banwell, who has moved to Berg Middle School to join her husband, Seth, in running the band program there.

The drumline has a new sponsor this year. A sponsor is sort of like a specialty coach, such as a linebackers coach in football, assigned to assisting in directing a small part of a marching band. Gerard Hoskins, an Iowa State University student, is highly regarded by both Beerends and Camp, and Beerends said Hoskins came from a well-known Rock Island (Ill.) area high school program before performing during his ISU career.

Hoskins replaces Lee Plummer, who had helped the Regiment for about seven years. He relocated from central Iowa to take an assistant director’s position at Muscatine High School.

This year’s drumline features four bass drummers, including Camp. There are also three tenors, four snares and four cymbals.

Camp said even though Beerends can be tough at times, he’s ultimately a calming force, encouraging musicians to not stress out — simply fix mistakes and improve.

“It’s great to think about how much we’ve improved,” Camp said. “To think we went from not knowing any drill to being able to produce a great show? Wow.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com