“It’s march first, band second” – science student took on leadership role with the McMaster Marching Band in her first year

First-year science student Lisa Jin got up early on a Sunday morning in mid-March, boarded a Toronto-bound bus with 50 bandmates and then cued up outdoors under threatening skies for three hours hoping it wouldn’t rain on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The skies opened up just as the McMaster Marching Band started marching on Bloor Street. The rain alternated between a drizzle and a downpour. The band was drenched by the time they hung a right onto Yonge Street. Some of them were nearly knocked off their feet by a sudden blast of wind.

Yet through it all the band played on with mace-wielding and whistle-blowing Jin leading the way. An hour later, the parade finished up outside the Eaton Centre. The band changed into dry clothes and got back on the bus with their soaked uniforms hung up to drip dry.

Looking back on her rookie season, Jin says the St. Patrick’s Day parade was by far her favourite performance. It’s an iconic event, with marching bands, dancers and community groups drawing big and loud crowds rain or shine.

“And we were flawless from start to finish.”

Jin was also finally feeling comfortable and confident in her leadership role as drum major. In marching bands, drum majors like Jin don’t do any drumming – instead, they give orders and direct the band. “I use my mace and whistle to set the beat for the drummers who then set the beat for the rest of the band.”

The drum major is also the first person audiences see when a band marches onto fields and down streets. Jin has never had to fake a smile – she’s a naturally enthusiastic ambassador for the band and McMaster.

Jin signed up for the McMaster Marching Band during ClubFest in her first year. “I’d never seen a marching band in real life but everyone was friendly and it seemed like a lot of fun.”

Established in 2009, it’s one of few university marching bands in Canada and features a hornline, drumline, and colour guard.

In a marching band, you need to look good and sound good in that order. “It’s marching first, band second,” says Jin. Learning how to move at the same time in the same direction proved harder than it looked but Jin quickly figured it out.

She aced the band part. Jin started playing violin when she was eight years old and switched to saxophone in middle school. Music took a break while Jin focused on academics at her Edmonton high school.

Jin initially played saxophone in the marching band but then a call went out for a drum major – no previous experience required, just lots of enthusiasm. Jin volunteered and was awarded the drum major’s mace, whistle and red pants.

She was initially nervous to lead as one of the newest and youngest band members – her bandmates include grad students and even a professor. “I felt like a sea dragon out of water at first. But when I came to McMaster, I’d made a vow that I’d try things outside of my comfort zone. I’d always loved playing music and I’d been in bands all through middle school so that was right in my comfort zone. But I’d never led a band.”

Jin grew into the role and was in a groove by the time the band marched at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Yet she knew there was always room for improvement so Jin applied to the Susan Cunningham Science Leadership Academy. The academy, funded with a gift from McMaster graduate Susan Cunningham, offers a year-long, no-cost intensive leadership program designed for undergraduate and graduate students in the Faculty of Science. Jin was one of 25 emerging leaders to be chosen for the academy’s first cohort of students.

“I’m hoping that what I learn in the academy will make me a better drum major and inspire me to try even more things at university and then in my career.”

Jin’s temporarily put down her mace and whistle this semester – one of her courses in the Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior Music Cognition program overlaps with the marching band’s evening rehearsal. But she’s aiming to rejoin the band for the winter term and hoping for a rain and wind-free day at the 2026 St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

(McMaster Marching Band photo by Maya Tsipris)