PEA RIDGE — Members of the Blackhawk drum line are putting in extra time practicing and they have a “coach” who is helping them.
Zane Harrod, a member of the Razorback marching band, spends Wednesday afternoons coaching the drummers of the Blackhawk band.
Harrod, the 18-year-old son of Pea Ridge teacher Mike Harrod, volunteered to provide extra as- sistance to the drummers.
“He’s a very talent young man,” Matt McCool, Blackhawk band director, said of Harrod who was also a drummer in his father’s band — The Old Dime Box.
McCool said only 10 to 12 drummers from the entire state are selected for the drum line of the Razorback marching band: “That’s quite an accomplish- ment, especially for someone in their first year of college.”
Harrod said he’s been play- ing since he was 8 and focusing on the snare drum since eighth grade.
Majoring in kinesiology, Har- rod said he wanted to help the drummers because he really likes teaching others the drum.
“I thought it would be a good experience,” Harrod said, admit- ting that he’s learned more about patience since he began teaching and he’s learning that different people think differently so he has to find how to communicate to someone who thinks differ- ently than he does.
“I had to realize that what I knew wasn’t necessarily the way they understood things,” he said, admitting he did seek advise from his father on how to teach.
He remembered there was a particular skill he was attempt- ing to teach one of the Black- hawk drummers and could see when “the light came on” and the student understand the concept.
Members of the Pea Ridge High School drum line (also called “the battery”) include Aar- on Jackson, junior; Wyatt Gar- rett, sophomore; Cody Swigart, senior; Miles Hamilton, sopho- more; Hunter Chestnut, fresh- man; Dustin Thomas, junior; and Alex Williams, freshman.
“The drum line makes ev- erything else go,” McCool explained, adding that other musicians depend upon the drummers to keep the beat be- cause when they are spread out over the field, it’s hard to see the drum major. Harrod graduated from Fay-
etteville High School last year. He was in All-State band and choir last year, McCool said.
“He’s a dedicated young man and a great volunteer. We’re hap- py to have him,” McCool said. “He’s more versed in the lingo of drummers. They’re their own clique ... a lot of times they work on their own.”
McCool is in his sixth year at Pea Ridge and his assistant, Katie Hendrix, who also leads the band at Pea Ridge Middle School, has been here five years. “Just like a football team, you have to build something. We’ve got talent and ability,” McCool said of the students.
“Our senior, Zach Lee, is a good leader as is our drum major, Margie Watson,” McCool said.
Being a band member is a lot of work and requires two weeks out of the summer for band camp and the first 11 Fridays of the school year to attend and play at football games, McCool said.
“They know that, as a group, they sound better,” he said. “The kids are really enjoying the half- time show from Little Shop of Horrors — a musical form the ’70s from Saturday Night Live.”