Dillon Caudell, bass drum player in Habersham Central’s Band of Blue, has been selected as a member of the U.S. Army All-American Band – an honor awarded annually to only 125 high school students in the nation. Dillon was nominated by Ryan Dukes, director of the band at Habersham Central. Dukes says that the nomination process inluded videotaping a lengthy series of Dillon’s performances, both as a musical performer on the bass drum, and as a drummer in a marching band. A drummer must be able to read and follow written music in the same way that those who play other instruments do, he says.
There were 3-5,000 high school band students who were entered in the national competition, with only 125 students chosen for the All-American Band. Dillon, Dukes adds, is one of five bass drummers selected from applicants across the United States. In January, as a member of the U.S. Army All-American Band, Dillon will perform in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. That Bowl event includes the game for high school All-American football players.
Dillon says,”yes,” it is as exciting for a bass drummer to play the drum, as it is for an audience to hear. The drummers in a band must establish “the cadence” for the performance, and his practicing has required years of “dedication – just getting it done,” he says.
Dillon is the son of Donna and Doug Caudell, and the family lives in Mt. Airy. He says he wants to attend Georgia Tech or Southern Polytechnic Institute after high school graduation to major in mechanical engineering. Academically, he is now ranked “fifth” in his graduating class, he says. After college, he plans “to go into the Army Corps of Engineers.”
Because of his selection for the All-American Band, Dillon will be recognized on Oct. 2 at 2:30 in the auditorium at Habersham Central High School. A team of military representatives will present an official All-American Band jacket to Dillon at that time. It is the jacket he will wear to perform on the bass drum at the All-American Bowl on January 9. The presentation willl take place with Band of Blue members attending, and the event will be broadcast as a live-feed to classrooms at Habersham Central at that time.
