Jasper's Kier to play drums with Memphis Sound
By GEORGIA PURDY Newsboy Correspondent

Andrew Kier

Jasper High School junior Andrew Kier has been selected to tour with the Drum Corps International group Memphis Sound this summer. Kier is a drum major with the JHS band.

"I've never seen Andy so excited about anything as he is this," Jasper High School Band Director Jeff Parma said.

Kier said he sent an audition tape with not much expectation of being picked.

"I wasn't sure if I would make it or not," Kier said. "I thought maybe I had a 40 to 50 percent chance. I wasn't expecting a whole lot."

Drum Corps International is a nonprofit youth activity where marching bands compete and entertain through live performance. Kier said that they have different groups that perform programs at various competitions during the summer.

"I auditioned for Memphis Sound based in Memphis, Tennessee," Kier said. "It's in the Open Class, smaller than some of the bigger bands, and I thought I had a better chance of getting picked. I will be in the color guard. They perform in dance, flag and rifle."

Since he is a drum major rather than in Jasper's color guard, it meant learning these additional skills.

Newsboy photo/Charles Kerr ANDREW KIER, left drum major, leads the Jasper High School marching band during the Jasper Lions Club Rodeo parade.

"I've been learning flag fundamentals for a couple of years," he said. "I've done some rifle, too. I learned this on my own, so I was able to put together a routine for the audition tape."

JHS has a corps style band and every year they go to San Antonio to watch DCI bands compete, Kier said.

"DCI is what our band tries to model," he said. "We do the same kind of routines. Corps style is abstract and you perform a show. It differs from military bands who march in a block."

Kier will go to Memphis twice before school is out and then join the group June 8.

"I will go on two different weekends to learn their basic style of doing things before we hit the road," he said. Then, on June 8, I will go back to train and learn the drill and show. We begin touring in July."

While he is in training, the group will be housed at Bethel College where they will sleep on the gym floor, Kier said. When training is complete, they will tour and perform in a number of cities such as Louisville and Lexington, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Birmingham, Alabama; and then they will go to the DCI World Championships in Michigan City, Indiana.

After he sent in the audition tape, it took two weeks to learn whether or not he was accepted, and when the message came, he was on a weekend trip to listen to Texas Music Educators Association All-State and Honor bands.

"We were at TMEA and I got the message on my cell phone," he said. "I was so excited and not expecting it."

After he received word that he was selected, he had to raise the money to attend.

"It costs $1,600. That helps defray the costs of travel, plus I needed money to go to the weekend trainings," he said. "Luckily, I was able to raise the money through sponsorships."

Jeff Parma looks to Kier's accomplishment with pride, pleased that Andrew has chosen to go beyond what is required in a high school band.

"I'm really proud of him," he said. "I'm proud that students pursue things that they are not required to do and do them for the pure enjoyment of it."

As for Andrew, he's just happy to be getting out of town.

"I'm excited to be gone this summer," he said. "I've stayed home for the past two summers. This is something to do."