June 15, 2009

Crane wins drumline gold
TDW grad among title holders

By Jade McDowell
of The Chronicle

     It is not often someone from a small town like The Dalles can claim the title of International Champion, but Casey Crane can.
     He is part of a Portland-based drumline known as Oregon Crusaders Indoor, an ensemble which won a gold medal at the World Drumline Championships last month.
     Crane, a music education major at University of Oregon, is one of 29 percussionists in the ensemble. He plays snare drum in what he describes as both an audio and visual show.
     He said the ensemble practiced for several hours every weekend to achieve the level of precision which helped them score over 95 out of 100 points in the final competition.
     “On a good weekend it was 20, on more intense weekends it was more like 30,” he said, referring to the number of hours the group practiced together.
     On the competition Web site, reviewer Michael Reed praised the Crusaders’ show, titled “Aftershock,” and described it as “a challenging program which showed no weaknesses.”
     Crane said he appreciates the level of accuracy the drumline’s instructors expect from the musicians.
     “It’s a level of excellence that you don’t get anywhere else,” he said.
     The attention to detail is part of what helped the squad, which is in its first year, to become the first drumline from the Pacific Northwest to win a title at the international competition held in Dayton, Ohio.
     The group competed against 20 other regional champions in the Independent A class of groups not affiliated with a particular school. Crane said the group was “testing the waters” this year because they were unsure of how they would stack up to other competitors.
     “We knew we would do well, because our instruction was so good and we knew what we were doing, but winning the whole thing was a surprise,” he said.
One of the aspects of the experience he said he enjoyed the most was getting to know the people he drummed with. Spending long hours practicing, working together so closely and having every beat count helped the performers become a tight-knit bunch.
     Crane discovered his passion for music, especially percussion, here in The Dalles.
     He said he started drumming about six years ago, not long before entering what was then The Dalles High School. During high school he performed with the schools’ marching and jazz bands as well as the garage band BackDraft. He was often asked to participate in other miscellaneous musical endeavors.
     Paul Viemiester, TDW band director, said he hears about Crane’s successes as a drummer from time to time and is never surprised. He described him as a pleasure to teach, fun to work with and a real leader who “pretty much ran” the percussion section during his years in the high school band.
     “I never had to tell those guys to practice, because Casey would take them out and they would work and work,” he said. “They were really good because of him.”
     He said he saw the drummer improve tremendously over the years due to countless hours of practice above and beyond what was expected of him at school.
     From the way Crane describes the effort he puts into the Crusaders, it seems he still has that strong work ethic that drove him as a teen.
     “It’s hard work, but when you do something like Dayton, and win a gold medal, it’s all worth it,” he said.