PASIC 2012: A Dream Come True

When I was looking at colleges during my junior and senior years of high school, the importance of a great drumline was one of the few things I was sure about. I didn't know whether I'd prefer public or private, urban or rural, liberal arts or hard sciences, small pond or big pond, etc. Heck, I didn't even have the first clue of what I wanted to major in! But one of the few things I knew (other than pretty girls were a plus) was that I would love to be a part of a great, well-respected college drumline. An odd requirement for a non-music major, but hey, it mattered.

So when I began looking, I went to youtube and searched for videos with PASIC in the name. For the non-percussionists in the audience, PASIC stands for the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Basically, it's a weekend or so of nothing but percussion - marching percussion competition, educational clinics, industry trade show, and concerts galore. I knew that any group that took ensembles to PASIC was very serious about percussion and drumming, and groups that did well were of the highest caliber in the nation, if not the world. So I watched countless videos of awe-inspiring musicianship and youthful performance antics. After watching these videos, a few schools stood out - UNT, OSU (Oklahoma State), TCU, Texas State, etc. As you may have read, I wound up at TCU. And this year, I wound up in one of those videos.

I'd recommend watching in high quality. Ps, I'm a cymbal player.

Our "project" led us to rehearsals of 20-30 hours per week working on the most demanding performance I've ever experienced. It put all of us through a gauntlet of emotions — frustration, exhilaration, exhaustion and inspiration — but was, hands down, one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. I learned a lot about music, marching, responsibility and work ethic, and made deep relationships and memories along the way. Thank you to anyone and everyone who encouraged or supported us along the way — we needed you.