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Yeah I thought I did well, but actually I got last in line for it.
he read out the scores and he said: 82, 85, 89, 92
And I was like "Man did me and Becca beat everyone by that much?
And I thought the scores were in this order:
Becca, me, Kendall, Caroline
(Becca is amazing at flute and guard)
(I'm amazing at trombone and marching)
(Kendall is amazing at snare)
(Caroline is new, and isn't good at flute yet and has never marched before)

And the scores were really like this:
Kindall, Caroline, Becca, me

And he read them off and he was like
Ok our drum major is... and I was listening for the "L" sound and he said "Kendall" and I was like "That's not my name...."
Then for alternate, he said "Ca--" and I was like "Crap!"
Then he said "Since they're both cheerleaders, our official drum major for football games is" and I was like "I still have hope!"
Then I was still listening for The L sound and he was like "Becca" and I was like
"Last place! All right!"

So I am the last resort for drum major!
And I thought I was gonna do well.

So, I've been the one drum major for about four days now. I'm a junior, and like I said, the one drum major.

We just got through a chain of massive quitting, and we were already a band of less than 25 people. Our drum major, drumline captain, and woodwind captain quit during this. Since I was brass captain, I got the spot.

So in two weeks, I have to be ready to conduct the show for not only a home game, but a competition.

I'm what you would call a part-time drum major 4laugh

My BD needed someone to conduct the 2nd piece of our show and so he chose me. He told me it was his epiphany whee

I love conducting. I think it's really fun and although for this year I didn't take any 'formal classes' on conducting (since the idea was spontaneous), I'm thinking of trying out for it next year, if we even have one.

We haven't had a real drum major since my freshman year and we've been doing just as well, if not better, then those bands who have drum majors. Also, I wanna ask my BD if I can play tenors next year too. (You know, those 4 drums that weigh like 45lbs haha.) We're supposedly getting a lot of percussionists next year and I've always wanted to play tenors, so that would give me a pretty good chance of getting them. So I'm torn between drum major or tenors. crying

we usually have a senor DM and an asst DM, but for the last couple year our Senior DM have flaked on us. and i was elected asst drum major, and like had to step up and be in training at the same time. and i guess i don't want to be another one of the DM's to flake. any advice?

This season we had a senior dm, and I'm hoping that a freshman does not make it for next year, so I can try out by senior year.

I think "Drum Major Jillian Osborn" sounds hella tight. B)

Give more specifics on what you would want for advice. There's a broad range (conducting, marching, vocal commands, etc. and those can be broken down into even smaller topics) of tasks that a Drum Major has to fulfill.

When practicing commands it's always best, at least in my experiences, to practice on other people. If you haven't tried that already, you really should. I got nervous doing it for awhile, and this was just on my sister, whom I'm close with.

The thing that helped me with crescendos and decrescendos was practicing the movements for the left and right separately, and then upon mastering them I would put them together in a slow tempo. Try that if you haven't.


Confidence is not something you are born with, you have to acquire it over time. That's all I can say about your confidence problem.

Otherwise, good luck, and I hope I helped.