After a fast-paced and demanding season, indoor percussion’s Sakura was reclassified to Scholastic World, the highest classification a school group can be placed in WGI.
The group started the year in Open Class, an intermediate level to then World Class, the level with the most advanced program and performers. Approaching the s
eason Instructor Christian Gray said, “Let’s play hard music, let’s march hard drill, let’s do hard choreography. Let’s do hard things and then see what happens.”
WGI, the overarching body for color guards, percussion ensembles, and winds competitions, regulate the different classifications. After sending in a video of their show Sakura, a panel of judges evaluated the group’s performance. The judges assessed the skill-level of the music, if multiple things were performed simultaneously, and if the narrative/story/design came through. It was then announced that all ten judges voted to reclassify the ensemble as Scholastic World.
Kate Koske, 9th, a member of the bass line, said this classification allows the group to comp
ete at an even higher level than before and in return become more skilled. “Harder music means we’ll all be able to become better players. Since there’s more competition as well, it will make people more motivated to win.”
Evan Redemske, 10th, a member of the drum line added: “To me and to the whole ensemble it’s a symbol of our progress, skill, and how far we’ve come. Only thirty groups in the entire world get that classification so out of the how many highschools there are, only thirty of them have that and we get to be one of those. That’s a huge accomplishment for us.”
The group knew they would be traveling to Dayton, Ohio for the World Championships, but did not know what classification they would be in. Gray said,“We try to push a lot for our ensemble. We start really early and we use marching band as a way to get the skill set we are wanting down. We did not expect to be World but we expected a really high performing show.”
As for the skills needed to excel, they come both physically and mentally. Redemske said, “A lot of the equipment is incredibly heavy. My drums are fifty pounds. It’s a lot of movement and mental strength that a lot of people don’t realize. The ability to play that well with other people is really hard.”
While the different sections within the percussion are dancing, playing, and running, the front ensemble faces physical challenges of their own. “They play to the point where their hands can get torn up with blisters and calluses.” Gray said.
Students must balance their family life, school work, and at parts of the season, rehearse up to ten to twelve hours a week.
“It’s expected that you just show up and do your best. [Gray] expects you to mess up a couple of reps, that’s fine. But you have to have your head in your practice so you don’t hit someone else and hurt them.” said Koske. “You have to be in it mentally the entire time.”
Beyond the physical demands, Scholastic World adds more to the mental strength needed for indoor percussion. Cosette Bourquin, 11th, a member of symbol line says: “Because we got reclassed to World class there’s been a lot more pressure to do well, especially as we are nearing the end of our season.”
Papio South’s indoor percussion is the only in HWAA history from Nebraska to be classified as Scholastic World. Gray said, “Representing Nebraska there’s a lot of expectations. We are the only people in the state that are doing this. When we are going to a competition that’s truly national and truly world,[..], it’s just one of those things where you’re representing your area.”
At the World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, the group competed in their new division, Scholastic World. They ultimately placed last within their class but were exposed to the best of the best percussions.
“The students got the experience of being in front of those ensembles and hearing those ensembles, and ‘Okay this is the standard, this is what it takes now, this is what it takes in the future’.” Gray said.
“Our mind set is: Aim high, miss high” Gray said. “The students know this and it can be stressful. It can be a lot of hard work, but they understand that we are trying our best to be competitive.”
