The MHS drumline took home first place captions for snare, tenor, and bass at the H.E.B Drumline Competition on Saturday, September 12th.

“I knew that we had put in a lot of hard work into the season and that we performed well, so when we got the awards, I knew we earned it and I was proud of all of the hard work we put in,” bass captain Zach Gallini said. “I was super excited when they called Mansfield because I got to go up and get our plaque.”

Drumline competitions are different from the regular band competitions in that only the percussion attends and competes. Due to this, the drumline has to spend extra time preparing for these special competitions.

“We have to get use to the listening environment of it just being us as opposed to the entire band,” sophomore Noah Francom said. “We just have to perfect the show as much as we can and make it as clean as possible.”

Though it can be nerve-wracking performing without the band, the drumline has multiple ways to deal with nerves. Each section has a certain pre-performance ritual they do to get everyone focused and ready to perform.

“We snares have a handshake we do,” drumline captain Dayton Deal said. “Our percussion director Mr. Feldser also gives us Mentos for ‘clean beats’, and we click our sticks together before going on the field.”

Since the drumline has to spend hours upon hours rehearsing together, they have several different parties so they can all get to know each other.

“During summer band we kidnapped the freshmen and took them to IHOP and then to the park,” Gallini said. “We have drumline parties too, and we sometimes go out to eat together.”

Overall, the drumline section has grown extremely close over the past few months.

“We’ve pretty much turned from good friends to family,” Francom said. “We’ve known each other for so long and we spend so much time together that we’ve become like a big family.”