Drum majors spice up Marching Hundred with skits, dances

Tonya Mitchell and Annie Herchen are tired.

It’s after a recent home game when most IU students are only beginning to go out.
But more than three hours of twirling, dancing and marching can take it out of someone.

The two are drum majors for the Marching Hundred, and a football game just ended. They spent most of their Saturday, from 3 to 10 p.m., at Memorial Stadium. And now that it’s done, they’re exhausted.

There are more than 200 musicians in the Marching Hundred, but on the field and in the stands, the drum majors stand out.

“We’re the only ones wearing white uniforms in a sea of crimson,” Mitchell said. “We’re doing fun stuff that’s getting the crowd riled up and getting students to stay for halftime.”

The Hundred sit in the North End Zone during most of the game. They play popular music and fight songs.

Herchen and Mitchell are the leaders, sitting in the front and dancing to the music.

Herchen, a senior, and Mitchell, a junior, have livened up the Hundred in their first year as drum majors, adding more dances and skits to the halftime show. The group did a boy-band skit during one game, and Herchen choreographed and performed a salsa dance for another.

“We’re really trying to put on shows people will sing along with, they’ll clap with, they’ll hoot and holler,” Herchen said. “Anything to get people involved.”

It’s not the first time IU has had two drum majors or even a female drum major, but it is the first time the Hundred has had two female drum majors.

In the stands, they dance and cheer along with the fight songs. On the field, they swing dance with each other during “Sing, Sing, Sing.”
They use props, hats and costumes – anything that will get the audience to stay in their seats.

Herchen and Mitchell are united in their antics. It doesn’t matter if they’re wearing Chiquita Banana hats with fake fruit, imitating a bull and matador for a couple of Latin numbers or dressing in sparkly costumes for a Las Vegas theme.

“We’re always on the same page,” Herchen said. “No matter how crazy it is.”

Being a drum major not only requires creativity, but responsibility. Being leaders means pressure on the two, who are in charge of keeping time for the band during practices and games.

Mitchell said it’s important to convey confidence to the band, who watch them for their cues.

“We have to act like we know what we’re doing all the time,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes we really don’t.”

Herchen had experience being a leader of the band before becoming drum major. She was an undergraduate assistant, meaning she helped her section during practice. Mitchell was the drum major of her high school marching band.

For both, the chance to lead a group of people – their friends and colleagues – was the reason for taking the position.

“We’re actually out to make the band better,” Herchen said.

Being selected to be a drum major is like being picked to sit on the Supreme Court: Once you get it, you have it until you graduate.

For Mitchell, that means she has another chance next year.

For Herchen, that means she only has two games left. She said because of that, she’s more willing to be brave when it comes to new ideas and planning for halftime.
“It’s easier to take a risk,” Herchen said.

Herchen and Mitchell are both music education majors and said they hope to be band directors, and this semester is preparing them for what they hope to do in the future.

At the end of the game, Mitchell changes out of her uniform and talks to her family, who came from out of town to visit. Herchen talks to a few friends in the band.

The night is still young by IU standards, but both are exhausted. The next day is set to begin early.

Their coed music fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi, with sister sorority Tau Beta Sigma, picks up garbage at Memorial Stadium at 7 a.m. on two weekends to raise money for
the groups.

Only 20 or so members of the Hundred who are also active in the fraternity and sorority are at the cleanups.

A few hours of sleep later, they are back to the stadium.