At Dayton, Ohio last year, 26 groups competed to be the best and place as high as they possibly could. Lambert High School was among the few who was able to rise to the occasion, placing 12th in the world. They performed Atlantis, which was written by their amazing band directors Tonya Mashburn, Eric Brown, Aaron Fisher and Phillip Morgan. The show was separated out into four parts, beginning with the civilization of Atlantis. This part had tribal-like music and is very heavy in choreography to start off the show. The drummers then proceed to pick up their drums and are playing while still moving around in very fluid movements.Watch an excerpt of their show here .
As the first part comes to a close, all drummers are now on the floor and in a square, set up for the next part. The next part of the story being told is about the destruction of Atlantis; the city is being destroyed and chaos is raining down upon them. The music becomes shrill and high pitched as if an alarm is going off. The citizens of Atlantis (the drummers) rush to the castle prop and begin to "worship" their gods in hope for safety from the destruction. Alas, this does not work, and a huge crack splits the city in two, causing the citizens to have to jump over the crack with their drums still on. This part is very fast-paced and ends with an amazingly smooth transition to the next part of the show.
After chaos has had its turn on Atlantis, the city then sinks to the bottom of the ocean. This is where there are amazing visuals of this happening. People emerge with bubbles and this becomes the lyrical part of the show. The pit creates a soothing and slow atmosphere as if you were in the ocean, and all the drummers pretend to have bubbles in their mouth creating a scene as if you were sinking and trying to save your air. The bass drums in this part also create a very open and bubble like tone which helps set the scene even more. As this part comes to a close the drummers slowly run back to their drums and the bubbles begin to fade away.
The very last part of this show is the Legend of Atlantis. In this part, the drummers all come together to form yet another block before dropping down and saying the name of their show in that precise downbeat. This is, to be honest, one of the most fun parts to watch in the show as it is very in sync and seems to go very well with the show. After this, each instrument has their very own feature with cool rudiments and clean notes. This begins with the snare drums, gets passed off to the bass drums, and ends with the quads as they transition to the very last part of their show. As each drummer hits one note, all of the columns in the back pop open to reveal a larger top that is fitting to the setting that is portrayed. After the columns open, people run out with yellow flags as the drums begin to make their way to the back. A yellow sheet comes over the drummers and the only thing left on the floor is the Trident from the beginning.
The show was amazing and has shown how much the Lambert Drumline is capable of. The season for 2018 has already begun and Lambert is expected to place higher this year with their new show, Wu Xing: The Five Elements. The competitions they will be at are on the 2/17, 3/10, 3/24, 4/14, and 4/18. Those shows will be at in this exact order: North Gwinnett High School, Woodland High School, Lambert High School, The Coliseum in UWG and Dayton, Ohio. Be sure to get tickets and go out and support Lambert Drumline.
