“Leila-sama! We got another e-mail question from my super-neat Jessie’s Letters page!”
“It is a question with profound meaning?”
“It is a question that seeks the deepest mysteries of the universe?”
“It is a question that will challenge our understanding of our existence?”
“It’s a question about being a drummer in marching band.”
“Sometimes Leila frightens me.”
“Heheee… okay. The question says ‘In your story you said the drummers play a cadence. What’s a cadence?’”
“Cadence is when the drum section plays a rythym so the rest of the formation can keep time with their steps. We have four cadences in the Lions Band. The first two are full cadences.”
“Yeah. Full Cadence Green starts with a roto-tom solo.”
“The other one is our ‘good morning’ cadence.”
“Full Cadence Gold starts with a full section downbeat and cymbal crash.”
“We like to play Full Cadence Gold on Collins Circle over behind the school so if anyone in the neighborhood across the street didn’t hear their alarm clock we help them wake up.”
“Yay! Ohayo minna! It’s a bright sunshiney day!”
“Well, except for that one guy who stood in his driveway yelling at us that one day last year.”
“I think he thought we were trying to annoy everyone. Until we marched past his house in parade formation and played ‘National Emblem’ during after-school practice. His wife baked cookies for all of us the next day and brought them to the band room. She said he was so proud to have a parade in front of his house he almost cried. What a nice old couple too.”
“That’s cool. What are the other two cadences?”
“We have one called a ‘Silent Cadence’ if we’re marching up to a performance area at parades. There’s a couple hundred yards where bands aren’t allowed to make a lot of noise because it disrupts the bands in the performance area, so we play that cadence on the rims of our drums.”
“That’s the tick-tock cadence. All drum rims, traps and glockenspiels.”
“That’s the one that sounds like a carnival! I like the tick-tock cadence best.”
“The fourth one is a simple corps cadence. One snare plays the measure downbeats. We use that for starting formations on the field.”
“Now which one do we play in the tunnel at Brown Stadium?”
“Maximum volume. Maximum power.”
“Yay! Arigato minna-san! If you got a question or a comment or just wanna say ‘hi!’ you can send me e-mail on my Jessie’s Letters page and we might even get to answer your question right here on our site! Ja ne!”
I definitely like that last one best! :)