Entertainment Studies | Drumline Live Showcases the Value of Showmanship & Edutainment
by Kia O. Moore
Concert March 21, 2017
Keynotes:
Showmanship on stage and off stage is oh so necessary. Hype pre-show, spectacle onstage, meet and greet off stage
The Importance of the Visuals to a show are extremely important to pull the crowd in >>Costumes/Pictures/Videos
Edutainment as prominent part of the show & the Host can tie the musical entertainment and education together for the audience
Love for the Wall of Sound
In 2002, I fell hard for the sound of the drumline thanks to an unsanctioned pep band and the movie Drumline. In high school I had a friend named Jason who was obsessed with the high-stepping marching bands of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). His passion for these halftime show-style bands pulled me into an unsanctioned high-stepping high school pep band as a drum major. That experience reinforced my love of hearing many instrumentalists becoming one huge wall of sound, much like my first experience at the symphony orchestra.
WE’VE GOT THE GOLDEN TICKETS
On March 21, 2017, the onstage production Drumline Live was coming to the Belk Theater at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. I saw the production many years ago, but I thought to myself that it would be nice to see it again. However, it was just a passing thought. A couple days after that fleeting thought, Drumline Live came up in a conversation with my mentor Alysia Osborne. In her work with the Historic West End in Charlotte, she is deeply connected to the Charlotte-based HBCU, Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). When she heard JCSU was going to be involved in the pre-show, she said…”Oh, we are going to this! Let me call some folks.”
Alysia snagged some tickets for us! We rolled up to the Belk Theater and a dope pre-show unfolded before us. The JCSU drumline was playing out front of the Belk Theater and my BIG I pep band memories came streaming back to the forefront of my mind as the anticipation for the onstage Drumline Live show grew.
Drum Major Antics
Back during my days at Independence High School, my buddy Jason decided to start an unsanctioned pep band at our high school. He pulled me into the Drum Major position. I did not know how to play an instrument, but I knew how to put on a show when the drum cadence hit. I already knew how to move my hips and body to the beat very well, which is the reason why he pulled me into the pep band. But, I was also eager to learn how to high-step like the drum majors I saw on the big screen in the movie Drumline that hit the theaters back 2002. I was so into the HBCU Drum Major culture that I Macgyvered my own drum major baton from a mop handle, yellow & green electrical tape, and a tennis ball. Then I pushed through my shyness to do moves in front of crowds like the HBCU drum major showmen I looked up to.
