Walking out on stage before his third and final performance of the competition, Brandon Schantz (A'08) hears the lacquered wooden floor groan beneath him. It’s an odd sound to notice at this moment, but the floor's pulsation is just a precursor. The real thumping is about to begin.
Schantz grabs his drumsticks and, before a panel of seven judges, begins his climactic 20-minute program at the Le Concours International de Caisse Claire Paris international snare drum competition. The event, held annually in Paris, France, is highly regarded among aspiring classical percussionists from around the world. Rattling away on his black, precisely tuned Pearl, the Quakertown, Pa., native displays mastery of cadence, tempo, rhythm, and interpretation on the final piece, just as he had done with a dozen other compositions during the prior three days.
"I let the sound drive my technique," Schantz says. "When there's a sound I want to create for a specific piece, I’ll make adjustments in my hands until I get it just right. Then it becomes muscle memory."
It’s a memory that he made sure wasn't disturbed by breakfast, lunch, or dinner. "Coming to a different country, I worried about what I ate and how it would affect me," he says. Bananas became his steady diet. "I spent months preparing for this competition, so I wasn’t going to take chances. Actually, bananas are great beta blockers, which prevent the shakes caused by lactic acid that can build up during long routines."
Schantz didn’t have the shakes. He defeated 31 competitors to win first place in the 20–24 age bracket.
--Chris A. Weber
