Matthew Leininger
Name, age, hometown: Matthew Leininger, 21, Clemson, S.C. ^What corps are you in and what is your role this summer? I am a member of the Southwind out of Lexington, Ky. This will be my third year marching snare and also my ageout year. Where I go to school and what I'm studying: I am a junior at Clemson University, where I major in sport management and minor in business. Give us your full drum corps/marching music background. In high school I was in the drum line for four years, including one year of winter drum line. I was in the Clemson drum line for two years, and I also marched a year of WGI with Epiphany. I'm starting my third year at Southwind and I also been teaching local high school drum lines for the past two years. I am currently the percussion instructor at Daniel High School, which is where I went to high school. What's your practice schedule like? I practice every day for at least two to three hours, and I try to work out and run at least three times a week. What does your ideal free day consist of? Pretty much all of my free days on tour consist of sesame chicken with chicken lomein for lunch and then pizza for dinner. Last year I had Chinese food in Chinatown and pizza in Times Square when we were in New York, that was sweet. Favorite pig-out food: I just helped destroy a 28-inch pizza last night with some friends and I put away 11 pieces, so I would say pizza. In the shower you can hear me singing: I'm not much of a singer in or out of the shower. The last good book I read: "The Inner Game of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey The last great film I saw: "Batman Begins" (best Batman movie yet). Jobs I have/have had: Working in sporting goods store on campus, and then teaching high school drum lines (fall/winter). My favorite TV show: "Smallville" What has been your formative drum corps moment? Marching at Nightbeat last year because it was the closest thing to a home show for me, and I had a ton of people I knew in the audience. That was my best show that I have ever marched in my life. Nightbeat was also the first drum corps show I had ever gone to and it was really cool to be on the same field that I watched other corps perform on a few years ago. What would you be doing next summer if you were not marching? Hopefully interning and getting ready to graduate and get a real job. How did you decide to be a member of your corps? I had family in the Lexington area and I actually got cut the first year I tried out at Southwind. I just told myself that I was going to come back and march Southwind and that's what I did. What first attracted you to the drum corps activity? I saw the I & E videos of Jeff Queen and Pat Fitz-Gibbon and I just wanted to do what they did. What advice would you give to young people who want to march? Find a corps and just go try out, because even if you don't make the corps, you will still learn a lot, and that is what's important. I tried out for two years before I made it, and each time I learned so much about what I needed to work on to become better. What I want to be when I "grow up": I'd like to own my own gym and maybe later on down the road open up a restaurant. Favorite drum corps personality and why: The members of the Southwind percussion staff – hands-down the funniest group of guys and one girl that I've ever seen. Best drum corps show ever and why: Southwind '05, I loved that show. I can't remember a part of the show I didn't like, and I think a lot of fans enjoyed it as well. The year is 2030. What does a DCI show look like? I don't know, but I can't wait to see, just because every year it seems like the activity is growing -- and that's all that matters. Feel free to add anything else you'd like. Thanks mom and dad for letting me do what I love to do.