AHS grad lands drum major role at Auburn

Published 6:30 am Saturday, July 21, 2018

Sarah Niedzwiecki has come a long way from her drum major days at Athens High School to become one of only four drum majors in the Auburn University marching band.

At the start of this year’s football season, Niedzwiecki will lead the school’s 380-member marching band onto the new Mercedes-Benz field, where the Tigers will face Washington in the 2018 Chick-fil-A kickoff game before tens of thousands of fans.

It is an honor the college junior has worked hard to earn.

She led the AHS marching band as head drum major in 2015 and 2016, having served as assistant drum major the year before. But the mellophone player is quick to point out there is a world of difference between leading a high school band and one of the most renowned college bands in the country.

Competing against 25 other top musicians, Niedzwiecki began the process of auditioning for the band’s lead position on Dec. 3, one day after Auburn lost to Georgia in the SEC Championship.

After enduring a grueling process in which she had to prove she could conduct the scores to the first and last shows of the season, undergo an intense interview with the band’s directors, show she could conduct a live band, teach a new music block to a group of band members, and call out the right cheers after a play, Niedzwiecki was just happy for the experience.

She didn’t expect to hear her name when Auburn’s band director, Dr. Corey Spurlin, announced the drum majors for the 2018 season during the band’s end-of-the-year banquet in January.

“I may have cried a little,” she said. “I was just really excited and happy because it was such a hard process.”

Being selected was just the beginning for Niedzwiecki. Since February, the education major has dedicated just about every spare moment to mastering her drum major skills. After all, she will have to lead the band through half-time shows at some of the most-watched football games of 2018.

“I’m up for it,” she said. “But, I still have a little anxiety about that first game because it is such an important job and that is not something I forget.”

She got her first chance to lead the band this spring during the team’s annual A-Day Game.

“It was my first chance to actually watch a football game and know what cheers to call,” Niedzwiecki said. “At first, I was a little nervous, but as the day went on I got more and more comfortable.”

Niedzwiecki grew up watching SEC football games, so matching up plays with the right cheers came naturally to her. Using a whistle to keep the band in rhythm was a different story. After a good deal of practice, however, she got the hang of it.

In addition to her own band camp in August, Niedzwiecki has been helping the next generation of college drum majors hone its skills at high school band camps across the state, including one at Sparkman High School in Madison County.