Spotlight: Ella Burns, Owasso’s premiere percussionist
By Addison Welborn
Photo of Ella Burns performing at the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute Quartz Mountain summer camp provided by Ella Burns
Starting in fifth grade, a young Ella Burns followed in the footsteps of her older sibling Evan, and auditioned for Owasso Percussion. With that decision, her life was forever changed. Little did she know, she was going to spend the next five years facing constant challenges all while persevering through because of her love for the art of percussion performance.
Junior Ella Burns has been a percussionist in the Owasso Bands Program since sixth grade. The percussion section is exclusive, Burns being one of only 16 students in the Class of 2026 who was accepted.
Since her first day in band, she has created a resume that has made her stand out not only in her grade or school, but on the state and national levels. Her resume includes first chair in the 2025 OkMEA All-State band, attending the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute Quartz Mountain summer camp, AP classes, and so much more.
“I think it’s finding a mix of practicing as much as I know I need to and want to, and setting goals for myself for each day and each time I'm practicing, while being very mindful of my school work,” Burns explained.
In a typical week, Burns practices six to seven hours. However, when she is preparing for an audition or solo performance, it is closer to ten or twelve. On top of the many hours of practice, she also has to find time to do her homework. With her school and extracurricular responsibilities, she has to work really hard to make sure everything gets done.
When asked why she does it all, she thought for a moment, then answered, “Getting to perform for people and making music that makes people feel something, that's what I really love. … I don't like music that just sounds like nothing, I like music that tells a story, that's really important to me.”
Music is so important to Burns that she intends to study it in college.
“I’ve known since freshman or sophomore year that I didn’t want to stop playing music,” she expressed.
Burns intends to double major in percussion performance and some form of neuroscience, then to attend either graduate or medical school so that she may eventually partake in research on music and the brain.
Her passion for the brain came from a program run by the OU-TU School of Medicine called “Club Scrubs.” She was inspired by a neurologist who came to speak with the students, and she found her desire to go into the field.
“I think [the brain is] crazy and awesome,” she said, laughing. “There was one time I remember practicing the All-State two mallet etude and I was like, ‘Wow, this is so cool, the way that I'm just able to think and [then] play this.’”
Her passion for the medical field is rooted in her love of percussion. She is fascinated with learning, and especially how music impacts one’s brain.
With her passion and drive for both music and academics, it is easy to believe in the powerhouse that is Ella Burns. However, it is certainly not all natural talent. It takes immense motivation for Burns to be able to achieve all of her goals.
“[The motivation] very much comes in waves, but I've gotten better about making myself [practice],” she explained.
However, Burns knows the danger of pushing herself past a healthy point.
“Spring semester last year was really rough because I very much overworked myself with how much I was doing. I was so stressed about the amount of stuff I was playing that I didn't want to practice, but then that stress caused me to practice because I was worried about not being able to play it,” she said. “I lost my love for music. … I really think it was because I overworked myself and it got [to] a point where I just didn't enjoy what I was doing anymore.”
Another struggle that many high school female percussionists face is the lack of women in percussion worldwide.
“There’s just very few women in percussion,” Burns stated bluntly. “I’ve become very passionate about finding other girls that march in [drumlines] … and women in professional orchestras.”
Finding other women in percussion, both in and outside of high school, is one of her passions.
“Everytime we go and watch a [drumline warm-up] I’m like, ‘Oh, look, there's a girl on snare, there’s a girl on quads’ cause … it's not that common,” she explained.
She channels that passion into motivation for herself, and advice for others.
“Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do what you want to do. If you want to do something, you have the ability to push yourself to do that.”
“At the end of the day I’m doing this because I enjoy performing music for people and because I enjoy expressing my emotions through music.” Burns added, with a smile, “It’s not that serious, it’s never that serious, it's just band, honestly.”
The world of high school band can be very stressful and competitive. Burns wouldn’t only change how she acted for herself, but also for others.
“I do regret that a lot. There [are] a lot of times that I have seen other students getting ridiculed or just made fun of for not good things either by directors or by other students and a lot of the times I wish I had gone back and stood up for them because I think that’s really important,” she expressed.
Burns’s character is what makes her stand out, more than any of her percussion or academic accomplishments. Her ability to take a dream and turn it into reality through hard work, perseverance and a love for what she does is more admirable than any A in a class or All-State placement. She cares so much about what she does that she wants to use her passions to discover new things about the world, she wants to change her chosen field for the better and make it easier for everyone to fall in love with percussion like she did.