#wgi percussion

[theamazingdigitalmarchingband]

SHORT HIATUS!!!

Hello! Apologies for the inactivity for the past couple of days, it’s been a SUPER busy April for me! And of course, it’s about to get even busier!

That’s why I am announcing today that I will be taking a short hiatus from this blog for a very important reason: I Will Be Attending WGI FINALS FOR INDOOR PERCUSSION IN DAYTON!!!

The percussion group I’m in have been working their asses off to get our show to the level of clarity and quality we need it to be at, and we are all super excited to be taking this show to the finals!!! I will be abroad from Tuesday, April 16th to Tuesday, April 23rd, and intend to put all of my time and energy into performing our very best, so I won’t have any time to post new things for this blog. However, I thought I’d share this with you guys since it is sorta related to marching band :) Thank you all for your wonderful support on my first 3 posts to this blog! I can’t wait to see what I do with it in the near future :)

I’ll see you all in a week! And hey if you’re attending WGI too, come say hi! I don’t bite!

[markmymake]

NICHE POST ALERT

Tf2 mercs as members of an indoor drumline

[syn1st3r]

u know ur a real teen in pennsylvania when ur so bored that the only interesting thing u could do with your life is join marching band, then concert band, then indoor percussion. as a kid I thought the band kids were weird but now I'm just one of them. thank god marching band is over now tho. I couldn't take much more or freezing cold football games.

idk why i felt the need to post this lolol

[doublemegative]

i think i could watch every dci video in the world and i would still lose my shit every time colorguard did anything

[lzrdprsn]

I'm the front ensemble tech for my schools wgi group. The school's band director quit. The percussion director is in the hospital. And im next up in the line of succession. So guess who suddenly has to organize a concert in 7 days.

[solpuyo]

Istg I’ll start drawing again soon lol. Just got done with finals week for wgi percussion and I’m tired as hell lol. Wouldn’t trade it for the world though

[if-you-like-pina-colada-s]

Because I'm such a huge music nerd, I've contemplated some kind of indoor percussion au for the Hetalia characters several times, and even though I'll probably never go through with actually making something for it, I NEED to share my vision with yall.

I've been going in circles about who I'd assign to what instrument. Thankfully most of them seem pretty obvious, and if not then it's at least narrowed down to two options. But I know one for certain. One I CANNOT and WILL NOT negotiate. And that is America being snare one. He is center snare no matter what. I've considered other characters for sure, but no one else exudes center snare energy like he does. Some other considerations I've had:

Germany on drumset

Japan on either vibraphone or snare

Russia on marimba one

China on tenors

France on tenors

Italy on cymbals or glockenspiel/bells

Canada on marimba two

England on snare or a base guitar

I also think I'd have Austria as the director of the group. Just cause he's the canon music-nerd-guy. But really I'd like it to be a collaborative, team working kinda thing. But Austria can be the one with the final word, is what I wanna say. He can compose and arrange their music. (Oh and BTW, yes I'd like to include all characters in this, at the very least all canon characters, I mean I want the whole group but it can only be so big.)

If this were an actual full-fledged au, I do have some background... lore? I guess? to consider. I'd like this to be a nationverse au (as in not a human au). For one, there's the comedic factor.... actually that's it. That's the only reason. Cause it's funny. Like imagine one day the nations just randomly decide "hey, what's a better way to kill time than participate in WGI competitions?" Where do they get all the instruments and equipment from? Who knows! Even better. Imagine being in another group, walking into world championships or whatever, and seeing that your competition is literally the personifications of the nations of the world. I'd be very intimidated, personally. And like, to me it makes sense they're at that level (as in, international level). Maybe they don't start there, but I feel like they'd be able to work their way up there, yknow? After all, it'd be stupid if they lived that long and didn't at least pick up on an instrument here and there. Hell, some of them were probably there when they invented the fucking church modes and shit. But I digress, I'm just saying the immortal being had time to practice and learn how to play, read, and understand music.

I think the Hetalia characters forming an indoor percussion group would be sick af. For a variety of reasons really. Though it really boils down to what I really love about music; that it's something everyone, no matter what culture you come from, has in common. Music is such an integral part of every culture, of everyone's lives. So imagine how cool and fun it would be to see the nations of the world playing music together and having fun. Oh and, I just wanna add, I mainly aimed for percussion specifically because yes I am a biased percussionist, and also I made a poll recently about what instrument family the nations remind yall of and the majority voted percussion (spontaneous, wild, the impactful, and most importantly, the heartbeat). And I have to say, I do agree. The nations really are, in a nutshell, the heartbeat, the culture itself, the core identity. What better way to show that than through music? The universal language.

Anyway, I've been talking for way too long. If you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about when I say "WGI" or "indoor percussion", look it up on Google or YouTube, there are some pretty cool videos or performances, I highly recommend looking more into it. And there's many different levels to look at too.

Okthatsitbye!

[bittysfoodbaby]

In honor of my final first marching band competition (which is delayed to next week bc of inclement weather), I figured it's time we talked about my marching band/drum corps AU called "The Marching Wellies," where everything is the same but instead of a hockey team, SMH is now a marching band! (Working title until I find out what the actual Samwell mascot is.)

Concept

Samwell is renowned nationally for their unique show concepts and generous scholarships for its members, both new and returning. With former figure skater turned color guard member, Eric Bittle comes into the band, thinking seriously as he becomes one year closer to aging out of competing in DCI and WGI.

Terminology

There are some terms and acronyms that's going to be used across this post. I'm leaving terms up at the top just to make sure you understand what the fuck is going on.

DCI - Drum Corps International. Competitive marching band circuit for independent drum and bugle corps (DBCs) targeted towards student musicians and performers (high school through college).

WGI - Winter Guard International. Competitive indoor color guard, winds, and percussion circuit targeted towards student musicians and performers (high school through college). While DCI is completely independent and so are its member corps, WGI has a separate circuit for schools called "Scholastic" that allows high school guards to compete.

Age-out. The maximum age a performer can be in DCI and WGI is twenty-one years old, although members who turn twenty-two on or after June 1st is still eligible to compete in DCI's Open and World-class corps, referred to as a "bonus year" by DCI. WGI's max age is dependent on what class a performer competes in. For the 2023 season, Independent A-class performers cannot be over 22 on April 1st, 2022 and Independent Open-class performers cannot be over 23 years old. World-class performers may be of any age, although many guards limit their members to 22-23 as their programs are focused on youth members.

Sections and Leadership

In essence, Bitty's main crew is leadership within the band; loosely based off my first band friends being leadership my freshman year and eventually being in a leadership position with the friends in my grade!

Drum Major: Jack Zimmermann

Percussion section leader/SL: Johnson

Winds SL: Ransom

Brass SL: Holster

Color Guard Captain: Shitty (We'll explain this later)

Equipment manager: Lardo

The drum major is the captain of the entire band. They oversee everyone in all the sections and act as a liaison between the band and staff. If the section leaders can't answer someone's question, the section leader goes to the drum major.

The section leader is self-explanatory. They literally lead their section. Sometimes they may lead practices outside of official rehearsals, assist in teaching music, or act as a mentor to their section. The guard captain has the same exact role as the section leaders and are on the same level.

Some bands might have an equipment manager because of the sheer amount of instruments, props, and color guard equipment used in marching band. Lardo's role as team manager for SMH directly translates as the equipment manager of the band. While she may not play something in the band (hinthintnudgenudge), she works with leadership to make sure everything is organized for transportation and storage.

Backstories

Jack arrived at Samwell as an ex-DCI competitor before realizing his time is almost up in the competitive sphere. Came into Samwell as a section leader before climbing up the ranks as drum major by his sophomore year. He's ran the band under lock and key out of his own personal outlook on life, which is quite regimented. That same regimented lifestyle and perfectionist nature has been drilled into him, mostly out of his time being in this sphere where everyone demands perfection out of you.

Bitty's experience in figure skating translated well into performing in color guard, something that led to him performing for his own high school (with HEAVY hesitation due to the worry of Bitty's sexuality being found out through guard.) Eventually, he landed himself as captain of Madison County High School's color guard and got noticed for it. With the very generous full-living scholarship, Bitty applied and signed to Samwell very quickly.

Ransom and Holster both had their typical band geek phase, but their friendship got off on the wrong foot after both of them met each other at a Bluecoats audition camp and despised each other for various reasons. (Ransom thought Holster was very loud and brash while Holster thought that Ransom had a stick up his ass and was very uptight at first.) Neither of them got in, but made it out as good friends. (you didn't hear this from me but Ransom and Holster were stuck to each other like glue during their orientation week because the Bluecoats audition was a year before their freshman year.)

Shitty is the kind of person who would literally do anything if it meant getting closer with his crush. In high school, he played saxophone and was hellbent on making sure he was able to play it in college. That is, until he met Lardo. He occasionally plays sax for the meme (and because he’s in the Samwell Korean Pops Orchestra because again, Lardo.)

Shitty "accidentally" walked in on an indoor guard rehearsal and that was the moment she fell in love with color guard. Lardo encouraged him to join and soon enough, became co-captain with Lardo his senior year at Samwell. (Or at least somewhere close to that. He never had an official leadership role, but was just one of those seniors who gave out very good advice.)

Lardo’s journey in the guard was because the band director at her high school needed a little girl for a show when she was in 5th grade and she just… stayed with the band the entire time. She learned the skills despite not being in the actual band in middle school and when it was her time to join, she almost became captain on the spot.

The Organizations They Marched With

Everyone in Bitty's crew has marched with an Open or World-class group outside of Samwell.

Jack has marched for the Calgary Stampede Showband (International Class), River City Rhythm in Anoka, MN (Open Class), The Cadets in Allentown, PA (World Class), and Boston Crusaders in Boston, MA (World Class). Boston was Jack's final corps and his age-out season was the same year Jack enrolled at Samwell.

Bitty has marched for the Madison County High School marching band back home in Madison, GA and Paramount Open in Atlanta, GA (Open Class). Bitty would have marched for Pegasus in Macon, GA (Open Class) as it was closer to him, but Pegasus moved to Central Florida the year he was going to audition.

Ransom and Holster have both marched for their respective high schools, although both of them auditioned for the Bluecoats, one of the top three world-class drum corps in DCI. Neither of them got in, but who needs a top drum corps when you have your best friend?

When Lardo was old enough, she performed with Onyx in Dayton, OH (World Class), Fusion World in Clifton, NJ (World Class), and AMP World in Camden, NJ (World Class). She is taking a break from the independent circuit in order to focus on her art career and her home team at Samwell. (Fun fact: If Lardo has performed with AMP and Fusion, this means she has spun with both my irl instructors when they were in high school.)

I don't expect a full fic for this to come out anytime soon (I wish tho), but I just wanted to throw this out there for the fun of it. It's my senior season and I'm grateful for all the memories I have of this band.

For any future posts that deal with the marching wellies (the marching band) or samwell independent (the color guard), they will be respectively tagged as "#the marching wellies" and "#samwell independent."

[chsspeculator]

Indoor Drumline Reflects On Dayton

NatalieJiang, Seniors and News Editor From April 18 to 21, the Chattahoochee High School Indoor Drumline traveled to Dayton, Ohio to participate in the 2024 Winter Guard International (WGI) World Championships, setting a new school record for the percussion group.  This year, the indoor drumline performed their show “i ” the second part of their trilogy called “Found.”  “i” depicts a story…

[marcedrickirby]

Broken City Percussion 2024 “Zero G” || WGI Temecula #drumline #drums #m...

MARCEDRIC KIRBY FOUNDER CEO.

MARCEDRIC.KIRBY INC.

THE VALLEY OF THE VAMPIRES

[probably-over-it]

To all my WGI friends:

I’m so sorry that this is happening to us all and I feel your frustration.

Let’s keep our eyes and ears open for now and see how things play out. I’m sure the people that had to make this call were put in such a difficult position.

If any of you still have a season left with your local circuits: KEEP PUSHING AND FINISH STRONG.

“The journey is never ending. There's always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what's right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment.” - Antonio Brown

[innocent-until-proven-geeky]

I don’t actually know the best way to explain how much I miss DCI (okay really mostly just DCI audition camps long story smh) and WGI but I’ve come to the conclusion that “I MISS THE DRUMMIES”, though odd, is at least extremely accurate.

[wgisportofthearts]

Some great fans here to see Rhythm X in Dayton

[olgadungadunga]

I know I have a few mutuals on here who are active. If you guys have the time, please take a read at this and sign this petition! Music is something everyone should be able to enjoy whether it’s something we listen to, create, or both! Just because someone might not be as abled as another doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to enjoy this activity! Bubba put in hours of practice and rehearsal, taking in consideration how much time marching band truly takes out of ones personal schedule, and he deserves to have his credit in fine arts. If you actively participate in something and have put in the time to make it YOUR creation and passion, that should NEVER exclude you from the community/program. If you have the time please sign this. It’s important for all students of any fine art program.

[letmepercush]

Hey everyone! I have recently gotten into a WGI group, but because of COVID my hours have been cut at work. I'm an out of state college student, so between tuition for school and rent, it's difficult for me to pay. I know it's rough this year, but I've made a gofundme to help me pay for WGI this year. This is a really big deal to me and it would mean the world if anyone could spare a few dollars, or consider sharing. Thanks so much.

https://gf.me/u/zcw4pa

[lzrdprsn]

I don't ever call myself a musician, but I guess I technically am? I play instruments. I'm literally an instructor for a relatively successful local WGI percussion group. I could put that on my resume, but I just like don't ever think to mention it in conversation.