As drum major of NAU’s Lumberjack Marching Band (LMB), Megan Carpenter’s job is to keep the group in lockstep. At football games and other campus events, Carpenter is at the front of the pack, conducting and signaling to her fellow musicians.
But off the field, she’s much more than a metronome.
“In LMB, there are students coming in from all different majors, all different cities and states, all different experience levels,” Carpenter said. “My goal as drum major was to make the marching band as welcoming and inclusive as possible so everyone feels valued.”
When she first took up the position, Carpenter—a Gold Axe Award winner who graduates this month—made it her mission to learn every single band member’s name. (That’s no mean feat, considering LMB is about 200 strong.) She also took time to learn more about her fellow musicians and check up on them periodically, as she would with close friends or family members.
Creating inclusive communities is at the heart of virtually everything Carpenter does. As vice president of membership in NAU’s chapter of Tau Beta Sigma, a band service organization, she promoted diversity and championed women in music through new member recruitment and event organization. And as part of the Kitt School of Music’s ideas committee, she brainstormed ways to help the school better meet the needs of its diverse students.
“Her leadership style is based on a ‘service-first’ mindset, and she inspires others through kindness and providing a constant positive example,” said Brent Levine, associate director of bands at NAU. “She is one of those people in the group that others flock to—she is known among our students as a good listener and someone who possesses the ability to bring others together.”
Carpenter said her generous spirit is a natural extension of her gratitude.
“My perspective is, it’s truly amazing to get the opportunities I’ve had at NAU, so I want to take those opportunities and use them to uplift people,” Carpenter said. “Fundamentally, I am a person who loves helping others. I will do any job if it means I can make someone’s life better.”
From the cosmic to the classroom
These days, Carpenter’s life revolves around music: She’ll soon graduate with a degree in music education, and in addition to LMB, she’s part of two other NAU performing ensembles.
Her present is light-years away from what her past self imagined.
Growing up in Peoria, Carpenter excelled at math and loved space. So, when the Lumberjack Scholarship recipient first packed her bags for Flagstaff, she imagined she’d major in astrophysics.
“Unfortunately, my adviser told me that if I wanted to major in astrophysics, I wouldn’t have the time to be in marching band,” Carpenter said. “Music has always been very important to me, so I said, ‘never mind’ and dropped the major. At that point, I thought, if I’m changing my whole major just to play music, I should probably go into a field that will let me play music.”
Carpenter auditioned for a spot in the Kitt School of Music and never looked back. Well, except geographically: This semester, she’s back home serving as a student teacher in West Valley public schools as part of her music education degree.
For Carpenter, the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge to real classroom scenarios has been eye-opening.
“I’ve learned that there are times when kids can surprise you,” she said. “The other week, I was teaching third graders about a boomwhacker, which is this plastic tube instrument that plays a different note depending on its size. One kid asked, ‘If they’re made out of the same thing, why do they play different pitches?’ I thought, whoa, that’s such a big question for a third-grader! It showed me that it’s important to give kids opportunities to expand on the knowledge they already have.”
Light in darkness
Although she’s always been a gifted student, Carpenter wasn’t always able to picture a bright future for herself.
“There were some years in high school and college when I struggled with my mental health,” she confessed. “I didn’t think I was going to make it out the other side.”
But thanks to help from a supportive group of friends and mentors and the propulsive force of her passion for music, Carpenter found a way through. Now, there are long-term goals she believes she’ll achieve someday: a career in music education at a middle school or high school, a farm full of rescue dogs, an epic vacation to the Galápagos Islands and maybe even a gig in a professional band.
“It doesn’t have to be the London Philharmonic—just a band where I’m surrounded by really awesome musicians,” Carpenter said. “I could just play one note and I’d be happy.”
Jill Kimball | NAU Communications
(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu