Walking by the Ruggles T station, the resonance is mixed with the sound of passing trains.
That rumble crashing down from the top of the Renaissance Parking Garage, reminiscent of a distant thunderstorm, is the Northeastern drumline.
Comprised of members of the percussion section of the pep band, the drumline practices atop the parking garage several times a week, but as the unofficial slogan says, “We don’t practice on a parking lot, people park on a drum lot.”
They have been practicing there since their inception in 2001.
“In the beginning it was about getting our name out and letting people know we’re here,” said Tim Bolen, a senior who serves as the team’s captain. “Once we got the people and the personnel, then it really became refining everything and writing more complicated music and finally getting our name out to the Athletics Department and other organizations so we could get more gigs around campus.”
Since then, the group has expanded from its original base of five members to its current 15 drummers and has become one of the premiere performing groups on campus, performing as a line for men’s basketball games as well as any of the events the pep band as a whole can’t make.
In addition to sporting events, the drumline teams up with the NU Concert Band and other student organizations to put on a children’s concert every fall. Starting last spring and continuing this year, the line puts on a Memorial Day parade in Dorchester with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post.
“Everyone likes drums,” said Patrick Yegian, a sophomore who plays the snare drum. “When you can get that many people playing together, it’s really fun to watch.”
Although the drumline is still the percussion section of the pep band, the one huge difference between the two, aside from the lack of other instruments, is commitment, members said.
“It’s a lot more of an intense ensemble. We’re always striving for another level that we’re not at right now,” Bolen said. “We’re more focused on a hardcore knowledge of all the music we play and striving to be like some of the larger drumlines we see around the country.”
As opposed to the pep band, which practices once a week, the drumline meets four times a week whenever classes are in session. Due to the line’s need for synchronization, the practices last upwards of three hours. But the members said the hard work is paying off.
“Everyone in the drumline knows how to drum,” Yegian said. “What we’re learning as a group is how to take that to the next level, musically. It’s an ongoing process that I think we are starting to get.”
With the addition of five new drums and a continual influx of new drummers each year, the drumline has some pretty lofty goals set for the next few years.
“We started out playing some pretty simple things in our initial building stage,” Bolen said. “Right now we are getting to the point that we’re writing ourselves a lot more complicated music and the pieces we are getting from other sources [are] getting a lot harder.”
The squad is currently working on pieces from the Concord Blue Devils and the Florida State University drumline, which are two of the best drum corps in the nation.
The band has helped ignite the fan base at NU, especially at men’s basketball games.
“Even if there aren’t a lot of people in the gym, it gets so loud,” said freshman forward Shawn James. “It seems like the fans are having a lot of fun.”
The drumline will perform tonight at the men’s basketball game at Solomon Court at 7 p.m.
