On Saturday, Oct. 26, the Greenhill Drumline competed in the Texas Private School Music Educators Association (TPSMEA) Competition. The competition was held at Fort Worth Christian School and Greenhill went up against 12 different private schools.
Last year, Greenhill earned the highest score and placed in the top five at the TPSMEA competition. This year, the team received a first division rating at the competition. Prior to the competition, sophomore Rohan Chilakapati had said that was hoping to perform similar or better than last year at this same competition.
“I am really excited for this season,” Chilakapati said. “The whole drumline has been working really hard, and it is really fun.”
The Greenhill Drumline has recently gained many new members, helping grow the program and perform at a higher level.
“This year we have 10 [members], which is more than my first year here, where we had seven,” Middle and Upper School Band Teacher Tony Lopez said.
To prepare for the competition, they have been practicing since before school started, partaking in “Drumline camp” the week of Aug. 5-9, and continuing to hold “Drumline Camp” through the course of the year. This allowed them to learn basic techniques and start learning their piece for the TPSMEA competition. Now, the drumline practices before and after school and during their class to prepare for competitions.
“Before school, we come in and have something called ‘Drumline camp’ and we practice every day on basic techniques,” senior Prabath Girish said. “We also start practicing the competition pieces.”
The group has many goals for the year, including working on their skill and improving both individually and as a team, Lopez says.
“[A goal for us] is to have fun and improve as a group and individually,” Lopez said.
Members of the group say they would also like to perform more for Greenhill events such as sports events, including Hornet Night, in addition to their regular performances at football games and pep rallies. Girish says performing at different events will allow the drumline to show off their abilities and maintain their progress.
“We have started to talk about performing before the other games and on Hornet night to show our school spirit,” Girish said.
