As the Albert Lea High School drumline marched around the parking lot of the high school, captain Ray Stephenson chanted “we call this Fluffy Bunny Way” and the rest of the drumline began their routine.

“Fluffy Bunny Way” is just one of the pieces the drumline will play at parades around the area this summer.

Like last year, there wasn’t enough interest to have a full marching band, but the drumline and color guard will perform at parades around the area. Peter Gepson, band director at Albert Lea High School, said this will offer an alternative that requires fewer participants.

Many of the students are learning a new instrument, and Gepson said the atmosphere is different than it would be with a full marching band.

“It’s smaller, so it’s a little easier to communicate,” Gepson said. “You can be a little looser for that reason. When you’ve got a hundred people out there, you end up having to be very rigid. It’s like army without the guns because there’s so many people to get things going.”

As a student, color guard instructor Mariah Howe was in drumline for one year in the marching band, and then was colorguard captain a few years later. She said this year is different than it would be with a full band.

“I can tell it’s a little bit more laidback, but it’s still at the point where both of us want them to be good, and we’re not going to put them out on the street if they’re not,” Howe said.

Only five of the 19 students in the drumline are percussionists. There are six snare drums, three quint toms, five bass drums, four cymbals and one person plays “gadgets,” which is a rack that includes things like a cowbell and other auxiliary equipment. There are also six students in the color guard.

Mason Tuohy plays tuba in band, and Kayla Swee plays trombone, but both are playing snare this summer for drumline.

“It was hard at first, because I’d never really played snare, but I’ve learned in about a day,” Tuohy said.

Swee said many of the students are still learning the instruments, and she said it’s hard for her to do drum rolls and other more technical things. She said drummers like captain Ray Stephenson with more experience are helping the new drummers learn.

The drumline practiced once a week before school in May. They’ve practiced in the Albert Lea High School parking lot from 8 a.m. to noon this week, and they’ve learned four cadences and are currently learning a fifth.

The pieces they’ll perform have names like “Fluffy Bunny Way,” “Yea, Yea Claves,” “Booga-da-beek” and “T-Line.” The pieces vary in length from 16 measures to about a minute. Some of the pieces were also played last summer and some include portions of the old cadence played when there was a full marching band.

Gepson said the drumline isn’t as serious as a full marching band would be, and having fewer members allows for more interaction.

Gepson said the drumline came up with a routine for one of their pieces on Tuesday. And because the group is small, he said it was a collective effort.

“People were saying let’s try this, let’s try this. Pretty soon, you’ve got something put together. I would never do that, and I would never try that with a full marching band because it wouldn’t work,” Gepson said.

On Wednesday, Gepson noticed one cymbal player leaning backward when a beat is repeated in one routine. He put that into the routine so all the cymbal players lean back at the same time.

“We all kind of contribute, because whatever pops into our head, we see if we like it,” Tuohy said. “He tries almost everything that we say, unless it’s a really ridiculous idea.”

“And most of it works,” Stephenson added.

Swee said the drumline will not compete in parades; they’ll be marching for fun. But Stephenson said he’s looking forward to meeting and talking with other drumlines before and after parades.

“Then it’s a competition for us because it’s like the two drumlines,” Stephenson said.

The drumline will not wear traditional marching band uniforms. Instead, they’ll wear blue polo drumline shirts, black shorts and white marching band shoes. Gepson bought black sunglasses and red and blue bandanas through Oriental Trading magazine to complete the outfits.

They’ll also wear white baseball socks with red or blue trim. Drummers wearing a red bandana will wear blue socks, and drummers wearing a blue bandana will wear red socks. Each section could wear their bandanas and gear differently.

Howe said the color guard will wear black pants with red shirts with rhinestone accents.

The drumline will perform eight times during the summer. The first parade is Saturday in Fairmont for the Interlaken Days parade. They will also march at the Independence Day parades in Albert Lea on July 3 and Austin on July 4.

Another performance will include a clinic with the Mankato 77 Lancers Marching band on June 22, and the drumline will attend the Thunder of Drums drum corps competition. They’ll perform at Valleyfair Amusement Park & Soak City in Shakopee on June 27, and the drumline will enjoy a day in the park after the performance.

The drumline will perform for parents Thursday night at 6 p.m. in the high school parking lot.