Brunswick High School senior Emma Shiffer had some explaining to do when she told her mother she wanted to audition for a position with Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corps.
“Telling her that I wanted to sleep on gym floors and be out in the heat all day wasn’t easy to explain,” Shiffer said.
But that is exactly what she will be doing this summer after auditioning at multiple camps between November and January and earning a spot as assistant drum major on the corps that competes in the Drum Corps International league of competitive band.
“Think marching band, but at a way higher standard and performance level,” Shiffer said of the bands in the DCI.
Shiffer plays clarinet. The corps in the DCI don’t have woodwinds, but that didn’t matter because as a drum major, Shiffer will be conducting, leading the band as they perform. It’s a position she has at Brunswick High School as well, and one with which she has fallen in love.
“I fell in love with the perspective it gave me on the band,” she said. “I wasn’t focused only on my development. It metaphorically and literally gave me a bigger podium to be on.”
It’s a podium the associate band director at Brunswick High, Caleb Guilbeau, said Shiffer has taken to well. He has been working closely with Shiffer as she auditioned and developed her skills as a drum major. Taking on the challenge of making the corps as a high schooler was not an easy task, he said.
“It speaks volumes about her as a person,” Guilbeau said. “The work she has put in has really set a fantastic example for the rest of the students and the band.”
Being part of Spirit of Atlanta is also a great opportunity to highlight the BHS band, he said.
“It makes all of us proud that she is a part of it,” Guilbeau said.
Those who are proud include John Birge, Brunswick High band director.
“It’s essentially the NFL of marching bands,” Birge said of DCI. “It’s the crème de la crème of competitive drum corps.”
Making things more impressive is Shiffer’s age and position, Birge said. To be put into a position of leadership as a high school student in her first year as part of the corps shows the depth of her talent, he said.
So starting May 25, you won’t see much of Shiffer in the Golden Isles. That is when she will relocate with the team to Jacksonville State University in Alabama for a month of practice and preparation before a tour around the country to places like Texas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
While on the road, Shiffer said the band often sleeps in middle and high school gyms where they are performing.
It all culminates Aug. 9 at the DCI World Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. That is where Shiffer and her bandmates will compete against drum corps from around the country to see who is the best.
After that, Shiffer hopes to play for the University of Tennessee marching band while she attends the university.
“I’m so grateful for every person who has supported me through this process,” she said, noting Birge and Guilbeau’s encouragement and guidance as key pieces to her making the squad.
Shiffer also could use some help with the $6,300 tuition to play in the band. Anyone wishing to donate to a fundraiser to help can go to https://www.classy.org/fundraiser/6232405 to make a donation.