Show-Me Sound will be back on Saturday, April 21 with its 3rd annual Showdown: Historically Black College & University Drum Line Competition – and this time it comes with a parade.
Participating drum ensembles will include Central State University’s “Invincible Marching Marauders,” Harris Stowe State University’s “Phunk,” Howard University’s “Thunder Machine,” Kentucky State University’s “Soul Section #1,” Langston University’s “DEN,” Lincoln University’s “Groove Dynasty” and North Carolina A&T University’s “Cold Steel.”
Their parade will kick off at 9:30 a.m. on Market Street (west of Jefferson), march west to Compton and end at Chaifetz Arena, site of the competition. Before the Showdown proper at 2 p.m., the arena concourse doors will open at 11 a.m. for a free college recruitment/career/health/safety fair.
Terry Artis, executive director of Show-Me Sound, owes a lot to college fairs. He said he has stocked his competition by networking for the past five years at the college fairs at the Honda Battle of the Bands in Atlanta, Ga, where band directors are readily accessible.
His personal involvement in drumline extends far beyond college days. It goes back to elementary school in Normandy. And it was not an HBCU that bit him with the bug, but a Catholic school.
“It was real weird how I was inspired to play the drums,” he said.
“I was passing through Ascension, a Catholic school, and I watched a nun teach children. They were getting ready for a parade.”
He liked what he saw – drums strapped to kids, marching as they drummed.
“I got inspired,” he said.
“I went home and my brother Frank had a drum. He gave me his drum and I got a strap and started doing it on my own.”
Now he helps other youth get started. It’s about much more than entertainment.
“The real benefit of musical study is it organizes the thinking and instills discipline,” Artis said. “If they are learning these disciplines, you don’t have to worry about them being involved in deleterious activity.”
This gives Artis a thought when he sees a poster for the Put Down the Pistol campaign in St. Louis.
“I always think, ‘Put down the gun and pick up a drum,’” he said. “Or if you pick up a drum, you’ll never have a gun.”
Showdown is not Artis’ only ongoing project. He also teaches drumline in St. Louis Public Schools through a grant from the St. Louis Philanthropic Organization and at churches.
The organization’s drum line ensembles have been featured on KETC’s Living St. Louis and have appeared in events including Muny pre-show performances, Fair St. Louis, Live On the Levee, the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, First Night, the Art Fair, the Jazz Festival and the NCAA Final Four March to the Arch Parade.
“It’s coming back really strong,” he said of drumline.
And the parade and competition planned for April 21 should bring it even stronger.
Artis said, “Seeing drumline up close and personal is inspirational.”
Tickets for Showdown are $15. Show-Me Sound said participating drumlines compete for $10,000 for their percussion programs. For more information, call 314-210-5849, email showmesound@aol.com or visit http://showmesound.org.
