|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
(This article, reprinted with permission and featuring future alum Shayna Half, appeared in The Columbus Dispatch on September 14, 2007) 9/20/07 Drum major dreaming of the 'Shoe Shayna Half, a Bexley High School sophomore, is the first young woman to lead the school's marching band. Her goal? Twirl her baton for the Buckeyes. Friday, September
14, 2007 3:31 AM
A spinning metal baton plummeted toward Shayna Half as the 15-year-old drum major stood in the center of the Bexley High School football field. Would she catch it? Family members held their breath, fellow students stared intently, and the eyes of hundreds of strangers were ready to document her every mistake. For the first time, Half was alone in front of the school's marching band during a game. But what sounds like a script for a typical nightmare was, actually, her dream come true. She is the first drum major at Bexley High School in almost 30 years and the first female to fill the role in school history, said officials there. Friday was her second performance ever, after more than a year of training. "At first, no one at my school even knew what a drum major was. They'd say, 'Oh, really? What drum do you play?' " Half said. "But after seeing me at the game, even people I never met cheered. It was so cool." A field commander directs and leads the band but doesn't twirl. Featured twirlers twirl but don't lead. Most high schools have one or the other. But Half does both, like the Ohio State University marching band drum major. And despite her reserved demeanor, she doesn't hesitate to share her ultimate goal: Her e-mail address is osumb2b -- for OSU marching band to be. "OSU drum major all the way, that's my goal. I've always been an OSU fan, and I actually wanted to be on the football team when I was in the fourth grade," Half said, laughing. Seeing the drum major perform changed her mind. Stew Kitchen from Hardin County currently wears the drum major's hat for the Buckeyes. More high-school students are strutting their stuff than ever before, he said. About a dozen school bands locally use the OSU style, as do about 40 schools across the state, said local band directors and former OSU drum majors. In Bexley, interest in the position has never been a problem, "but when it came time to make the time commitment, (students) never came through," said Jeff Schneider, who retired last year after 27 years as Bexley band director. "So it was really exciting to see Shayna come forward and ask me to do it." The drum major position is an old band tradition, but Half knows that one thing hasn't changed: Males dominate it. Ohio State has had about 90 drum majors since Sgt. Joseph Bradsford became the first, in 1878. Of them, two have been women. In 2003, Kathryn Mitchell was the last to break into the fraternity. Mitchell doesn't know Shayna, but she recognizes her ambition. When Mitchell was a sophomore at Centennial High School, she, too, became the first female drum major at her school. "But it's really not a masculine or feminine thing. It's all about how passionate you are," Mitchell said from her current home in Texas. "It's physically hard, and there is no coach there to tell you to practice every day; it's just something you have to have inside yourself." Half has attended OSU's two-hour practices twice a week for the past year; she said there are anywhere from three to 12 teenagers who attend. She is often the only girl; sometimes there is one other. "It's tough when it's hot, but the lingering thought of being the OSU drum major keeps me motivated," she said. Schneider said he wouldn't be surprised if that drive leads her to be the third woman to strut out in front of the Best Damn Band in the Land.
"I think she has set some lofty goals," he
said, "but she's the type of kid who will see them through." |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
