Hi! My name is Emma Tatum and I would like to introduce

myself. I am currently attending school at Texas State University and I am

studying music education. My goal following graduation is to teach band in the central Texas area and inspire students through musical endeavors and create positive life experiences for those in my program. I am proud to say that I am very passionate about music and the marching arts, and I truly believe marching band and drum corps can benefit anyone who participates!

First, I would like to provide some context on what world class drum corps is. Each summer, roughly 24 groups across the nation go on a summer tour to compete nationally for a chance to win a national championship. Each group has around 150 members aged 16-21 who live together from mid-may to mid-august to refine and perfect an 8-12 minute marching band show. For the first 3-4 weeks, I will be living with the corps in oregon and training 10-12 hours a day to learn this show. Following this I will be embarking on a 6 week cross country tour that starts in Los Angeles, California and ends in Indianapolis, Indiana. In this time I will performing at 21 different competitions against other corps in many different cities. This experience is quite intense but truly life changing, and I am incredibly excited to get to experience this again, for the last time.

For a peek into what a show looks like, check out the video below of the drum corps I will be joining (Santa Clara Vanguard) from their 1st place show in 2018. (Start at minute 1:30 if you don't want to watch the whole video)

I recently received the honor of being awarded a performance contract with the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum Corps for this summer during the Drum Corps season. If you know me personally, Drum Corps has been a huge part of my life since 2019, and this is a great accomplishment for me as this group has a lot of very prominent history in the activity, existing since 1967 and winning 10 championship titles. I have participated in drum corps for multiple years with Genesis DBC in the past and I can truly say that it has changed me and pushed me to be a better version of myself every summer that I have participated in.

I am starting this fundraiser to help raise funds for me to participate this summer. In this current economy, running a drum corps is extremely expensive. Finding housing for 150 members plus staff for almost three months, while feeding everyone 4 meals a day is something which requires a lot of funding (not to even mention instruments, uniforms, gas and so much more), so each member has to pay their fair share to be able to participate. I am currently a full time student and I work a job to help support myself, but I am struggling to be able to provide my drum corps funds on my own. I am extremely grateful for all that I have, but I do know in my current financial situation, I will need help from friends and family to make this possible.

I am also turning 21 this summer, so this will be my last year participating in drum corps. It has been such a beautiful journey which I have taken being in the marching arts, and seeing it come to a close is truly bittersweet (I may or may not be tearing up while writing this). That being said, if you feel inclined to contribute anything to this fundraiser, this will be my last year needing this kind of support from friends and family as I will be over 21 (or "aged out") following this season, so I would really appreciate it. If you are not able to donate that is completely okay! It is completely free to share this fundraiser on your social medias or to friends through email or messenger and that would still help me a lot!

If you've read this far, I'd like to thank you for your time and consideration! It means so much to me.