Kosciusko native Josh Ellard reminisced on being the drum major of the Big Red Band.
Ellard is the son of Gary and Susan Ellard of Kosciusko. Growing up, Ellard remembers going to watch his sister Hannah Ellard Miles in the Big Red Band and going to see other performances at the auditorium. Ellard’s mother Susan was also a member of the Big Red Band and now teaches at Kosciusko Junior High.
Ellard mentioned that he wasn’t the best at sports and decided to join the band in junior high and loved it.
“I was in band from sixth grade on to 12th grade,” Ellard said. “From sixth grade till 10th grade, I played the trombone, and then my junior and senior year I was the drum major.”
Ellard tried out for drum major the end of his sophomore year. According to him, he wasn’t really expecting to get it because of others who were also very qualified to be drum major.
“I ended up getting it and retried out my senior year and got it again,” he said.
He was drum major of the Big Red Band from 2015-2016 until the end of the marching season.
Ellard first started in the Big Red Band as a trombone player, but also learned how to play numerous other instruments while assisting directors to teach the junior high band his junior and senior year.
“That taught me more about music and I picked up a couple other instruments along the way and that helped me help them teach those kids,” he said. “I picked up tuba, baritone, and trumpet.”
During his time in the Big Red Band, Ellard made lasting friendships and fond memories.
“There was a group of four of us and we called ourselves ‘The Bandtastic Four.’ We were always at the band hall doing whatever the band director needed or building stuff.”
Him and his three other buddies bonded over band and music. The Bandtastic Four are still in communication with one another. According to Ellard, they all knew each other before but being in the band together solidified their friendships.
Another one of Ellard’s favorite band memories was when the Big Red Band went to competitions. Band director at the time, Jesse Yates, inspired Ellard and sometimes even jokingly made pre-competition “bets” with him.
“One time we were on the way to a competition, and I bet our band director Mr. Yates a $100 that I would get a perfect score as drum major,” said Ellard. “Well, he couldn’t give me money obviously, but I scored perfect.”
Ellard enjoyed working with Yates while assisting the directors with the junior high band. Mentioning Yates, Ellard said he really wanted to help the kids learn and how exciting it was to see the kids pick up and learn an instrument so quickly.
“Competition was one of my favorite parts of bands. Mr. Yates was really competitive with us and drove us all to be competitive,” said Ellard. “My favorite moment from a competition was when we won state championship for Kosciusko in 2016. That was a special moment to win a gold medal the first time as a senior.”
During Ellard’s junior and senior year, the auditorium was closed, and the concerts were held in the high school gym.
Ellard heard about the Skipworth renovations through his mother Susan. He was excited to hear about the building and mentioned that he felt like the directors and students were going to appreciate the renovations as well as the community.
“The students will have somewhere to preform now instead of at the gym,” he said.
After graduating high school in 2017, Ellard went to Ole Miss where he was in the band as a trombone player. He then transferred to Holmes Community College to be closer to home and finished his degree there.
Ellard worked with Hunter Engineering for almost two years and moved to Pace, Florida in November where his girlfriend Faith Ballard is from. Ellard works at Oren International in Pensacola, Florida. He has a two-year-old daughter named Abriella Carlton that comes to visit him in Florida every other weekend.
