A few hours after the sun dawns on any given Saturday of the
fall season, three UCLA students suit up to spend the day working
in front of thousands of fans in sometimes triple digit
temperatures.
These are the marching band drum majors, and until this fall
none had ever been female. That changed this year with Laura
Montoya, a 20-year-old psychobiology student from Lakewood, CA.
Montoya has performed with the marching band for all three years
she has been at UCLA, first as a trumpet player and now in front of
the band to help lead them.
“UCLA has a world-renowned marching band, and (since)
there are many females in the band I think it’s good to
always see that there’s a leader there for them,”
Montoya said.
This is also the first time Gordon Henderson, director of
UCLA’s marching band, remembers working with a pre-med drum
major. He describes Montoya as very articulate, confident and
outgoing, something apparent almost immediately after meeting
her.
Montoya has helped to break ground before. As a senior at Long
Beach Polytechnic High School she was one of two female drum
majors, a first for that school. During that same year her high
school’s band won a Grammy, a tradition for Poly’s
marching band, she said.
Both Long Beach Poly and UCLA are schools well known for their
football traditions, so Montoya was aware of the importance of her
role on game day. Always a sports fan, Montoya has not been able to
sit back and simply observe one of her school’s football
games in over six years.
As drum major, she pays careful attention to all action on the
field; that’s the only way for her to know what cues she
needs to give the band.
“Game days are really busy for me. I’m running all
around with the different groups, making sure that sectionals are
on time, everyone’s getting dressed, everyone needs to know
where they have to be at the right time ““ we try to
facilitate that and help the directors out,” Montoya
said.
In addition to the game-day activities, Montoya and the rest of
the marching band rehearse for about eight hours a week. Football
season is the height of their activity, but Montoya actually
prefers the basketball trips.
According to Montoya, there is more personal interaction with
the basketball players because the band travels on the same plane
and stays in the same hotel. Montoya enjoys this group camaraderie
and the relationships built as a result.
Amid her drum major responsibilities, Montoya manages to sing
with the University Catholic Center and the Long Beach-based ska
band Pipedream, and also fulfill her duties as a Distinguished
Belle in the Bruin Belles service organization. As a pre-med
student, she hopes to do clinical work somewhere in South America
before attending medical school.
She’s even picked up odd jobs here and there, including
gardening for Joanne Carson, former wife of original Tonight Show
host Johnny Carson. Montoya streamlines as much as possible to fit
it all in.
“I think every student does that here. Once you get to
school you just have to learn to balance everything out … I feel
that all these things make me who I am, so I can’t really
drop one and choose one thing over another,” Montoya
said.
Montoya has pride in her role as the first female drum major.
Other females in the band now look up to their leaders and finally
can see a woman among them.
“I think the fact that I’m female has gotten me a
lot of support in the band,” Montoya said. “Many girls
just think it’s really cool; they come up to me and tell me
(that). It makes me feel really glad that I can represent them, and
I appreciate it.”