By Casey McDonald
Sophomore Katie Lee and senior Caitlin Jung stand in front of the calendars that show their performance and rehearsal schedule. Photo by: Casey McDonald
On Saturday March 5, the Plymouth High School Winter Performance Ensemble traveled to Mooresville High School for the Color Guard Divisional State Finals competition. Plymouth voluntarily moved up to Class 2A after last winter winning the Class 3A State Championship in IHSCGA competing with larger schools. Plymouth students also were competing with 39 other schools for the title of IHSCGA State Champion.
The PHS Winter Guard competed in the IHSCGA Divisional State Finals on Saturday, March 5 at Mooresville High School. Even with the move up to Class 2A, “the group did an outstanding job and was one of only 10 schools (out of 40 at finals) to earn the top award of a gold rating,” says director Bryan Ames.
Although Penn High School won the state championship, “Plymouth was by far the crowd’s favorite group of the day and the gym came alive with applause during our performance,” said Ames. PHS was given a standing ovation by the other schools at the end of the performance and the members were extremely proud of the response that we received from their competitors.
PHS is the only group in the state that uses live music, as opposed to a CD soundtrack) to perform to. “This is a HUGE risk on the ensemble’s part but definitely made the group the one-of-a-kind performance that the audience loved and it pushed them to the top once again! I was truly proud of our group and the attention that they received after making such a huge jump into a high class and still coming out at the top of the pack,” said Ames.
On Saturday, March 12, The Winter Performance Ensemble competed at Avon High School for the IPA State Preliminary. The PHS Drumline (currently ranked fifth out of the 30 schools going in to the state preliminary) competed for their second state finals performance. The group made state finals for the first time last winter in Class 2A. Only 10 schools advanced to the state finals with Plymouth seated in the 5th position(performances are given in ranked order) “Which is a great place to perform in,” says Ames on the spot the group performed.
This past season, for all the participants, has been a long and tiresome journey. “The season for the ensemble has been great,” says freshman member Taylor Scott. While Freshman Ben Piazza said, “we started off kind of slow, but we have definitely started a trend in the Color Guard. We usually score in the top 5 every week.” Also sophomore Rinda Scott says, “We have done pretty well in the drumline circuit, but not quite as well for the guard.” And senior Caitlin Jung says, “The ensemble has done extremely well.” They have consistently placed in the top 10 or top 5 at our events. (Some competitions had over 20 groups in our class there!)”
With all the excitement of state finals, there is a lot of work to be done. When it comes to how they expect to do this year compared to last year, Piazza says “hopefully we will score high at pre-lims to make it to state finals. Winning seems pretty high but anything is possible!” Rinda states, “We are hoping to do well, but we aren’t expecting to win because we are in a higher class.” Jung says that they expect to improve a lot. “Our show is much more difficult than last year and we would like to take it to the top in both circuits.” Taylor said, “We planned on winning and doing better [at IHSCGA] than at drumline state finals.” Sophomore Anayeli Miranda says that they plan to do the best we can. This is a new class so its a little bit different for them. Plymouth has placed higher than if they had won in the 3A circuit again this year. The class is more advanced and there are tougher groups to beat.
Just as in any contest, there is a lot of preparation to be done when preparing for state finals, no matter what club, sport, or activity. Taylor said, “We had to practice, practice, practice!” Piazza states that the band focuses hard and really gets into character before each show.” Jung says, “We have been rehearsing intensely for weeks now. And we have been practicing outside of our rehearsals and logging that time on a Facebook group page to help encourage others to practice, instead of wasting time!” Rinda says, “We are practicing really hard and we are practicing growling at the audience!”
Being at State Finals is nerve-racking enough, but to have such high hopes puts a little more load on the shoulders of all participants. “I am really excited and pumped up. We are prepared and ready to rock,” exclaims Piazza. Rinda states that she gets excited for the competitions because of all the feedback from the audience. Sophomore Katie Lee states that, “I am excited about the last competition because it is the last one so we will go all out for it!” Taylor stated that, “I was so nervous, I’m a freshman!” Jung says, “I feel competition is tough this year. In the guard circuit we didn’t know what to expect because a lot of people hated us last year! Then in the drumline circuit there are 2A groups including us.”
Even with stress and tension, there are always those great moments outside the competition. “Playing Kemps with Kameron Eisenhour, Jared Beabout, and Jacob Pritchard is my favorite memory,” states Taylor. “I liked playing the duck game on the bus! It is funny and entertaining on the long rides,” states Piazza as he tells us his favorite moment when he’s not in a performance. While Rinda says that her favorite part is, “When Mr. Ames took everyone’s pillow pets and held them hostage!” And along with Jung who said, “One Saturday, the bass drum [members] came in for a sectional. After the sectional we watched some guard members practice and then they showed us some work. And believe it or not four bass drummers successfully did a cross exchange!” All of these students have their own thing that they do with their free time, but these two students do something together. Lee and Miranda loved to go get cookies together in their free time. Lee says, “Outside of the competitions, my favorite part has been finding places that have the best cookies!” While Miranda also enjoys it a lot saying that, “Also eating donuts in the morning, and mostly because it has become like our [Lee and Miranda] own little thing!”
With favorite memories outside the action of performing, there are those great memories that will last a lifetime when one is performing and receiving awards. Taylor says his favorite moment was, “When I accepted the awards for drumline.” Jung states that her favorite moment was at guard finals and performing. “When we performed the crowd reaction was amazing. As soon as drums clicked off and guard went out it was almost non-stop cheering. Most of that cheering came from our peers in other guards who competed against us. Overall that feeling at the end when they gave you a standing ovation was indescribable!” Piazza says that his favorite moment during competitions and also during awards ceremonies are, “Taking those awesome awards a couple of weeks ago. To stand in the gym with everyone cheering is amazing!” Rinda says hers would half to be, “When we got 3rd place at drumline because nobody expected it.” Lee states that her favorite memory when competing is, “During the competition, it was being able to spin rifle and to wear my feather headband.” Like everyone who has talked, everyone has their own opinion about their favorite moments. Miranda states her favorite moment is also at the awards ceremony. “Mine would have to be talking to other people. Hearing what other people have to say about us and jst talking to them in general.”
All of the Winter Performance Ensemble members have done very well these past few months of competitions and all of their directors are very pleased with their work. Great Job to the members of WPE, and we hope that your journey throughout this years experience was amazing and exciting.