The crowd holds their breath, all eyes on the 50-yard line, waiting for the catch. But it’s not the football team they’re watching— it’s the new drum major, sophomore Shayna Half.
For the first time since the 1980s, the high school band has a drum major to lead them down the field during halftime.
Half said she began practicing her baton routines with Ohio State University drum major Stew Kitchen during the summer of 2006 but didn’t have anywhere to showcase her talent.
OSU’s assistant drum major Dan Nash suggested that Half try to get a program started at her school during the 2006 football season, but because of short notice and a lack of material, retired band director Jeff Schneider couldn’t accommodate the change, Half said.
This season Half said she came back with enough experience to become the drum major under the new band director, Andrew Johnson.
Half practices her routines at OSU two days a week during the winter and spring and an hour daily during the fall.
Because of her practices with Nash and Kitchen, Half said she has had the opportunity to practice with OSU’s marching band.
She said her proudest moment as a drum major was getting to lead the OSU band onto the field at the end of practice this past summer.
“It was just the coolest thing ever,” Half said.
Half said that she makes up her own choreography for the halftime shows and has to be careful that the baton tosses correspond to the beat of the music.
She said that her favorite song to perform to is “Hang On Sloopy,” adding that because she has listened to the song so many times, she can make up a routine for it on the spot. Half added that performing her routines in front of the whole school can be very nerveracking.
“I usually get nervous before pre-game and halftime, but you sort of get in the zone and you forget that people are watching,” Half said.
Half, who also plays trumpet, added that being a drum major is easier for her than playing an instrument in the band.
“I was really bad at [memorizing music],” Half said.
But Half said that being a drum major hasn’t always been so painless.
When she started out in 2006, she acquired a long list of injuries, including various bruises and bumps on the head and even pulled muscles in her hamstrings and calves.
Now, two years later, Half said she has improved enough to try complicated moves like “the pretzel” and estimated that she can throw her baton about two stories into the air.
“The first time you can get a trick down and do it almost perfectly you get so elated,” Half said. “It’s like you’re adding a trick to a list of tricks that you already know.”
