Community Corner
Westhill Indoor Percussion Prepares for Nationals [Update with Video]
With their first home competition this Saturday and Nationals in a month, the members of Westhill High School Indoor Percussion are hard at work on their show.
The members of Indoor Percussion spend about 20 hours each week practicing and performing. Before they ever pick up a drum or a cymbal, they warm up running laps in the gym, stretching, and performing sets of push-ups as a group. The nature of Indoor Percussion requires a high level of athleticism, musicality and the ability to work together as a single unit as they move across the gym floor.
Next month, the team will travel to Nationals in Dayton, Ohio, the culmination of months of hard work and dedication.
“[On Saturdays of competitions], you drop them off at eight in the morning and pick them up at midnight,” Beth Gerson, the parent of a senior member of Indoor Percussion, told Patch. “It’s a huge time commitment and it forces the kids to really organize their time — they’re better students because of it.”
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This Saturday, 11 indoor percussion teams from the tri-state area will compete at Westhill High School.
“It’s the first one we’ve ever hosted,” Tom Miner, director of bands at Westhill, said. “It’s a small show, but the right number for us.”
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The group auditions in October and is rehearsing by December. They practice four days each week including the long hours on Saturdays traveling to and from competitions.
“Not all are percussionists, some are wind and brass players who learn to perform the mallets and in the pit percussion… it’s not an easy task and they put in a lot of hours,” Miner said.
Six out of the ten of this year's pit percussionists play brass or wind instruments during the rest of the year. Miner requires them to go back to their original instrument for marching band and concert band.
“That’s part of the deal, I can’t lose my entire horn section,” Miner said.
People who attend the competition can expect a fast, intense show. Bringing it in off the football field and marching on a basketball court requires the students to take it at a different speed and with an even greater level of precision than what they do in the fall.
“Once they’re selected, we train at high speed marching, it’s a whole different level of intensity,” Miner said.
It also requires the team to work together and learn to function differently than they do on a football field.
“It’s a change in who you’re listening to,” Joe Guarneri, tenor section battery tech, said. “The front ensemble and the drum line have to be in constant contact and on the same page or the whole group falls apart.”
This year’s show is titled “Insomnia” — a theme heavily reflected in the music, costumes, and choreography of the show. While they perform on a white mat at practice, during a performance they use a mat with the image of a clock being pulled into a tunnel that matches the black, orange, and green of their uniforms. Black pillows line the mat and serve as space markers for the musicians.
“It’s about the nightmares of having insomnia,” Miner said. “There are pre-recorded voices to create an eerie kind of feel.”
Jaime Acosta is responsible for the visual elements of the show. The group alternates practices focusing on the visual and practices focusing on the music in order to hone both areas before performances.
"In the show, they portray sleepwalking, falling asleep, at one point there's a cymbal hit and they wake up...our drill writer did a great job of portraying stages of insomnia," Acosta said. "As a group, they learn posture, stepping off on the right foot, which is actually the left foot, and how to carry themselves."
This weekend's competition will be held in Westhill High School's gym on Saturday from 5-8:30 pm, admission is $8 for adults and $5 for seniors and students.
