“Are we walking anywhere?” instructor Rene Ormae-Jarmer asks her drumline.
“No!” they reply in unison.
“What are we doing?” she asks.
“We’re marching!”
That’s not all they’re doing. During a four-hour rehearsal on Saturday, the Rex Putnam High School Kingsmen Thunder Drumline battery is drumming, acting, storytelling and marching, all while carrying up to 40 pounds of equipment.
Competitive drumline has the physicality of a sport and the funding of an extracurricular arts program – which is to say, pretty much no funding.
So Ormae-Jarmer, the drumline’s founder and instructor, launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise cash for their competition season.
She needs $700 for U-Haul truck rentals, $400 for dollies to wheel equipment, at least $500 to feed their team and volunteers, and $500 for drumsticks, mallets and other items that get broken over the course of a school year.
She’d also like to raise money to provide scholarships for students who can’t afford the $500 to participate in the program.
The GoFundMe began as a way to purchase new marimbas, but with so many other expenses, Ormae-Jarmer recently bought a marimba herself and is now loaning it to the drumline. Money raised will go toward other expenses first.
As a Milwaukie native and 1982 graduate of Rex Putnam High School, Ormae-Jarmer knows the value of music education. After playing drums throughout high school, she studied percussion at Lewis and Clark College. Today, she plays professionally throughout Portland and runs a home studio where she offers drum and piano lessons.
The Rex Putnam band is also where she met her high school sweetheart and now husband of 30 years, Michael Jarmer.
So in many ways, marching band changed her life, and Ormae-Jarmer wants to make sure future generations of Kingsmen have that same experience.
Eight years ago, she began teaching the afterschool drumline program for middle and high school students, offering a marching component to complement concert band classes during the school day. Rex Putnam band teacher Jeff Wilson said there’s a noticeable difference when students join drumline.
“They’re better (music) readers, they’re more sensitive musically, there’s more pride in what they’re doing,” he said.
Rex Putnam drumline
Drumline consists of two sections. The battery is the mobile piece of the band, featuring bass, snare and tenor drums carried by students and weighing anywhere from 20 to 40 pounds.
The front ensemble consists of stationary equipment such xylophones, gongs, marimbas and kettle drums.
Last year, the Kingsmen Thunder entered the world of competitive indoor drumline – an athletic art that combines elements of marching band and interpretive dance.
In competitions, drumlines compete with five-minute programs on a gymnasium floor, incorporating custom costumes, props, floor mats and original music to tell a story through percussion and movement.
These productions can get pretty elaborate. And yet, during their first Northwest Association for Performing Arts competition season in 2016, the Kingsmen Thunder performed half in uniforms, half in T-shirts, on a bare gym floor.
Out of four events, they finished last in all but one.
But Ormae-Jarmer was not discouraged. This year, they’ll have uniforms, backdrops and a bit more experience, even though the entire front ensemble is still in middle school.
“I would like to come in, you know, maybe fifth or sixth (place) out of nine,” she said. “That would be a huge step up the ladder.”
Kingsmen Thunder Hear the Rex Putnam Kingsmen Thunder perform during the grand reopening celebration of the Museum of Oregon Territory at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, in Oregon City. Donations to the Kingsmen Thunder drumline are tax-deductible through the RPHS Music Boosters and can be mailed to Attn: Drum Line, Rex Putnam High School, 4950 SE Roethe Road, Milwaukie, OR 97267. More info: contact Rene Ormae-Jarmer at 503-704-1934.
On its face, competitive drumline seems to foster skills with no practical application to real life. Yet, these kids are learning plenty. The discipline of military precision. The importance of teamwork. The creative energy of the arts.
“I like drumline because it’s a great physical exercise that’s also very musical and expressive,” said battery leader Oscar Quick. “I love music, but I also like to be able to move, physically, and drumline is a great way to be able to do that. It’s definitely a workout.”
Lucas Payne, the lone senior on the drumline, has learned there’s no way to make a quiet mistake with a snare drum.
“One of the first things that Rene taught me when I was learning drums was if you’re going to make a mistake, be confident with your mistakes and we’ll fix it as we go,” he said. “Mistakes are important for learning in all scenarios, drumming especially.”
On Saturday, the young drumline – behind on practice after so many snow days – was still making those mistakes. But they were learning from them and encouraging each other.
“Drumline, it’s a way of life,” Ormae-Jarmer said. “These kids are getting some of the structure that they want. I’m asking them to do stuff that is above their ages. Can you imagine? In three years, they’re going to be great.”
She quickly corrected herself: “They already are great.”
— Samantha Swindler
@editorswindler / 503-294-4031
sswindler@oregonian.com
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