Newtown High School (NHS) Band and Guard is asking the community for financial support in order to replace its failing drum line equipment.

The program’s drum line equipment, which it received from an anonymous donation in 2013, has reached the end of its usable life.

Harnesses that students use to carry drums are held together with duct tape. Other harnesses have had their frames completely snap and break off. The drums are so old that replacement harnesses are not even made for them anymore.

NHS Director of Instrumental Music Liz Grohoski said drumheads — the material stretched over a drum and struck with sticks or mallets — normally get replaced at least once per season, usually more.

“We have new percussion staff this year ... and they were worried about replacing the heads on some of the bass drums because the rims are just so worn down at this point,” Grohoski said.

She added their drum line instruments get more mileage than other programs because students play them year-round.

“[NHS Band and Guard] are at every home football game. They do Labor Day Parade. They use those drums for the entire fall season, and then we also run a full winter progression program that goes from late November to April,” Grohoski explained.

This also includes “clinics,” which Grohoski said are events where students can try different instruments, learn how to play them, and decide if they want to audition for the program.

Not only is NHS Band and Guard open to middle schoolers, but the instruments also see use in the summertime, which is the program’s off-season. Even though marching band starts in fall, students start practicing after they get their music in June.

The size of their drum line stays the same between winter and fall, but who these students are can change mid-year, according to Grohoski. She said many of their wind players join winter percussion, while one of their snare drummers also plays the saxophone.

“So you’re talking about at least 20 different kids a year playing on those drums for the last ten years,” Grohoski explained. “They’re being used all the time.”

Wear And Tear

This continuous use has caused the drum line equipment to considerably worsen over time. Throughout the years, Grohoski said students and staff have constantly had to “Frankenstein” harnesses back together.

If a part breaks, they replace it with a different part from a different harness. This works until a bolt snaps or a screw gets stripped, and they have to figure out a new way to hold the harness together.

“There’s days where I come in and see three bass drummers in [the band room] huddled around a harness with a tool box, trying to do whatever they can to fix it,” Grohoski said.

A side effect of having to piecemeal harnesses together, she said, is that they become harder to adjust for students. Harnesses are supposed to be adjusted to the size and height of the person using them. This is important since harnesses are used to carry drums that weigh between 30-40 pounds, and students in seventh grade can join the program.

Where drums sit on a students body can border on uncomfortable sometimes, whether it is too high for their arms or it makes them lean back a lot, according to Grohoski.

“There’s one kid where we couldn’t unscrew the pad from their harness because it had been taped on so many times,” Grohoski said.

Some piecemeal harnesses simply can not be fixed anymore.

Drum line moms Ericka DeFelice and Bonnie Voegeli call a corner of the school’s band room “the graveyard” due to the number of harnesses that have broken beyond repair. Sifting through the graveyard shows harnesses with missing pieces, or wrapped from top to bottom in tape. One even had brown paper towels tapped around the side to act as replacement padding.

Showstopper

This wear and tear has snowballed into affecting students in practice and even before shows.

Ericka’s son, DJ, is a NHS sophomore and quad player whose harness broke twice in the span of two weeks. He ultimately had to borrow a harness from New Milford High School’s marching band to use for States and Nationals. Ericka said they were lucky the school’s drum tech knew someone from New Milford who happened to have the same drum.

“It was the Saturday before we had to leave for States, and the harness had just completely broken,” Grohoski said. “There’s no Frankensteining that.”

DJ joined the program in seventh grade alongside Bonnie’s son, Cody, who plays the snare and is also a sophomore at NHS. Both DJ and Cody said these equipment issues have been a hindrance “since day one.”

Students use drum stands in practice so they do not have to wear their harnesses the whole time. This is important since practice lasts several hours, and students have practice several times a week. In DJ’s first ever practice, his stand broke.

Cody called harnesses and stands their biggest issues. The older a harness or stand is, the more likely they are to have stripped screws and loose parts. When it comes to harnesses, he said it can take a while for them to be adjusted properly. If a part falls off or a screw gets stripped, it can take a while to readjust it to the point it is comfortable to wear again.

“And that’s where, as a mom, I worry about their health and safety of carrying this heavy equipment,” Bonnie said. “You want to make sure it’s not impacting them negatively by wearing a drum.”

DJ said it can be frustrating and sad because, when one of their harnesses breaks, they wonder if they are even going to be able to perform in their next show.

Cody said someone without a harness might have to play on the sidelines, which messes up the visuals and sounds of their performance.

“When one is missing it throws off the entire ensemble,” he added.

Cadence

Despite snapping harnesses and flimsy stands, NHS Band and Guard students have taken their challenges in stride. When one student had their harness break, the entire band laid the harness on the ground, stood around it, and started playing “Taps.”

As funny as it is that they threw a funeral for a harness, Bonnie cannot help but wonder how far the students could go if they did not have to constantly stop and fix their own equipment.

“I would guess that the amount of time we spend fixing harnesses and stands could be the amount of time of an entire practice,” DJ said.

What keeps them going despite these issues, Cody said, is that the program feels like one giant family.

“You make a whole lot of friends, you have a lot of fun in practices, and you get a lot better,” Cody continued.

For them, coming together with the people they spend hours with at lessons and getting better year after year is as incredibly rewarding as it is fun.

Between the continuous passion from students and winter percussion starting just a few weeks ago, Grohoski felt it was the right time to make a push in replacing the drum line equipment.

NHS Band and Guard Parents Corp launched a fundraiser on Zeffy, a digital crowdfunding platform like GoFundMe or Kickstarter.

Their goal is $20,000, which would cover new stands, drums, and harnesses. It would also allow them to get an additional bass drum, which will be helpful depending on the size and height of students.

Assistant Marching Band Director Chris Carley, who has been at NHS for 20 years, said it would be great to get new equipment for his students.

“It’s been over ten years at this point since we got new equipment,” Carley said. “And the kids loved it. It’s invigorating having this new, shiny equipment that looks great and feels great to play on.”

For Grohoski, who started at NHS last year, she said she has already seen students thrive in the program. Middle schoolers who enter the program, she said, get good fast because they are brought up to the level of the high schoolers around them. Beyond that, she said students in the program have a sense of community and take pride in all they accomplish together.

Grohoski said they are also trying to have NHS Band and Guard members out in the community a little bit more. They are talking with some businesses that sponsored them in the fall to see how they feel about students playing music outside their establishments during the holiday season.

“This way, we’re not just asking online for money, but doing more for the community,” Grohoski said. “I mean, the Newtown community is so supportive. There’s a lot of events and opportunities for us to get out there and give back, and we want to take advantage of that.”

To support NHS Band and Guard, donate to its Zeffy, zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/newtown-high-school-drum-line.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.