THE DRUM MAJOR LIFECYCLE

From aspiring hopeful to drum major, from student to teacher, and from motivated to motivator, a drum major grows by leaps and bounds during her time on the podium with the University of Delaware and with the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy.

- Alyssa Rosenblum

When the University of Delaware Marching Band (UDMB) completed its diminuendo at the end of “Music of the Night,” I felt myself breathe for the first time in the previous eight minutes. It was my senior year in high school in 2015 and my third time being a spectator at the Collegiate Marching Band Festival (CMBF) in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At that year’s extravaganza, I watched and admired what I hoped would be my future alma mater.

I’m going to be in that band. I will be on that field this time next year. Then my thoughts were cut off with the famous chords from “The Phantom of the Opera,” embellished by a beautiful fabric flyover and a Phantom that vanished in front of our very own eyes.

Already on my feet, I whooped and applauded until my hands were red. After the cutoff, I turned to my friends and screamed, “THAT’S MY BAND!”

DELA-WHAT? DELAWARE!

I had known that I wanted to attend the University of Delaware since my sophomore year of high school. The summer beforehand, I attended the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy (DMA) at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst for the first time. There, I first watched a performance video of the University of Delaware (UD) Fightin’ Blue Hen Marching Band and met Heidi I. Sarver, director of athletic bands at UD and a lead clinician at DMA.