Pinkerton is part of percussion youth movement

Having so many middle schoolers involved was intentional, as Smeltzer and his staff knew they would have just one freshman member of the percussion section this year. Essentially, they needed more bodies.

In an effort to help build both skills and interest in the program, JCHS held a series of percussion clinics over the course of the winter. The middle schoolers involved were invited to express their interest if they wanted to be a part of the summer show. The result was the addition of the four eighth graders, and Pinkerton as the lone seventh grader.

“Pretty much, he’s been kind of like a ball of fire,” said Mitch Snyder, Jay County’s percussion guru. “He’s got what I would call ‘the right stuff.’ … When it comes to attitude, he’s got it.”

Pinkerton said he simply expressed interest because summer band seemed like it would be fun. It has been. It’s also been challenging.

“When you start out, it’s pretty difficult,” he said. “Then you start doing it over and over again and you get to say, ‘Oh, this is easy.’”

The challenges for the staff — Snyder and David Kuo, who is in his first year working with the front ensemble — have come in the form of helping a group of middle school students rise to the level of the Marching Patriots.

It’s a different mentality, Kuo explained, from middle school band to the high school level. It takes a level of maturity and responsibility.

“They’re all good kids,” said Kuo. “And they were all willing to learn. That’s why they’re here.

“I think there’s so much that they gained from an attitude and maturity standpoint from just being surrounded by a bunch of high schoolers. That’s a really unique opportunity for a seventh grader, to learn how to go to an event for four hours and do a job.”

The goal now is that they show off those skills Friday at Indiana State Fair Band Day. The next step, the staff hopes, is to carry their enthusiasm for marching band back to their respective middle school buildings.

"We want to get a good word out about what we do,” said Snyder.

“Hopefully they’ll go back to their eighth grade band room and tell the other kids, ‘Hey, this was cool. You guys need to do this,’” said Smeltzer.

Pinkerton seems primed to do just that. He has a simple, straightforward answer for why a seventh grader would want to subject himself to a summer full of four-hour practices.

“The people,” he said. “They’re just so encouraging. And it’s really fun.”