Guests at the annual “Dinner with the Drumline” event enjoyed dinner and a show. / Nick Griffin
CULLMAN – The Cullman High School and Middle School Bands held their annual “Dinner with the Drumline” fundraiser event Thursday night and the Cullman High School cafeteria was packed with supporters, who feasted on Mad Dog Mike’s BBQ and enjoyed a concert featuring both schools’ percussion sections.
CHS Director of Bands Christopher Smith was excited to see the crowd that came out to eat and support his students.
“It’s really important to us; this community supports this school system so well for all the things we do,” said Smith. “It’s such a blessing to have all these people come out and support our band program in all the things we do, our Big Band Dance and this event, because these percussion students work hard. They’re kind of the engine that makes the band program run.”
Costs for equipment can add up quickly, which is why these fundraising events are so important for the band programs, said Smith.
“Whether it’s marching season or concert season, percussion is such a critical part of everything we do, but it’s also a really expensive part of what we do,” he said. “So, it takes a lot of money to get all the equipment and sticks and mallets and drum heads, everything we need to be able to function, and our band boosters and our community do a great job of taking care of us to make sure our kids have all the right equipment that they need to do what they need to do.”
Doug Teuscher, who serves as the assistant band director for both CHS and CMS, echoed a lot of what Smith said.
“That’s the thing about percussion is everything we use for marching band and concert band all year is all consumable. Drum sticks break, the heads that you hit break; we do a lot of maintenance on the equipment, so it just takes a lot of working to keep everything sounding good,” said Teuscher. “It helps offset a little bit of that, especially marching band. We’re playing every day, hitting the drums hard a lot and we just go through a lot of equipment, so we replace everything and keep it sounding great and this helps us pay for it.”
After the meal was had and a few door prizes were awarded, both the middle and high school drumlines performed for the crowd next door in the auditorium.
Between getting the word out for the fundraiser and providing the entertainment, Teuscher is proud of the work his students put in during school and after hours.
“It’s kind of on a lot of the students; there’s about 40 kids at both the schools that are drummers and they really got to get the word out,” he said. “I put some fliers out and kind of got the word out a little bit, but the kids really try to push the event and get some interest. They’ve been doing it for several years so it’s kind of an expected thing almost at this point, but it’s a really good feeling. Every year it gets a little bigger and a little bigger. It’s awesome; this is like the one night that’s all about the work percussion does. They kind of have to pull double duty. They have to do all the band stuff, and all this is extra, but it’s worth it.”
Linda Bean serves as the band director at CMS.
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