Atlantic Indoor Association

January 2010 

South County HS from Fairfax is a young school, having just graduated its first true class, but the drumline, now led by Patrick “Patch” Moss, has been a consistent contender since he and Band Director Alan Johnson have run the program from its inception. In fact, its fall drumline has gone undefeated in the last three years; the indoor drumline has been heavily competitive in the local AIA circuit and was a semi-finalist at Dayton in 2009.

MK: It’s a rare opportunity that a school is born, a new band program with it. What was it like preparing for the first day? I wasn't really around the first fall season as I was finishing my transition back from Berklee.  

PM: I know Alan used his experience teaching at Chantilly in helping him choose equipment for the new school.  Being a secondary school I believe he had a double budget for percussion.  It's nice walking into a program with four matching marimbas, vibes, a full battery ready for a program to grow to 5,3,5 and a brand new Pearl Philharmonic African-Mahogany Concert Bass we like to call 'big mama'.  It's been a challenge to get the kids to treat these new instruments with the respect they deserve.  We all know what it's like to walk into the percussion closet at your 'new school' to try and take apart a snare drum to help build a marching harness.

MK: You studied at Berklee College of Music, you play professionally, and you offer private lessons. What did you take to Berklee from your high school drumline experience, and what influence has your time at Berklee had on your teaching with drumlines?  

PM: Chops.  I can remember sitting with a legend in the drumming world, Kenwood Dennard, and taking a moment to show him what a flam-5 was.  It was a nice moment for me.  Berklee generally frowns upon drummers with a heavy background in marching percussion.  You can generally tell a guy marched percussion when he uses tenor sweeping techniques across his kit.  I definitely came from a drumset background first and have always tried to apply my experience in marching percussion to drumset, instead of vice-versa.  I did the opposite going back into it.  Berklee taught me more techniques, musicality, and theory on drumset that I now try to bring into my teaching and writing in marching percussion.  I feel lucky to have been involved in both enough to successfully be able to apply them back to each other.

MK: In what capacities do you play for a living? Do you play in bands or other performance groups? What do those venues impart to the way you think about drumline and indoor shows?

PM: My day job is a musician's dream.  As a part time percussion accompanist for George Mason University's Dance program (24 hrs/week) I essentially get paid to practice.  It's an opportunity to keep my chops up, work on new techniques in a stress free environment, and most importantly just spend time doing what I love the most.  Another great perk is my time listening to the movement classes.  I pull technique that the dancers use everyday and bring it with me to drumline rehearsals.  Knowing how the body moves and how your muscles work as dancer can be directly applied to percussionists.  Especially in marching percussion.  My time with Mason's dance department has made my value as a percussionist and as a teacher increase greatly.

MK: Appointed the Caption Head last year, how’s it going? What are some of the key challenges that you face now that you might not have as a technician?

PM:  This experience has been a dream.  “Caption Head” is a pretty loose term for a high school, but I guess you could call me that.  Alan, for 3 years now, has left me pretty much alone with the Marching Band Drumline and has allowed me to be an equal part in personnel decisions, writing, and show design.  This means a lot to me since Alan himself is a percussionist.  It's great working with such a close friend and mentor and having him give you the respect and trust you give him.  I love working with South County's bands.  I feel at home there.  We've seen success on a continued basis both on and off the competitive fields.  I've had mulitple opportunities to move on to other schools and take over a program on my own, but I've turned them all down.  Working with Alan is a perfect fit and South County has been amazing to me.  I look forward to the schools continued success and being a part of something great, from the beginning.  

MK: You have taught with Allan Johnson for seven years, first at alma mater and current PSO champion Chantilly HS, and then to “SoCo”. What would you say about that partnership over the years? How has the constancy of this duo positively impacted the drumlines, from writing to rehearsing?

PM: After knowing someone for 12 years, first as a student, then as an employee, and finally as a peer and closer personal friend, you tend to fall into a pretty great rhythm.  I can't tell you how many times I'll give instruction standing in front of the battery only to have Alan spit out the same information just seconds later.  We've worked together for so long now and it's always worked.  We work hard, we win a lot, and we have a ton of fun doing it.  Again, I really don't see myself working for someone else.  Why mess up a good thing? 

MK: You grew up in AIA. What was the landscape then, and what impresses you most about the changes in the circuit and the drumlines since you were on the floor?

PM: Well, it's tough to say really. As an activity changes and evolves so must those who participate in said activity.  When I was in AIA it was a new world not only to myself but I feel like it was a new world to the Northern VA area and possibly entire east coast.  AIA was just a baby then.  It's amazing to see how far it's come. I'm not a fan of taking of your drums off to dance around a basketball court.  I like running around drumming.  But it's about the kids. The best thing is watching kids you once saw trip over themselves out on a high school parking lot grow into players who compete at the highest levels.  Any teacher knows that feeling of accomplishment and success.  It's all about the kids and I want to always make their education and positive experience the priority in everything I do.  

It used to be, at least from what I felt, that indoor drumline was a chance for kids to get better in preparation for the next marching season.  And that anyone with real chops went on to DCI in some fashion.  All roads used to lead to DCI.  Now, I never did DCI, so the highlight of my career as a marching percussion player started and ended in the late 90s.  Now it seems to be a different path.  Some of the best players around here, and I assume around the rest of the country, are marching in independent lines and never making it to DCI.   You see drum corps now changing their schedule to go along with the WGI circuit.  It's neat to see this all happen and I’m glad to be a part of it now as a teacher in AIA and WGI.  It seems now that kids start in their high school marching bands, then mature into a high school indoor, then if they're lucky they move onto an independent line and then onto DCI.  It's hard to say if the best drumlines in the world are DCI or WGI these days, but it's great to see it trickle down to AIA.

It's been amazing to have been a part of something for as long as I have.  I feel old in this activity.  Though I'm fearful of what it could turn into, I'm equally excited to continue to be a part of it.  Drumming in a gymnasium will never make sense to me but I love every second of it.  

 

Submitted by: Michael Kirby