Student musican on top

By MELINA DOWNS
For the Stafford County Sun
Published: May 14, 2008

STAFFORD — Hundreds of young musicians come from all over the world to compete in an intense marching band boot camp, spending 12-hour days completing music rehearsals and physical training.

It sounds like a pitch for the latest reality television show, but this is a reality North Stafford High School senior Andrew Piner has faced since November while competing for a spot with the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps.

One weekend a month, beginning in November 2007, Piner traveled to South Carolina to spend his days waking up at 6 a.m., beginning a four-hour music rehearsal, followed by five hours of push-ups, sit-ups and running and then participating in another block of music rehearsal.

The Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps is an elite marching-band group made up of recent high school graduates and college students. Each year hundreds of people come from all over the United States and several foreign countries to compete for spots with this corps.

As the trainings progress, contestants are eliminated until only 150 are chosen.

Piner was recently offered one of the 150 places with the Carolina Crown and now, he will spend the summer traveling throughout the United States competing against more than 20 other corps for a title with the Drum Corps International World Championships.

“Music has always drawn me in,” said the trumpet player. “It’s just fascinating.”

Piner has a passion for music that began at the age of 3, as shown by Piner family home videos, which show Andrew in his home playing a bike horn and using a stick to conduct.

“He has a gift for music,” said Jenny Piner, his mother. “Everything comes natural to him, as natural as breathing is to some of us.”

This gift of music comes naturally to all of the family’s five children. The Piner family home is always filled with singing and Jenny Piner also plays piano and has had a hand in the performing arts since a young age.

Andrew Piner began playing his first instrument in the sixth grade, when he learned to play the French horn. Then he picked up the trumpet in the eighth grade and really found his niche. Eventually, he also taught himself to play the guitar and he has even arranged music.

In high school, Andrew participated in the North Stafford High School Marching Band, playing the trumpet for four years and holding several leadership positions. There he met North Stafford High School Band Director Joe Tornello.

Tornello is a Carolina Crown alumnus who marched in the DCI World Championships in 1997 and 1998 and encouraged Andrew to try out.

“Andrew has the passion and the drive,” said Tornello. “It’s very time and labor intensive. It’s very difficult to [be a part of the Carolina Crown] without being very passionate and energetic about the music.”

Piner’s passion for music will be tested this summer as he sleeps on a bus and high school gym floors while traveling, performing in shows and still practicing and physically training every day.

Fortunately, Andrew’s musical voyage will not end after this summer. He plans to come home after the competition and go to community college and eventually transfer to a four-year college where he will pursue his dream of teaching music.

“It’s an amazing feeling to play [music],” said Andrew, who credits Tornello’s guidance as his inspiration. “If I can help someone have those same feelings that I’ve had, it would make me really happy to pass it on, to pay it forward.”

Andrew’s teaching experience has already begun, as he has taught his two younger brothers to play the trumpet.

But for now, he will concentrate on his upcoming summer and the challenges it will bring.

Piner has already raised the majority of the $3,000 it takes to participate in the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps, through local business sponsors and donations.

“I’m looking forward to the feeling of being the best I can and contributing the most I can to [the Carolina Crown],” he said. “This sets the foundation for a good life.”

Melina Downs is a contributing writer at the Stafford County Sun. Reach her at .