As Baker University’s Pep Band prepares for the rest of the basketball season, they look to add new members to the group. One new member, 15-year-old Noah Clark, a student at Gardner Edgerton High School, was chosen to be Baker’s next Pep Band drummer.
“Over winter break, we sent an email to the School of Music letting music students know when to meet up and rehearse if they wanted to join Pep Band,” Band Director Logan Dingus said.
After hearing about Baker’s offers for scholarship money to join the band, Clark’s older sister, a student at Baker, informed him of the opportunity.
“His sister, a cellist in the Orchestra, told him that we needed a second drum set player so he followed our Instagram page and sent me an email,” Dingus said. “He had posted some videos of him playing with his high school jazz band and I was impressed, so we set it up.”
Clark decided to reach out to Dingus, “the director Logan had seen me on instagram and responded back with the amazing offer to be a part of the band.”
“I got pretty lucky in that regard,” says Dingus. “He’s a quick learner and he’s pretty creative for somebody his age.”
Though Clark is young, he has had no trouble fitting into the college band setting.
“Just like in sports or other disciplines, some people almost appear to come stock ready with ‘it’ – capable of instinctually thinking on the fly and ‘doing’ rather than thinking too much,” Dingus said.
Before the addition of Clark in the Pep Band, there was a struggle to find help when the current Pep Band drummer had scheduling conflicts.
“It helped me a great deal because he could cover for our drummer Dylan when he needed to take care of his RA duties,” Dingus said.
Because Clark is in high school, he cannot get the scholarship money offered in the original email, “I get paid $50 and a pizza bought for me each game,” Clark said.
Clark has been drumming for a long time, getting his start by using cookware.
“I started drumming when I was about 3 years old, just on the pots and pans. Until shortly later I received my first drum-set,” Clark said.
Now that he has this opportunity from Baker, he hopes to continue for many seasons to come, including playing for different sports.
“I would love to play with the band especially for the football season in the fall,” Clark said.
Dingus expresses his excitement for Clark’s future in Baker’s band program.
“He’s shown interest in joining our new marching band program, I hope we get to see him contribute on the field in a couple of years. I think he has the potential to be a great student leader for our drumline,” he said. “Overall, he’s a great kid. Great attitude, happy to be here and develop his craft. We’ve really enjoyed having him, we’re excited to see him develop.”
