We WELCOME all incoming Freshman 
Percussionists to the award winning
CHS "BLUE DEVIL" Drumline.
This is our brand NEW information space
on the web. Our site will help keep you up
to date on all important information for the
upcoming 2001 Band Season.

First of all lets clear up a few misconceptions about how our program
works. The Freshman band stays COMPLETLY isolated from the varsity
in rehearsals the ENTIRE year. If you are a freshman coming into Central
YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE IN THE VARSITY DRUMLINE!!!!
You will be in the "FRESHMAN BAND" all year. We do this for several
reasons, but the main one is to gradually get you up to the level of playing
& marching ability that you'll need to be at for the Varsity Competition 
Band. Without this year of gradual growth & adjustment to the NEW
system of rehearsing & performing, our program would never be able to
obtain the results that it does. Your participation as a "TEAM PLAYER"
 is very important to the entire group.  Attendance and participation at
ALL rehearsals & performances is also VERY IMPORTANT to the
rest of the band, & towards your GRADE. 

Freshman band rehearsals begin
Wednesday AUGUST 1st, 2001.
Rehearsals run EVERY weekday from 8AM - 9AM rain or shine.
These rehersals run through August 22nd when we have our first
band concert of the season in LeClaire park. The concert features our
summer Jazz Band, Freshman Band, Varsity Drumline, & Varsity 
Marching Band. That's only 3 weeks of one hour rehearsals before
your first performance. NO PRESSURE? Welcome to High School.
When you come the first day of rehearsals you'll need to have
several items with you. The first of these items is a COMPLETE
stick bag, with the appropriate mallets & sticks. This bag should
be carried with you always, and include the following items:


You can purchase most of these items at any of the local music stores.
I do know of a REALLY good deal on the whole package from the 
Percussion Source (WEST MUSIC).  Ask for their Beginning 
Percussionist Mallet Pak pictured below.

Additionally, you will need to add to your bag whatever type of 
mallets are necessary once we have assigned your specific part for the
FRESHMAN drumline. Mr. Stulir will let you know what to get at that
time. We also STRONGLY suggest that you label your mallets, by painting, 
or taping a color scheme that's uniquely yours,(like orange & yellow),
so that NO one walks off with your mallets.  

NEVER LEND YOUR MALLETS TO ANYONE ELSE TO USE!!!!!
If you DON'T HAVE MALLETS, YOU CAN'T PERFORM!!!! 

Pretty simple Right??


As Freshman Percussionists you will have basically the same set of
rules to abide by as the Varsity Band.  These can be found on the 
information page of this web site. Please familiarize yourself with
these rules and abide by them at ALL times.


Check out the technique link for a detailed description of the grip
we use at Central (MATCHED), and a list of our warm up exercises.
Also look at the other music pages for percussion parts to all of
the music we will play during the Marching Band season.
Please download and print all of these music links before August,
so that you can have them with you the first day of Band Camp.
Just remember that FRESHMAN have totally different show music
then the Varsity Band, but the warm ups, cadences, school song, 
and parade tunes are EXACTLY the same for both Bands.
To get to the other links just hit the HOME button below, which
returns you to the Home Page, and all the other site links.



Good luck this summer , and we look forward to  seeing you 
August 1st at 8AM in the Central High Band room.