One of the Hawthorne High School Marching Band’s drum major, Michael Carone, was interviewed before the town tree lighting. The Clarion is interested in what his experience as a second year drum major was like, as opposed to a first year drum major. The Clarion also wanted to know what his experience with the marching band has been like overall.

Clarion Reporter: What are a few key differences between being a first year drum major and a second year?

Michael: The biggest difference is that I had the opportunity to make all my mistakes the first year. I got the feel for what works and what doesn’t in terms of interacting with the band, figuring out how to get everything running smoothly. The perk of being a second year drum major is that I have already made mistakes that I’m able to learn from.

Clarion Reporter: What were some goals of yours going into the season?

Michael: I wanted people to enjoy band as much as I enjoyed band. I wanted to give people the same feeling of family and community that I felt when I joined. And I wanted people to have fun and have fun making music together.

Clarion Reporter: (Follow-up question) Did you feel you accomplished those goals?

Michael: I would like to think I did. I think people in the band recognize that it is a family, it is a group of people that you can come to for anything. And they’re going to be there for you one hundred percent, and I’d like to think I had something to do with that atmosphere.

Clarion Reporter: It’s your last year as a student in the Hawthorne High School Marching Band, do you have any regrets?

Michael:  I would say no, because I joined marching band in eighth grade. So I came into high school already knowing that I wanted to do it and I got to do it for all four years. And I really had such an amazing group of people around me that encouraged me to do whatever would make me happy. So that looking back on four years as a senior, I can say, ‘No, I did everything I wanted to do.’

Clarion Reporter: Do you think you will continue marching band into college?

Michael:  I don’t know, I’m stuck between two colleges right now and one of them has a marching band and one of them doesn’t. And I’m trying to decide whether or not I want to continue it in college but it’s still up in the air.

Clarion Reporter: And final question, what is your favorite set?

Michael:  My favorite set from this year is definitely everyone going into the 007 at the end of James Bond. But in all of my years in the marching band, my sophomore year we played Game of Thrones and the opening set to that was the whole band in a block in the center of the field and the opening set was just a snake move that looked really awesome when we got it right, and with the music and everything, that’s probably my favorite set that we’ve done.