Junior Anchal Amin picks up her phone after packing up her clarinet, and notices the Remind message from Mr.Larkin, announcing that band leadership positions for the next year have been posted. Amin brushes it off, thinking about checking it later to avoid the crowd. As she stands up, she gets a startling surprise.

“After the list was posted last year, the current head drum major, Fatima Carmona, came up to me and said “Hey, you made drum major! Congratulations,”’ Amin said.

Amin applied to be a drum major last year, and found out at the end of her sophomore year that she would be the newest drum major for the current year.

“I was really excited, I was really happy,” Amin said. “I tried really hard for it, and I knew that doing other things other than band, like orchestra and student council, would put me in an iffy position to get drum major, because I can’t spend all my time doing band things because I have something else to do. But I did get it and I was really excited.”

As a drum major, Amin helps to conduct the band when they are on the field, and acts as a leader for the members of band.

“When band is walking out, we are usually the people in the front,” Amin said. “We tell different sections and groups what they need to do, or what they need to work on. It’s just being a role model for the band, and we are the people that represent the band.”

Along with being a drum major for the band, Amin plays multiple instruments, both with TCHS and outside of school.

“I learned how to play flute from my sister, and in middle school I learned how to play clarinet and violin,” Amin said. “In my eighth grade year, I learned cello, and in the summer between eighth grade and freshman year, I learned how to play the viola. And I’ve been dabbling in piano for a long time, and a little bit of saxophone.”

Amin plays violin for Chamber Orchestra, and clarinet for Wind Symphony. Since both classes are during first period, Amin has to find a way to successfully balance the two.

“The biggest thing that helps me balance both band and orchestra is the directors,” Amin said. “They are a huge help through it all. They know I like both, and they know I want to do both. During class time, I pick days where I will switch off. There are days where I will have orchestra things to do, so I have to be in orchestra, and there are days where we are doing things in band, so I need to be in band that day. I switch off days, and sometimes I have to skip rehearsals because I have a concert or something like that.”

Along with the happiness that comes with creating music, Amin’s favorite part of being a musician at TCHS is the people she gets to surround herself with every day.

“I love the friendships and the people I’ve met,” Amin said. “Music has always been a really big part of my life, so it’s nice to meet so many people that care about it too, and I get to do the thing that I love the most with the people that I like being around. And to get two different sides of music is a nice experience. There are things about orchestra that you won’t know from being in band, and there are things about band that you don’t know from orchestra. And I can explain to people that it’s not what they think.”