This field belongs to Ronnie Chalmers Jr., NCCU drum major

By J. SHAWN DURHAM : The Herald-Sun
jsd@herald-sun.com
Oct 18, 2001 : 11:01 am ET

DURHAM -- It is actually a chilly day at practice. Doesn’t matter that it is an early October afternoon and the sun is beating down on the old football field at the now-abandoned campus of Old Hillside High School.

It hardly matters that a few weeds sprout up on the barely kept field and only the goalposts on the opposite end and hardly visible paint from the sidelines remains. For the North Carolina Central Marching Band (known as the Sound Machine) during these crisp, autumn days, this is home.

This field belongs to Ronnie Chalmers Jr.

Chalmers is an NCCU drum major. The band is his ship. He is the one who barks orders on the field to make sure that Central’s band is in sync, in tune and in step.

For the past few years, it would seem that being Central’s drum major is a thankless job. After all, the Sound Machine doesn’t have the stellar reputation or the imposing size of other black college bands, like rival’s N.C. A&T’s Blue and Gold Marching Machine or Florida A&M’s Marching 100.

Those bands and others dwarf the size of Central’s band.

Jorim Reid, Central’s new band director, is trying to improve the Sound Machine’s status. And Reid knows about band perfection, as he was a drum major at Florida A&M.

Reid, who was an assistant band director last year and stepped into the role of band director full time this year, figured that strengthening NCCU’s band program would take some time.

So Reid has been focusing on improving the quality of sound and bulking up the band’s enrollment, which right now hovers around 100 people.

"We are giving people a much better sound, but we’re not doing anything for the decibel level," he said. To do that he looked to Chalmers, a senior, to be the band’s head drum major and junior Joan Council to be the other drum major.

While Council will be chief drum major next year, Reid admits that he patterned the Sound Machine around Chalmers’ talents.

"It’s like being a head coach and having a system you want to [implement]," Reid explains. "I need someone who is on the same page with me to get my system in place. Not only is Ronnie on the same page with me, but he has the attention of the rest of the band as well, and that is important."

Reid is the director, but the show belongs to Chalmers.

Visit a couple of practices and you would be hard pressed to find Chalmers with a smile on his face. Maybe a grin here or there. Maybe a primp in the cheeks.

Maybe.

But mostly, Chalmers is serious about his duties. He leads the band on field and at times breaks out into a dance. He is the one who wears the big long hat and the blows the whistle in staccato measure.

"As a drum major, you have to accept the role of being a leader," said Chalmers, a senior from Fayetteville. "It is my job to be the liaison between the band director and the band. I have to be the one who has to direct the band to do what the directs wants them to do."

It was almost as if he took the words right out of his band director’s own mouth.

And although Chalmers doesn’t think he takes his job and its duties seriously enough, watching him lead the band through practice would lead a casual observer to think otherwise.

"Look," he starts sternly after sizing up the band’s drowsy and rusty performance at practice. Forget the fact that the band is just returning from fall break and hadn’t rehearsed in nearly a week.

Doesn’t matter to Chalmers. The band has to play right.

The message: get the act together or step.

"Stop!" he says, waiving his hands. "If you don’t want to be here, then go home! If you don’t want to be here, just leave. Right now."

No one leaves. Practice resumes with a slightly crisper pace. Chalmers’ cry put the band on notice and refocuses the Sound Machine, but the rust remains. Nevertheless, the effort returns in a prompt manner.

The ability to discipline or to have discipline as a drum major is key to being successful. Particularly being a drum major at a historically black college of university like N.C. Central.

See, the marching bands at black colleges and universities play a much more significant role in the collegiate culture. As Council puts it, there is "a subculture that feeds off of it."

"A lot more things are centered [culturally] around the [black] college bands," Council said. "We have to have more discipline to be able to carry out things that we want to do on the field."

Indeed, black college bands feature more dancing and a playing of more urban contemporary tunes. Yet, there are also the standard numbers that must be performed with excellent pitch to garner a respect for sound. These elements usually make for a masala of entertainment usually unparalleled by mainstream marching bands.

It is the nature of this fine line among entertainment, showmanship and traditional fare that spells the dynamic of black college bands. The same threads also show the onus of a band performing well for its audience.

And all of that pressure falls back on the drum majors. Sure, it’s the band director’s vision. Reid must have dependable people with leadership qualities to implement that vision.

That person for NCCU is Ronnie Chalmers. All eyes are on him when it’s time to march. Play or dance. The twerp of his whistle is what Central’s fresh-eyed staff waits for.

"Having to be so disciplined …" he stops to speak diplomatically before finding the right way to say his words. "It can really be tough. I mean, I know that I have to uphold a certain honor or maintain a solid reputation around campus because of who I am. Because I’m the drum major for the band, I have to set an example.

"It’s hard to do sometimes," he adds. "But I accept the responsibility."

Council said that it is sometimes that discipline and the need for discipline that sets black college band members from their mainstream counterparts.

"They don’t have to be as disciplined at we do," she said.

But the discipline goes with the territory. It helps format you for the myriad formations and the constant changing of the shows.

But in the end, it’s about having fun.

On the practice field, even Chalmers often forgets the routine for things like today’s Battle of the Bands at Southern High School, featuring a half a dozen HBCU bands from North Carolina and Virginia. N.C. Central’s Sound Machine is expected to be one of the smaller crowds there.

But that is no excuse for Reid. He has already seen his band show marked improvement from bands in years past and he is impressed with the quality of their sound and their dedication in routines and dance steps, although this band struggles to amp the decibel meter like other black college bands.

"We can still entertain," Reid said. "I think we are doing well and we are making progress."