Every single Friday in the fall, the marching band comes out perform in a way that everyone in attendance will remember, except for junior drumline member Oliver Pringle. Because he doesn’t focus on the drums. He honestly doesn’t even remember the performances. To him, he blacks out when performing, and plays without thinking about what to do. It’s just second nature to him now.  

“Well, a long time ago, I used to be super scared of being on stage,” Pringle said. “My hands would shake and everything, but honestly, not now. It’s more fun, if anything, because you’re with people you know, the music, you memorize it, you’re working day in, day out,  a lot of times during the summer, and at that point, when you’re on the stage, all the fear goes away.”

When he’s on the field, he focuses on the small things that brought him to this moment. Figuratively, like his bandmates and his friends, and literally, like the hours on the bus on the way to games that he will always remember. After five years in percussion, Pringle has taken on the quad drums, and his bandmates said he picked up the skill quickly. 

“He has one year less experience, but he’s on the same level as everyone else, so I’ve seen him first-hand jump from the JV level music of Jasper to the really upper-level music at Plano West,” senior drumline captain Aneesh Jape said. 

As senior year is one step closer, Pringle said he will continue doing drumline into next season so he can “help the next generation.”

“He brings positive energy,” associate band director and percussion cluster coordinator Justin Myers said. “He’s very exciting and excitable when he plays. He works really hard, he’s very much a team player, so he brings a lot of great energy to the group and really contributes in a positive fashion.”

Between the 5 a.m. practices and getting home well after midnight, Pringle said he enjoys his time in on the field and on the band pad, being with his friends through it all.