Percussion students in the Emporia Middle School band are hoping to get some hand-me-downs from their counterparts at Emporia High School. And the high-school students are hoping to be able to buy some gently used snare, tenor and bass drums from a professional drum corps, to replace some zealously used drums the band got almost 10 years ago.
The replacement drums will cost about two-thirds the retail cost of brand-new drums, and hopes are to have the drums in Emporia by the time the EHS band goes to Washington, D.C., next summer to march in the city’s Independence Day parade.
The student band is getting help from the EHS Band Boosters group and from Crawford Furniture, which has donated a grandfather clock to be used as a prize in the Boosters’ fundraising effort.
“We’re trying to raise $8,000,” said Ann Coulson, parent of an EHS band student.
Coulson and Susan Howard have organized the drawing.
“It is a gorgeous piece,” Coulson said. “It doesn’t look real traditional. It looks like it would fit in any décor. … The clock retails for more than $3,500, so it’s quite a deal.”
Suggested price of tickets for the drawing is $1 per ticket, or $5 for six tickets.
The drums currently in use at EHS came from another community-wide effort called “Adopt a Drum,” a joint effort by local businesses and individuals. That was the last time EMS students got “new” drums.
EHS band director Bob Haselhuhn said that the adopted drums are starting to show the wear and tear of 10 years of heavy use.
“We would like to get new drums before these are worn out so that we can give them to the Middle School,” Haselhuhn said, explaining that those drums could last six to eight years — perhaps 10 if drum heads are replaced. “The drums that the middle school are playing on should have been retired 10 to 15 years ago. They weren’t because the middle school music budget would be able to replace one drum a year, without spending any money on anything else.”
The handing-down of instruments is nothing new for EMS band instructor James Davis, who played in the Emporia district’s bands and graduated from Emporia High School and from Emporia State University.
“I am an Emporia High grad, so I played on some of the drums that the middle school uses,” said Davis, who graduated in 1990. “… I know those drums well, but they are falling apart.”
By the time the high school got new drums, Davis was in college.
“I didn’t even play on the new ones. I was the drum line instructor when we got those,” he said.
Passing on the old drums to the younger students prolongs the instruments’ usefulness to the school district.
Davis explained that high school students use the drums far more than the younger students and, once the drums age and become more fragile, they last longer in the hands of the middle-schoolers.
“We don’t do as many football games as the high school does,” Davis said, ticking off the numerous appearances made by EHS band members. There’s the high school games, “a bunch” of pep assemblies, all of the local parades and three marching festivals every year.
“After a while, parts just break, and that’s what we’re looking at now,” he said. “They’re made out of wood, the shell is, and so the wood is coming apart and places where the hardwood is attached to it is coming apart.”
If the drums are played to complete deterioration at the high-school level, both EHS and EMS will need replacement drums. Davis likened the situation with the middle school’s mid-1980s model drums to driving a used car.
“Not many people are driving the same car that they were driving in the mid-80s,” Davis said. “You can maintain it all you want, but at some point, you have to replace it.”
Davis is hoping to see five snare drums, three tenors and five bass drums handed down from EHS to his EMS students.
Flint Hills Music, the Band Boosters and the teachers and students are working together to get the 13 replacement instruments.
“We have found a deal on some drums that were used in a drum corps, a DCI corps,” Davis said. “They use them for one year and they’re going to sell them. These are the professional organizations. They are the top in the world. I know we’re getting a huge discount.
“By spending money, we’re actually going to save money, so we’re doing what we can. … This is just such a fantastic opportunity that’s come to us. It’s time to replace them and pass them down.”
Paccifier (anonymous) says...
Worthy cause to give to
September 16, 2009 at 4:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hickory (anonymous) says...
Where are the tickets being sold?
September 16, 2009 at 5:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
concernedcitizen (anonymous) says...
Tickets are available at the home EHS football games. There will be a table set up by the band boosters to sell them. They are also available at Crawford Furniture. Thank you!!
September 16, 2009 at 7:05 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )