Base, snare and tenor with each strike from their drumstick they send a wave of that washes over the crowd. Without them, no high school football game would be complete. Every year high school drumlines face off against each other in one of the biggest drumline performances of the year, the Lonestar Classic. 

The CPHS drumline participated in the competition on Nov. 7 and this year, the drumline came out on top. 

“Lonestar is a huge deal for the percussion section every year,” junior Trey Thompson said. “It’s our chance to show off what we can do against some of the best drumlines in Texas. It’s awesome that we got to have it this year because of course nobody knew in the early fall what would happen later in the semester, so it could’ve been canceled. I think we’re very fortunate to have participated and in the end, coming out with first place.”

The victory did not come without its obstacles. Due to COVID, the drumline couldn’t travel to Dallas for the competition. Instead, the drumline had to record their performance via multiple videos on our own turf field. Practices leading up to the performance were the same, however, they were more strenuous since their summer practices had been canceled. According to Thompson rehearsal hours were cut shorter due to the pandemic and they had to work harder knowing that they had less time.

“This was very important to me since it would be my last drumline ever,” senior Daniel Salazar said. “We had multiple opportunities to record the show at our turf field rather than heading to Dallas, which meant we had to stream our performances live over the internet. Summer practices were canceled and we also had to wear masks.”

During the performance, the members got into formation and performed while their director recorded from above. According to Thompson, the drumline had used one of their rehearsals to set up all the equipment that would be used to record their performance. He also stated that the directors had recorded three separate attempts and chose the best one to send to the judges. The Saturday after that they released the livestream of each competitor’s recording and they announced the placements at the end. 

Despite these challenges, the drumline was able to pull through and secure another win. Senior Chris Masters attributes their victory to their team coordination and ability to persevere. If it were not for these traits, Masters believes that a victory might not have been so certain.

“What’s different this year than other years is, well, we won… again,” Masters said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the staff and students involved in making this production. With absolute sincerity, the drumline builds a family unlike any other, where we not only work together, but we strive together, we succeed together, and most importantly we inspire together.”