Southwest Dekalb High School Bands

Thought you might like to read some of the comments coming in from our
viewers…

I would just like to say how much I enjoyed the show 'Drumroll SWD". It
certainly was one of the best reality shows that I have witnessed. I was
particularly impressed with the positive portrayal of our young people.
What a refreshing change. Thanks for allowing us to witness this.

I was able to view SWD Drumroll on Tuesday night and truly enjoyed it.
This was very well produced and kept me interested throughout the entire
show. Thanks for the great job you did in portraying our kids in the SWD
band. They will continue to represent Southwest Dekalb High School in a
positive manner.

My children and I recently viewed the show Drumroll:SWD. This segment was
very enlightening and allowed us to see how much hard work goes into band
competition. This show will encourage our youth to be the best they can
be and give them something to look forward to starting in elementary and
throughout high school. Keep up the Good Work!

I would like to inform you of how much I enjoyed watching the T.V. show on
Tuesday evening. I was glad that you aired it again at 11:00 p.m. for
those that probably were unable to watch at 8:00. I am very proud of the
SWD Panther Band. I am a parent of one of the Panther Band members, a
member of the great percussion section. You all are doing a great thing by
airing and giving credit to the wonderful band program we have at SWD. I
will get the word out for others to tune in to Peachtree T.V.

The reality TV Show was very enjoyable. I thought it was very positive
and tasteful for the teenage viewer. Please continue to air the show. I
look forward to viewing it in the future. Keep up the good work.

Thank you so much for the wonderful showcase you presented with the new
series Drumroll! So many of my friends discussed it the next day. We are
getting together with our families and watching it next week as a group,
as many of my co-workers are doing too. How great it is to see our youth
in a positive manner. Are there plans to show other schools as well?
Please keep this program coming!

Would like to let you know how I thoroughly enjoyed the reality
series Drumroll: SWD. It was refreshing to see young kids doing something
positive with their time and at the same time engaging their mind, body
and spirit. There are a lot of positive things going on out there that
people do that just needs the spot light shined on them. I think and hope
this will serve as a call to many kids in the metro Atlanta area that they
do not have to look or go far to find something positive and rewarding to
be a part of…it’s right in their own schools. Bravo Peachtree TV-a job
well done.

My family and I really enjoyed the reality show regarding Drumroll: "SWD".
Peachtreetv keep up the good work.

I would like to thank you for airing the series Drumroll. I've read
about Southwest DeKalb Band in the local newspaper and all of their
accomplishments. It was nice to see a show that focused on the hard work
and dedication of a lot of teenagers instead of all the negative things of
a few. My 10 year old and I will continue to watch.

I was curious to see what the reality show was about and did not want to
miss it. I am glad that I set the time to watch the show; it was great. I
was very pleased. I am looking forward for the next one.

I would just like to send kudos to Peachtree TV for the reality tv series
on the SWD band. So many times we see a lot of negative images displayed
on television about african americans and african american life that it
becomes difficult to digest. The show was entertaining, I thought
educational as well. It is important to show young people how hard work
pays off. I thought the band director was excepitonal in how he seemed to
motivate the students as well as build character in them. The show was
shot very well. The action shots were great! I hope to see a lot more of
this sort of programming in the future. I really, really think this is
good for our community. There are a lot of positive things happening with
our young people and that is something we can be proud about.

I really enjoyed the first episode of Drumroll SWD. As a community member
of the South Dekalb school district, I enjoy watching something positive
about our youth and letting everyone see the talent and dedication of our
youth. Thanks Peachtree TV and keep showing your support and showing good
stuff!!!!!

Congratulations and a pat on the back to everyone!

Joanne Harrison
Temp Executive Assistant
WPCH-TV/1050 Techwood Drive NW

Dallas Austin TV show marches to band's beat
Southwest DeKalb High featured in four-part series

By RODNEY HO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/27/2007
The football team had long gone home, the temperature dipped below 50 and darkness enveloped the practice field, save for a lone floodlight far up a hill.
But that didn't stop 260 Southwest DeKalb High School Marching Panthers earlier this month from prepping for a competition the next day, working choreography and playing the Roberta Flack classic "The Closer I Get to You" over and over again.

Three booster club parents pulled up their vehicles to shine headlights onto the field, feeding enough light to illuminate the formations and the glistening brass instruments but not the students' faces.
Stone-faced band director James Seda, standing atop a makeshift elevated platform, stopped for a moment to give the group a pep talk. "Your standards are higher," he said through a megaphone. "They grade you on a higher standard. You have to understand that about Southwest DeKalb."
That gold standard is why hip-hop mogul Dallas Austin chose to document the band's 2007 fall season for Peachtree TV's first original series "Drumroll: SWD," which debuts Tuesday night and will air in hour-long segments over four consecutive weeks. (Peachtree TV, a Turner Broadcasting cable channel that launched in October, airs only in metro Atlanta.)
Over the past few months, Austin's crew shot more than 400 hours of tape, chronicling the dedication and sacrifice involved in creating one of the nation's best marching bands, an ensemble that has performed at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Carnival of Flowers in Nice, France, and the Tournament of Roses Parade.
Austin said he was inspired by MTV's popular series "Two-a-Days," which followed a top-ranked Hoover, Ala., football team. But at Southwest DeKalb, the band gets more attention than the football team.
"It's going to hit home for a lot of people how the program functions on a day-to-day basis," said Don P. Roberts, the instrumental music coordinator for DeKalb schools who helped build the Southwest DeKalb band program in the 1990s. "You see the challenges the kids face beyond the music, their home lives, the good things, the bad things. For a lot of these kids, band is therapy. It's the best medicine and motivation they can have."
Senior Tanesha Smith, who has a disabled brother and juggles her schedule between dancing for the band and wrestling, said she grew "used to the cameras in my face all the time" and considers the exposure good prep work for a future career in entertainment.
"This is our home," said Wayne Westley, a senior and head drum major, the top student position in the band. "We're here more than our own houses. We can't wait to see this on TV."
Austin, who was a drummer in his high school band, created the surprise big-screen hit "Drumline" starring Nick Cannon in 2002 and now the reality show. (Though "Drumline" was set at a fictional Atlanta college, he used the Southwest DeKalb band for the field shots.)
In an unusual concession, Austin gave DeKalb County Schools final say on the edits. Roberts said the school has only made modest changes such as dropping some trash-talking comments made by Southwest DeKalb students against other DeKalb school bands in the first episode.
Parents did complain about an early teaser trailer that showed "Dancing Diva" Danielle Budram kissing her boyfriend Manly Waller Jr., son of Olympic medalist Gwen Torrence. "Someone said we were half naked," Budram said. "I didn't think it was bad at all."
Budram said she expects "Drumroll" to be more realistic than MTV's "My Super Sweet 16," which documents over-the-top 16th birthday parties. She was the best friend of the young woman featured on the show. "That was kind of fake," she said. "They gave us lines to say. They put stuff in out of order in which they were said."
Austin said he "self-censored" himself. "The whole difference of this show is it's something positive," he said. "I'd hate to have a reality show with children in them that exposes them in a way that's embarrassing even the slightest bit."
Still, Roberts said it's not a pure propaganda piece for DeKalb public schools.
"There is going to be drama and conflict," Roberts said. "But the conflict is not sex and drugs."
The first episode previewed by the AJC features no strife at all between students or adults as it shows the band rehearsing and performing at a pep rally, the season's first football game and a countywide "Battle of the Bands."
Though the focus is on the what happens on the field, the cameras capture students at their homes, a local wings place and a nail salon. The only personal story during the first hour is between two students who bond over the fact they have special needs siblings.