While you won’t see it on any of the banners adorning the O-Zone gym or on the Wall Of Fame in the commons area at Beatrice High School, a dynasty has been building over the past four years just down the hallway.

The drumline at BHS has racked up four state championships in a row and members have their eyes set on a fifth title next month.

Before that, however, the BHS drumline will compete in a series of warm up meets including a performance at Beatrice High School this Saturday evening in conjunction with the Heartland Winter Arts Association.

The show begins at 5:30 p.m. and BHS is scheduled to perform at 7:40 p.m.

The performance also features drumlines from Norris, Seward, Bellevue East and Hastings, as well as Iowa’s Creston High School.

Two independent units from Essence and Heartland Fire and Ice will also perform.

Tickets for the event are $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors. No activity passes will be accepted. Concessions will be available.

Preparing for a state championship in drumline competition is just like preparing for a big competition in anything else, according to instructor Aaron Bush.

During practice, the squad spends some time warming up, playing through a set of scales at a faster and faster rhythm. Then, Bush listens to each drummer individually as they go through the music.

Moving through practice, the drumline runs through its routine, a carefully choreographed effort, while senior drum captain Zach Karges counts out the beats. They move in sync, without a visible cue.

Sophomore bass drummer Nick Christensen said success takes a total group effort.

“As a group we decide what show we want to do,” he said, “then our instructor writes it for us and we learn it and play it.”

This year, the drumline selected an Irish melody and rhythm from the movie “Boondock Saints,” which depicts a pair of Irish-American fraternal twins from Boston killing the greater evils in the city.

After a limited theater release, “Boondock Saints” has gathered a cult following on DVD.

The music from the movie, however, is unmistakably Irish in nature.

Christensen said that while the band played a more difficult Irish tune last year, this year’s performance is more challenging in the marching and visual aspects.

“We have more of a theme to our marching this year,” Christensen said, “last year, we just kind of moved.”

Sophomore tenor drummer Lindsey Howell said the marching performance depicts events from the movie.

“Every section is a different character and the characters move along to what they did in the movie,” Howell said.

Howell’s partner on the tenor quint, a set of five drums which hang from the shoulders, junior Anna Petersen, said that the visual points are just as important as the music in a drumline competition.

“We also have an actor who is the criminal and we’ll act out with him,” Petersen said.

When it’s all said and done, the three just want to compete their best.

Christensen said the pressure of performing up to the previous four years’ standards is always in the back of the squad’s mind.

“We’ve always been self-motivated but there is more pressure every year the longer we win,” he said. “With more pressure you gotta win.”

Petersen said that knowing the past success of the drumline only inspires the members to do well in the upcoming competitions.

“It’s awesome to know we have championships won, it’s an amazing feeling,” Petersen said, “but we want to do really good in the next couple of years.”

Howell said the success of the drumline has prompted success in for rest of the music department.

“It’s good to know we are bringing the music department up to the level of the sports and we’re winning and being recognized for it,” she said. “That’s good, too.”