Senior Kay Lani Morgan first picked up her clarinet in fourth grade; after that she was hooked.

Kay Lani has been a member of the JC band since her freshman year. As of this year, she says that she is involved in the rock band, jazz band, pit band, marching band, drum major, and concert band.
Kay Lani is one of the drum majors for the band. She is responsible for “leading the band, helping them with the halftime show music, conducting, and helping to lead the band alongside Mrs. Knell.”
She has made music a big aspect of her career here at John Carroll.
She said, “I like (being the drum major) because I’m more involved in the band. I’ve always wanted to contribute in some way to the band.”
In order to give her best to the band, Kay Lani is constantly going above and beyond to improve both her music and leadership skills.
Band Director Casey Novak said, “Over the summer she attended a virtual drum major camp which prepared her to lead the band with compassion, poise, and confidence.”
Although Kay Lani is a very talented drum major, she mentioned that she does experience some struggles with leading the band.
She said, “One of the biggest challenges is speaking so I can be heard because I have a naturally quiet voice. (I have) a short stature, so it’s hard to be seen sometimes too.”
This year, the band’s halftime show is complete with three songs from a range of famous movies.
She said, “Our theme is ‘Heroes vs. Villains,’ and we start off with Superman then we do the Darth Vader theme, which I conduct those two, the third one is Avengers, which (our other drum major) Cullen conducts.”
However, with this year being Kay Lani’s last year at John Carroll, she will soon be forced to leave the band behind.
She said, “It’s kind of sad because band is one of the highlights of the whole high school, so it’s gonna be sad leaving it.”
However, Kay Lani plans on continuing her music career after graduation. She said, “I’m planning on at least being in an orchestra in college. I may minor in it; I don’t know. I do plan on continuing it in college, though.”