Hey everyone in the FMA world, I need some help/ideas from those of you who are more experienced at this than me. I am running for my band's Drumline section leader, and if I make bassline, I will automatically be the bass captain because I am a senior. I would love if some of you could give me thoughts or advice on leading/teaching strategies, or whatever else you think I may need, so that I can help my drumline as much as possible! Thank you!

The NNHS drumline may be getting a gig in OKC for $300 to play at a food truck court thing called Blue Garten before an OKC Thunder playoff game!

(This is real life, not my fantasy drumline. Lol)

Congratulations to your potential gig, Thomas. Hope y'all get it!
I was unsuccessful in my bid to run for section leader, but as a follower, I've definitely observed several key points that every leader should instill in their members:

-Discipline and Consequences: You must be gentle but firm in your disciplinary actions. Don't take to punishing your members too harshly for a small time infraction (i.e. being late to rehearsal ONE time) but let it be known that you will follow up on your threats of consequences for not following the rules (i.e. the second time someone's late to rehearsal, give them a lap, or whatever y'all do for punishment. My school here in Texas LOVES to give laps). Do NOT be that section leader that slacks off and pardons punishments for their members because they're their friends, or if you "just don't feel like it."

-Passion: Be genuinely passionate about your position. Don't be 'fake' and act like a cheerleader. If things are going bad, acknowledge them in an optimistic manner, but don't act like there's no problem in the first place. If things are going well, give praise accordingly, but don't hype them up beyond their actual capability.

-Integration: Ensure that ALL members of your drumline are, as quoted by my band director, 'gelling together.' From the rookies to your fellow seniors, make sure that there's no bad blood or ANYTHING in between them that may affect their performance level negatively. I emphasize especially getting the underclassmen (rookies especially) to gel with you and your fellow seniors since they will be the future of the NNHS drumline when you graduate.

Hope this helps. I know I'm probably hashing a lot of what everyone else is telling you already...

-Oh yeah, laps are big for our tech who is from Coppel. What he does is he gives the whole line laps equal to the number of people absent. It sucks... And it causes peer pressure to be there. XD

-That's how we've gotten as far as we have in two years, a very honest and passionate approach to our playing, so I do hope to keep that going this season.

-I hope I can get the drumline to do that this year during our band's "New Marcher Camps," where the incoming freshmen come to our school and we teach them the BASIC basics of marching. I want to make those line sectionals/chill time, but we will see what the directors have in store. Lol

It does help! Even if it's what others are telling me, or even if it's plans that I already have, it's always nice to have it reaffirmed by someone who has experience in the field. Thanks man!!

Tip for you on that "New Marcher Camp" stuff.
Please encourage your members to hang out outside of rehearsals. Easy way to do that is going out to eat or going to see a movie.

A lot of us here at Euless-Trinity love to plan to watch live music events ranging from DCI to jazz bands. Our directors love to help us; last week alone, we got to see USAF's "Airmen of Note" at TCU. So ask your directors too if there's stuff going on nearby your town and make arrangements for your members to come with you and experience good music. Its as educational as much as it is just a simply fun bonding experience.

The director was smart on that. Lol
We try, and this year, we are going to step up and do that a lot more during the summer hopefully.

In Norman, we have OU in our city, so that makes music events really close by, but some cost money, and seeing how Oklahoma is cutting its educational budget by $100 million and my school district alone has to cut its budget by $6 million, the directors won't be able to help us with that...

Hopefully your school district won't cut out the Arts from the district.

They haven't, Norman, Oklahoma is really into the arts and Norman North's principal was even a band director at one point! For my older brother too! Lol
So Norman isn't getting rid of the arts anytime soon thankfully