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The One About WGI 2024 Percussion and Winds Championships
169 Plays1 year ago
Join our hosts this week as the recount their amazing time at WGI 2024 with Percussion and Winds. We get to meet Aubrie Lynn a Front Ensemble Member of Rhythm X and Jamar Morrison about the amazing journey Stryke Wynds took to a Gold Medal in World Class Winds this year. All this plus Water we doing and Gush and Go’s!
Special Guests
Matt Carraher - @matt.carraher @kida.indoor
Jamar Morrison - @ramaj_km & @strykewynds
Aubrie Lynn - @aubrie.lynn.music & @rhythmXinc @rhythmx.pit
Meet our Hosts
Jackie Brown - @spintronixguard
Stephen McCarrick - @stephenmccarick
Cindy Barry - @leandermomma
Nicole Younger - @o2bnpjs & @thecookoutcg
Trevor Bailey - @t_pain151
Trish O’Shea - @trishdish1002
Beth Beccone - @bether7189
Chris Rutt - @wildhornbrass1
Cynthia Bernard - @cynthiabern
Ashlee Amos - @famousamossss_
Theo Harrison - @harrisontheo07
Stephanie Click - @stephanieclick
Whitney Stone - @dancerwhit
Justin Surface - @J_dex07
Ashley Tran - @itsashleytran
Jack Goudreau - @goudreau_
Bill Woodward - @remoking100
Emily Nee - @tch.makes.art
Ricardo Robinson-Shinall - @ricardorrobinson
Callie Quire - @cnquire
Austin Hall - @Austin_hall10
Jose Montes - @joeymontes57
Music provided by leydamusic.com Follow him @josh.leyda
Avatars provided by @tch.makes.art
Featuring
Lexi Duda - Host for On A Water Break In Rhinestones - The Stories of the Twirlers @lexi_duda
Thank you also to @guardcloset
#marchingband #colorguard #dci #podcast #onawaterbreak #wgi #drumline
Recommended
Transcript
Weekly Recap and WGI Championships Overview
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey everyone, we are back for another week of exciting rehearsals. This week we are recapping the 2024 WGI percussion championships, which I had such a great time at, but we will also find out what made Austin say. They moved well, they played well, everything was designed well. It wasn't insane. It wasn't like the hardest thing they've done in the world, but they did push their members and they challenged them.
00:00:23
Speaker
And why Jose said, I mean, from a class to open class to world class, I mean, it's the biggest one that the idiom has seen. I think maybe 2018, 2019, maybe it's the biggest one so far in the in the idioms, you know, short history, all this
Podcast Introduction and End of Indoor Season
00:00:37
Speaker
and more. So get out on the field and we will see you back on the sidelines for this week's episode of on a water break. Eight off the Met and go. Welcome to on a water break.
00:00:57
Speaker
It's time for a water break.
00:01:01
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of season two of on a water break, the podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break. I'm Steve McCarrick. It is official. The indoor season has come to an end and we at on a water break have covered it all color guard percussion and wins in the best way. Our hosts and guests all across the activity. They've seen all the performances and got to capture some great moments everywhere.
00:01:27
Speaker
So this week we're going to get back to recap WGI 2024 percussion wins. I'm excited to be back at rehearsal. So let's get this going this week on the sidelines.
Transition Between Seasons and Horizon's Achievements
00:01:38
Speaker
We've got Jose. Have you recovered fully from Dayton yet? I got to talk to you just before you left.
00:01:44
Speaker
Um, I don't know about recover fully, but, uh, I mean like the seasons, I mean, as we all know, the seasons just kind of blend into each other. So I got like a good, like three days where I disappeared and didn't answer any texts. And now it's playing the catch up game and getting ready for summer and fall.
00:01:59
Speaker
I know exactly what you mean. I feel like when I get home from Dayton, I kind of go into hibernation for about 48 hours and then like contact me after. They say, yeah, my clients and my friends are like, oh, Jerry goes into like a black hole. Like, you know, no one can find me. No one can text me. I don't tell people where I'm going. I just kind of disappear. And when I come back, hopefully I'm stronger, better, faster, stronger, all the Daft Punk stuff.
00:02:24
Speaker
Yes, we're used to seeing you on milk cartons around this time of year, but Austin doing well, a medalist in the house.
00:02:32
Speaker
Yeah, I am actually not the only medalist in the house. Joey and Jamar are also participating in the medal gang here. Jamar is awesome. They both have a bunch of silver, a bunch of gold. We had a great time. Horizon got to release the flamboyance.
00:02:55
Speaker
That was it was a great time. All we saw was pink the entire time. It was great. Awesome. Yeah, we're very well represented in this call. The very successful panelists out here at on a water break.
00:03:09
Speaker
So awesome. I'm excited to hear much more about how it went for you guys and wins in general and a little bit here, Austin, but a Matt Carr, her back from Scholastic a percussion land, Pennsylvania in the mid Atlantic represented well at WGI this year. I think we can both attest to this.
00:03:26
Speaker
Yeah, I thought I thought it was a great year for for the Mid-Atlantic for, you know, our state and P.A. and, you know, surrounding areas. It's a great showing out in Dayton this year. We're excited about it. Nice. Yeah, we definitely I think for the Mid-Atlantic for United in particular, we're starting to hit some of the best strides. I think the ensembles ever hit. Really, things are starting to really come together. Yeah. United had an awesome year. That's for sure.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's been really, really cool. Very fun. I'm excited to talk now that I'm not like I always felt like I needed to keep things a little under wraps because like you're teaching and you got your own things going. But I'm excited to really get to talk about the season now. So our first guest host tonight is a pretty accomplished person already, and they may or may not already have a medal around their neck. Maybe not currently, but we've got Jamar Morrison from Strike Winds.
Featured Guest Introductions and Experiences
00:04:22
Speaker
Jamar. Hey, guys, how are you?
00:04:25
Speaker
Doing great. Thank you for coming on our show, man. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to get to know you a little better. How we like to do this on this show is through a 32 count life story. It gives you about 30 seconds to catch our audience up to speed. You ready to give it a try? OK, do I just talk about who I am? Yeah, yeah. So I'll give you eight and in from the Met and then you just everything that you think would be important about who you are, what you do, just to catch our listeners up to speed on who you are.
00:04:51
Speaker
They'll give you eight bars, all right? Easy. Easy. Eight and in from the map. Hey, guys. My name is Jamar Curry Morrison, and I am a visual designer, choreographer, and visual consultant in the marching arts. And I've been officially doing this for about a year, and I enjoy what I do. My mission is to help band members, band directors, band parents out to create shows and help create designs that create success for everybody. And that's my biggest goal in life.
00:05:20
Speaker
Awesome. Well, we are very happy to have you on the show. Excited to hear more about the different groups you work with in a little bit here. But before we do that, we've got one other guest host with us today that we're excited to meet. Perhaps the most tired of all of us, having been a performer this year at WGI, we have Aubrey Lynn from Rhythm X.
00:05:44
Speaker
Aubrey, thank you for joining us on the show. You'll be able to catch us up to speed the same way as Jamar just did here with a 32 count life story. You ready to give it a try? Sweet. You'll get eight and in from the Met. I'm originally from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I was homeschooled and I didn't start marching band at all until I started marching independent my freshman year of college.
00:06:08
Speaker
And through local independent groups and then eventually drum corps, it introduced me to Rhythm X, which is where I just aged out of. And so I moved up to Dayton, Ohio to do that. And now I, for better or worse, I'm stuck here.
00:06:29
Speaker
Oh, I know that all too well. I know very many people in your circumstances. I don't know if we met, but I marched X in 2020 and 2022. So we probably run in a lot of similar circles, but yeah, congratulations on a great year as an alum. I was super excited to see you guys jump on semi-finals night. I was like, whoa, okay. All right. They're getting it, getting it all together right at the very end there. How'd it feel for you guys?
00:06:58
Speaker
I think it was bittersweet. Really with the way the season panned out at the end. We were obviously super stoked for going from prelims to semis and like making that huge jump in placement. And then I think, I mean, I think it's not incorrect of me to say that we were hoping for a little, little more on finals night, but it's nothing to complain about. I went into the season saying I just wanted a different color medal than last year. So we got that.
00:07:25
Speaker
Yeah, you're in good company. I know all too well how difficult it is to beat pulse, but they're excellent. Well, we'll circle back here with some more about rhythm X in a little bit. But Jamar, why don't you tell us a little bit about your
Creative Processes in Marching Arts
00:07:40
Speaker
group? I think you were working with strike wins, right? Yes. Yeah. It was a very fun season. This is officially my third year teaching wins. And I've been marching strike wins since 2016. So
00:07:52
Speaker
So be able to like be part of the growth of the organization and the group itself. It's really nice and it really felt good to go up to Dayton and for us it was a little bit more personal in the sense of saying like we've spent a lot of time especially when I was marching trying to at least my goal was always to just do the best we can and see if we can win you know and then just having going two times back to back and going to this one where we really enjoyed that last run it felt really good to kind of say
00:08:19
Speaker
You know, we did this thing. We enjoyed our product. We enjoyed what we did. And like it took it took work, too. It's like a lot of us like coming together and figuring out ideas. And it was fun, too, though, because the way we were designing things when we had if I had an idea or someone had an idea, we always thought of, OK, what was the what's the coolest thing that we can do to elevate it? And I think for me this season as a team, this was like a very cohesive season for wins for the members and the staff. Nice.
00:08:49
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool. I was talking to Jose in Austin a couple weeks ago, right before Dayton, and they were kind of getting me to understand just how much wins is a growing activity, not in the sense of like more groups are coming around, but we're kind of figuring out what it even is that we're trying to do out here, like what sort of performances are going to be the best, what sort of things.
00:09:09
Speaker
There's less restrictive rules. So now that you're on like the design side, well, what do you kind of feel? Does strike really try to push the boundary with what's going on out there? Or what are you guys? What's like the creative process at strike wins? The creative process starts with. Honestly, when when when Josh Brennis and Robert Rivera, which is our music writer and our drill designer, when they start creating stuff,
00:09:37
Speaker
They they they treat it from like an artistic standpoint So like the first thing they're trying to do is not going in the confines of you know What is wins like their ideas at least at least from what I've seen or what I've heard from their conversations And I've talked to Josh back and forth because we drive to Ohio together. So we talk a lot But it's always just about like what can we do next? So it's now it's never really just about the competition It's like, you know, what what are we not done or what would be cool? What would be cool there? And so it becomes such a creative thing and it and it becomes so
00:10:06
Speaker
more organic in the sense of like, you know what, let's tinker and figure things out. And every single year, you know, we have a ballot and there's like a process where like Josh will begin playing it. Josh will see, will hear it. Robbie will hear it live. They'll make changes. It's always just an ever evolving thing. And it's always about development. It's always about development. We don't try to go too set in stone with everything. We want to see, you know, what can we develop? How can we elevate simple moments and
00:10:33
Speaker
That's how we typically design things. And then when it comes to choreography, same idea. Well, that actually sounds really similar to what I'm familiar with at Rhythm X. So Aubrey, for the show this season, was it much so like my years where the show is constantly evolving, like sometimes in really serious ways leading in the weeks up to finals? What was your experience with like how the show comes together at X?
00:10:57
Speaker
So I will say I do think that, um, the process was probably a little bit different this year because instead of Tim Fairbanks, we had Ryan Ellis. So a lot of our really functionally different design team, very much so. And both, both geniuses in their own way, but it was, it was really cool to get to see the difference because I felt like we made all of our like big, huge, drastic changes much earlier in the season this year, like closer to regional time.
00:11:28
Speaker
like finals week, I don't know that we really changed anything. Like I'm sure there were minor tweaks for like the VE and some of the choreo stuff happening on the floor, but it was really nice this year to just like get to finals week and actually get to clean like what we're gonna put on the floor.
00:11:44
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that's like what X is noticing. Like in 2022, we ran into a similar situation that you did this year. I think both those seasons were like kind of similar in how they progressed in finals week, where like X is so used to trying to change the show a lot and redesign and make things as good as they can be, at least in the past that it's tough to compete and be as clean as ensembles, especially in like a little bit fairer weather parts of the country.
00:12:13
Speaker
that are going to focus on being as clean as possible. So it's kind of cool to hear that now X is responding to that circumstance they're in competitively and they're trying to get ahead of their issue and have more time to clean. That's really interesting. We'll come back to some more of this stuff in a little bit here, but why don't we hop into the news now?
00:12:48
Speaker
All right. Well, turns out WGI is not the only thing happening in the world. So Matt, why don't you get us started with our first story for the week? Sure. So, um, I know, uh, probably a lot of people have heard about, uh, last year there was a teenager named Ralph Yarl. Um, he's an African American male that, um, accidentally went to the wrong house and rang the doorbell and he was shot by, um,
00:13:18
Speaker
by an elderly white man and shot twice within a few seconds of opening the door and, you know, horrible situation and awful and, you know, luckily he survived and it's, it's
00:13:33
Speaker
It's a terrible situation that we even have to be talking about these sort of things happening in the world still. So, Ralph is a band student. For me, it really hits personally because I was a high school band director for eight years. I've experienced my share of tragedies with students, but nothing comes close to this. I just can't imagine what it's like to experience that.
00:14:02
Speaker
So there's a civil lawsuit that's come up now that hopefully he'll at least get some sort of justice for what was done to him. But really cool thing is, so he's a clarinet player and he's a senior in high school this year. And even with the setbacks he's had with his injuries, he's still made all state band in Missouri this year on bass clarinet.
00:14:29
Speaker
Yeah, super cool. And what I read was he's still planning on going to college and studying engineering. So, you know, it looks like awful
Remarkable Performances and Personal Triumphs
00:14:39
Speaker
situation, but it'll, you know, hopefully turn out to be a very, you know, he'll be okay and still live a good life.
00:14:48
Speaker
It's a good update because I do think I remember we covered this probably some time last year. It's cool to hear all this stuff. It's a testament to Ban's ability to provide some positive reinforcement or be the positive light during a negative situation for students and things like that. I know in the school district that I came from, it was not at all uncommon for kids to come from.
00:15:12
Speaker
rough backgrounds at home or just otherwise not the best home or situations outside of school. But when they're in the program that they're in, their arts program at school, that's where they found home and community.
00:15:26
Speaker
So like I think it's pretty heartwarming to hear that he's able to kind of lean back on that same community and be a part of like the Allstate band and do the things that he loves. It's a great update. Thank you, Matt. Austin, what do you got for us? Speaking of positive band stories, I got a, I got a really good one. I'm a big sports guy outside of my, uh, outside of all my band ventures and everything. And even though hockey is not one of my main sports, um, the University of Denver,
00:15:56
Speaker
went on to go and win the Frozen Four. So they won the NCAA Hockey National Championship. Those are 10 times winning. And it's a smaller school, so they don't have a band, they don't have like a music, they don't have a music program there. So the Frozen Four was held in Minnesota. And so University of Denver gave, let's see, the Edina High School, they gave them a call and they said, hey, we need a band to come play for us at
00:16:24
Speaker
at the Frozen Four and so they graciously agreed they said hey this is what this is what we're doing here's like our fight song this is what here's how we do it can you come play for us they gave them like two weeks notice they said absolutely we did it they got they got uh 24 kids together and the kids had the time of their lives and put put through together a pet band for the uh Frozen Four and helped the University of Denver win the national championship in hockey
00:16:50
Speaker
for us. Whoa, that's actually awesome. Sometimes you see those sorts of like high schools get performance gigs like like where it's like, how do you even line up that gig? That's so cool. I'm so jealous that like some students get those awesome opportunities. It's nice to hear that for them. Awesome. Yeah. Hopefully maybe someday the high school I teach can get in with the Philadelphia Flyers. Sounds like a bit of a long shot, but
00:17:18
Speaker
That'd be a fun gig. Just getting in a hockey arena, even a basketball arena, just having some fun, playing some drums, playing some notes, all that good stuff. Couldn't go wrong there. I've always thought that being the base five of a pet band would be the most fun thing in the world.
00:17:36
Speaker
Onstands, the biggest, heaviest drum, but on a stand. And let me just wail away on it while people play hockey. Sounds fun. All right. I'll take the next story for this one here. We're sticking a bit towards like the collegiate athletics and other marching facilities world. So the Ohio University, not to be confused with the dreaded Ohio State University.
00:18:01
Speaker
Ohio University unveiled its plans for a new marching band complex and practice facility on Saturday. So this new marching 110 band complex featuring Hurley Field will be along South Shafer Street. It's going to be a large turf installation to support rehearsal for marching band in all weather conditions. A big director's tower.
00:18:24
Speaker
Looking at it, it's really everything that you would want as your marching band. It's kind of crazy to think setting up a turf field specifically for the purpose of having the best marching band rehearsals you could have. Plenty of bands get facilities that have turf fields now. They're kind of starting to become more popular in high schools.
00:18:46
Speaker
I don't know that I've ever seen a turf field specifically for the marching band. So shout out to Ohio University. That's definitely no small investment. It looks like it was a million dollar gift given by an alumni member of the marching band, Sean Hurley, and Tracy Hurley as well to support the project's success.
00:19:07
Speaker
their quote to wrap up the article. They say our time as members of the Marching 110 was such a gift. Not only did we experience unforgettable rehearsals, performances and travel across the country, but we got to do it alongside of a group of individuals who became lifelong friends and family, which is a very common story I feel like throughout all of bands. So awesome. Shout out to Ohio University. Lovely sort of thing that they can have there for their students. Jose, what do you got for us this week?
00:19:38
Speaker
I've got some sad news. The activity just lost two very strong souls, very, very huge supporters in the activity and just in like music education altogether. Mary Lynn DeRoe, who has ties with Fred J. Miller and Chad Dempsey.
00:19:55
Speaker
both passed away this past week and it's really sad to see. The one thing that I think is really cool is seeing the sunflowers all over my Facebook for Chad and knowing some of his mentees and what they've done for the activity already and what they plan to continue on. And it started with Chad, I think is really, really cool. And as bitter as it is, it's great to know that he's not suffering anymore and that he's off to be a sunflower up in heaven. And it's sad, but I'm happy he's
00:20:25
Speaker
He's in a good place now. That is tragic. Rest in peace for both of them, but certainly sad to see them go but happy for the time that we did have to have with them. All right. Well, Austin, what do you have for us this week? You have one more, right? I do have one more. Some good news actually.
00:20:47
Speaker
involving the cadets. So a bunch of memorabilia from the cadets such as like trophies, championship banners, shadow boxes, uniform jackets, all any sort of memorabilia. The marching pageantry art museum recently received like a really big sum of all that memorabilia so that we have the ability to remember the cadets.
00:21:09
Speaker
And it just kind of helped spark the conversation that the cadets legacy will hold on in the world of Drum Corps. There are a bunch of photos of this. If you go and check out Bill Ives' Facebook page and the Marching Pageantry Art Museum Facebook page, there are a bunch of photos on there. And speaking of the cadets and everything, Jamar was on staff there. So this is kind of my formal invitation.
00:21:36
Speaker
to say, hey, let's go. And I think we're trying to put together a cadets recording. So we want to bring Jamar on. And there's a couple other people from On A Water Break that are going to try to organize it all together. Chris Rutt will be involved in it as well. So Jamar, we'd love to have you on that special episode whenever we do have that. I'd love to. Awesome.
00:22:05
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds great.
Cadets' Legacy and Special Episode Plans
00:22:06
Speaker
I know it's something we're looking to get in the books soon here before we get further into the DCI season, looking to really have some good talks about the cadets and the cadet's legacy.
00:22:16
Speaker
So yeah, everybody go check out the marching page and tree arts museum, um, Chris or rather bill lives, Facebook page and the marching page and tree arts museum, Facebook page for, uh, all this sort of cadets memorabilia that's getting set up there. All right. Uh, so everybody get back out there on the field. We are going to get some chunks in here of the new drum Corps music we are learning for this upcoming summer, but I will be back with you all in a little bit.
00:22:49
Speaker
Hey, this is Christine Reem. And Chris Green.
00:22:51
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:24:01
Speaker
Oh, right. Everyone time to set the equipment down. Cause we're going to hear a little bit more about all these fun times we all had at WGI this year. I had a very fun time teaching also a really scary time. If I'm going to kick it off, one of my students actually enduring his semis performance, like dislocated his knee and like
00:24:22
Speaker
I think it was called a patellar subplexion or something like that was the name of it. And then he was limping by the end of the night, could barely walk Sunday morning, but he was age out and really wanted to perform. And like, it was really his choice at this point, how he wanted to handle it. So he ended up going to a hospital, got like a steroid shot and like was feeling good, wanted to do it, was in there and performed, nailed it Sunday night. So Saturday night rather.
00:24:52
Speaker
So I would describe my overall WGI experience as stressful and fun, but fun predominantly. But I'm sure all of us had the whole gambit. What do you guys think? What was some of the big things that you felt this year or big moments that you saw in the arena? I'll jump in. I thought I had a little bit of a unique opportunity this year because my
00:25:17
Speaker
my group ended up getting reclassified like the last week of the regular season to open and then we uh we it was just great and it was awesome but we didn't make it out of the first round we missed it by like one so that was disappointing but we also had like just the whole weekend on friday and saturday to watch which is super cool um and you know a neat opportunity to just get to soak it all in and see everything and
00:25:45
Speaker
I'll jump in on like MCM, I thought their show, the moment where they all stop and it's silent and then the guy in the back side two corners start screaming and then the whole thing builds and builds and builds and it was just such, I think that was like the iconic moment of this year in WJ percussion.
Iconic Moments and Creative Risks at WGI
00:26:07
Speaker
The finals night when the audience is joining in too, it was super cool.
00:26:12
Speaker
As a ex alumni, I am traditionally a bit of a bias hater towards MCM, but this year I can't I can't even do it. I can't even hold it up. I actually really liked that MCM show so much way more than I've liked the MCM show in a while, I think. And like that whole moment, I knew the second that I saw them do it for the first time, I was like, oh, this is going to be so electric in the in the U.D. arena.
00:26:39
Speaker
like especially semis and finals when the crowd is actually full and everyone's going to scream with them. I wish I wasn't teaching so I could have actually seen it at finals but I got to see it at semis and it was really cool.
00:26:53
Speaker
What about, uh, maybe, is there anything from the winds weekend that, uh, Austin Jamar or Jose, you guys, uh, thought was pretty interesting. I'd say the biggest thing for me was the crowd. I mean, from a class to open class to world class. I mean, it's the biggest one that the idiom has seen, I think.
00:27:10
Speaker
Maybe 2018, 2019, maybe it's the biggest one so far in the in the idioms, you know, short history. But it was so cool when walking in with Eva on Sunday, seeing how big the crowd was. And that show is built for people to be in front of you. And and the kids like playing loud and running around. And so it was great that their last performance was the best one and that, you know, it was the biggest crowd of the weekend. And oh, my gosh, were they were they happy for it?
00:27:37
Speaker
Yeah, that's so cool. I'm like so excited. You guys like totally changed my perspective on what wins is just in talking to you about like.
00:27:45
Speaker
how it's growing and sort of how it's a bit of a different creative thing. So I'm super excited to hear that you guys had a good turnout and that it was really like pushing in the right direction for the idiom. So that's super cool. Matt, I think you were mentioning to us earlier, there was something with scholastic schools out in Pennsylvania. Yeah, just another cool iconic moment. I felt like Unionville High School from out here in PA.
00:28:09
Speaker
They had a really interesting part of their show this year where they had live painters going during the show. And then at finals, they started throwing paint everywhere at the end of the show. Everybody, players, floor, equipment, everything's covered in paint. Wait, did they only do it at finals? I think they only did to that extreme at finals. And they ended up getting almost a 10-point penalty for it and dropped 10 places.
00:28:39
Speaker
I also saw their director posted on Facebook his season wrap up. He was like, it was totally worth it. I'm so glad. That's awesome. If you didn't know you were about to medal, then who cares? Make it to finals and do something crazy.
00:28:58
Speaker
That's like the joke we all make. They can't stop you at finals. Wow. Aubrey, is there anything maybe from like Rhythm X's week or just something on the performer end? Like how'd you feel going through the week? So I, I think, I think one of the most memorable things like at the arena for me was the, probably the semi-finals lot. The way that they oriented the lot this year kind of had a lot of the like,
00:29:25
Speaker
higher up world-class groups, all like right on top of each other in one single corner of the lot for semi-finals. And so we were, we were right in front, we were right behind RCC. And at that point we were in the fourth place slot and they were in the second place slot. So we were gearing up to have our full pit run and they started snare subs like right next, like right next to us, which I mean,
00:29:52
Speaker
Obviously, we weren't wanting them to have snare subs right there, but they were definitely getting blasted by our speakers. So I don't really, I think they probably got the shorter end of the stick there. I was about to say, I've been around that front on snumble. You guys are a little louder than a couple snare drums for sure. It's like a rock concert sometimes. Definitely.
00:30:18
Speaker
That's cool though. So, uh, as you guys are out there, I think X was also kind of near where the groups would like you up to tunnel into the, uh, arena as well. Right. Weren't you up in that corner of the lot? Yeah, definitely. Especially for prelims. We were right in front of it. And so everyone had to pass in front of our lot to go to the tunnel, which was fun. Yeah.
00:30:41
Speaker
I kind of like that. I always like, wonder if people are listening and I have a little bit of like a competitive, like, I want to be good specifically because they're right there. And I know that they can hear this. Yeah. I know when I, I know when I was in open-class finals in 2022, that's where, uh, I too was, was set up for finals and they were, they won gold that year in open-class finals. And I remember walking by them and being like, dang it.
00:31:10
Speaker
Yeah, no, you want to close your own ears a little bit, but. Exactly. All right. Well, why don't we dive into a few of our standout performances here? Don't just pick your one favorite group. Maybe you could give us your top three favorites. Austin, do you want to kick us off here with some of your favorites from the year?
00:31:28
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Matt already kind of beat me to the punch on the MCM, on the MCM hype. I got to watch the back end of world-class finals. We sprinted away from Truist Arena after prelims and our kind of staff tradition at Horizon is to
00:31:48
Speaker
like we take Saturday night off, we don't rehearse, we don't do anything. We'll get, we'll all, the staff will all get in a hotel room, we'll pull up Flow on a laptop and we'll plug it into the TV and just sit there and just watch Trump and watch independent world finals on Saturday night. It's just something that we've always done and MCM really, I think that was my favorite, that was probably my favorite percussion show of the year.
00:32:11
Speaker
in world class, at least I get, I didn't get a chance to see, I didn't get a chance to see like a, a class or open class. Cause Steven, you were kind of, we were kind of in the same boat, just running around teaching and everything. But it's more, I think it's more fun that way. That's just me. But, you know, I was the same way like you, I was a bit like a chicken with my head cut off, just running around to see as much band as I could when I was not teaching. They'd be like, all right, great show guys. Bye. I need to.
00:32:39
Speaker
Yeah, I wish, I wish I had the ability. I really wish I had the ability to do that, but dealing with 54 kids is not the easiest thing in the world. And then hurting cattle to get on a flight, also not fun. That's a wormhole. I'll go down a little bit later, but I've got a little more responsibility than me. I've got five, you know, apparently young adults, sometimes they act a little like children still, but
00:33:02
Speaker
Good point. And a couple other shows that I really liked, at least from the wins side, Joey, Eva wins. I caught Joey in a lot right after finals before we had to dart to the airport. I was like, Joey, man, that Eva wins show. It was so simple. It was so, it was, it was so open class. It was just perfect. Like they did everything right for their class. And I was like, this is, this is it. They, they moved well. They played well. Everything was designed well. It wasn't insane. It wasn't like the hardest thing they've done in the world, but they did push their members and they challenged them.
00:33:32
Speaker
And I think it was just designed perfectly for the membership. And I sat like five rows up on side two. Yeah, it was side two. And I just watched, and for over half the show, I just watched the performer's faces.
00:33:46
Speaker
And they just look like they were having so much fun out there. And that's that was like, this is and it was I had one of those moments where I was just sitting there. I was like, this is why we do this. These performers are just having the time of their lives. They're throwing down and people are clapping for them. And that was that. And I'm really excited to see where Eva goes. Moving forward to that was so nice of you to say. You're so sweet. I love you.
00:34:15
Speaker
Maybe that could actually bring us over. Joey, what were some of your favorite programs from the year? I got to watch world-class Scholastic and Independent wins. That's all I got to watch. Everything else was running to rehearsals. We did a bowling slash arcade night with Eva on Saturday night, so getting all 33 members to the arcade was crazy.
00:34:40
Speaker
I would say that I absolutely loved Horizon and Strike. And it's not because y'all are on the podcast. It's truly because what you guys did was, hey, the cool thing about Wins is that you can do. There's so much that we can do. And so like the shows, you put them right next to each other, just like you said, Austin, it's like comparing apples and oranges sometimes. And, you know, both of y'all belong
00:35:00
Speaker
on the podium, I believe. And, you know, they're so beautiful. But the big thing for me was watching Avon and watching those kids faces and watching them throw those instruments up in the air. You know, they added this morning, you know, Sunday morning. It was it's so cool to see, you know, that level of excellence from that young of a membership, you know, so that for me.
00:35:25
Speaker
was pretty incredible I didn't realize how big the crowd was until Avon came on and I heard the cheer and I was like that's a lot of sound I look to my left I see the entire stands kind of filled from bottom to top and I was like that's that's my realize you know we're here we're finally you know maybe not the same level as guard and percussion but
00:35:45
Speaker
I mean, we're getting there and it was, it was really, really neat. Those are my top three right now. I was saying, no, I think it's really cool to hear just how much it's been growing and to think that like over the next five to 10 years, it really can and probably should be, you know, as large and successful of an activity as percussion and color guard. Yeah.
00:36:05
Speaker
It's cool to hear from you guys that have been in the mix and been doing it year over year, four years now. You get to really, you're the people that would know just how big that crowd has been every year. So it's cool to hear that, man. Yeah. Let's bring it back towards percussion a little bit. Matt, what were some of your favorites?
00:36:27
Speaker
I mean, I love Mystique. That was my favorite show this year. And this is really cool. I love Broken City. They're always, the way they write is so amazing. I would say like on the scholastic side, I definitely got a shout out Center Grove. I thought they had a really great show and at finals they had an electronics issue and they were sitting there for like, like,
00:36:54
Speaker
three four minutes just waiting and waiting and waiting and they still just like perform their butts off and like it was just super cool to see like because because that could easily like completely derail your performance but they just took it and threw down and so that was really cool.
00:37:10
Speaker
I love them and then I really love Clearbrook High School. I think they just tell a story so well. They have a lot of the same designers as Mystique, so that definitely is a great thing for them and that they both just had really awesome performances and finals this year.
00:37:29
Speaker
Sorry, I just got distracted a little bit because you reminded me of this one group that I should have brought up earlier during the like crazy shocking performances thing. I saw this one group that came out on prelims and they had a very long electronics issue just like you were describing from center groove where they sat out there for over like two songs.
00:37:52
Speaker
Which like, you know how they have songs playing the whole time while you're sitting in the arena? Did you guys see those balloons that just popped up on my screen? That was so weird. But they sat there for like two whole songs and the whole ensemble was wearing morph suits like so you couldn't really see their faces, but you knew that this was a very uncomfortable situation for them. And they were also a group that's like kind of
00:38:18
Speaker
you know, new to being in world class. So it's not necessarily certain, especially as you're watching this penalty come along, that this group is going to be able to make it out of the hole that's like unfolding in front of you. So then it's super weird as you're watching this performance and the whole audience knows like,
00:38:36
Speaker
you know, this could come around and this could work out, but this very most likely is going to be the last time this group performs this show right now. And we all know it. And then it just so happened to be like one of the craziest shows I have ever seen, like one of the most wild things. It sounds insane, but you would have like whatever instrument you play, someone else would wear on their back in front of you. And then you would wear the person behind you's instrument on your back.
00:39:02
Speaker
So then you would be like in this caterpillar snaking around the floor where you're like playing the bass. You're like playing snare on someone else's back while you're like wearing a set of quads. The most insane thing that I saw in the world was that they made these poor, simple players wear quads while playing symbols.
00:39:21
Speaker
So they still had to hold their own cymbals and hold someone else's quads while a quad drummer holding nothing stood behind them and just boy. You're definitely going to need a chiropractor after that. You need a chiropractor. Oh my gosh. It was like such a trip to watch that show. I'm sorry. I feel like I just totally derailed the performance or the call. But from the moment that you talked about that penalty, I was just like, you brought me back directly to WGI pre-wince. And I was like,
00:39:49
Speaker
Wait, this insane show happened and I feel like I need to make sure we talk about it on the call because it was a moment for sure. All right. Thank you all for bearing with me on that one. Jamar, what were some of your favorite performances from the year?
Artistic Expression and Design in Shows
00:40:09
Speaker
Um, actually before I even get there, it's actually funny that you say that about like the electronics issue. I'll never forget in 2019 for strike wins, we had like an electronic issue and our speakers weren't working. So I remember we were setting up for prelims. We were ready to go. We were ready to like do the thing. And then.
00:40:25
Speaker
like there was we started a kneeling set I remember specifically and then the track didn't start and then I was like wait wait this isn't funny anymore like I thought I was getting punked so I was just there and we ended up getting a 14 point penalty oh but but it's crazy though it's crazy though because
00:40:43
Speaker
We kind of all look at each other as a team. And I was the horn sergeant at the time. We kind of looked at, I looked at everybody and I was like, guys, we're going to have to do it. We're going to have to do what we can. And they all looked at me and I'm like, I'm just as angry as you are. We're like agreed, agreed. Now we got down and I think, I don't know what was in, I don't know what was in there for that run that, that day, but like we have this 49 person rotation that we love to do. We did it again this year, but.
00:41:08
Speaker
that moment for us was like alright cool we're here ready to go and like we were nailing everything that day and i was just like so where was this the whole season whatever but um that to me was such a great moment but um my favorite shows from this year is it just wins is it just wins and drums or can it be guard as well i mean give a special shout out to guard but do you have another wins moment or percussion moment too
00:41:29
Speaker
You can talk to them whenever you want. Oh, so many. So actually, I did watch Eva today on accident, because I found the thumbnail, and I was like, oh, I haven't seen them yet. So I watched Eva. I loved, I love, love, love how everything was paced choreographically. And I did like that double lens that you put in. And I noticed it, because I remember BD did the same thing in 23. And I remember that moment in the beginning. Yep, I love that thing. And I do remember that moment where the woodwinds are running around, but they're facing each other. That to me was insane. I was, oh my gosh, I was getting so ecstatic.
00:41:59
Speaker
You had like the moment where Diamond's from Sierra Leone by Kanye West. And I remember you put that in there and I was like, oh, that was so tasty. I always wanted to make that a sample. The next show that I really, really liked, and even though it's controversial, Fantasia. I think Fantasia's show from this past year was enjoyable to watch. And I think because of the subject matter, what it was, I know it's heavy, but I think the way that they did it and the way they paid homage to what happened
00:42:24
Speaker
was so tasteful and so beautiful in the sense that like when you heard not while I'm around, come on, there was like that comfort that anyone would want to feel in the situation like that. And I think the way that they did that and the way that they went from like the black and looking like the mentors are like ghouls and like lost souls into something beautiful was such a
00:42:46
Speaker
a beautiful moment for me like i i found it cathartic and and the fact that you know that group took the effort to say a statement like that even though it it probably got the reviews that it did i think they got such a such a special place on my heart in my book even
00:43:03
Speaker
embarking on something like that. That's so hard to do. That's such a neat, not even niche thing. It's an uncomfortable conversation. And society isn't really built for uncomfortable all the time. And I think that was great that I saw Fantasia. That was one of my favorites. And then, percussion, Broken City. I think.
00:43:23
Speaker
For Broken City, I love their show. I love their formulas. I've always loved Broken City since I think 2016 was the year where they wore the red and they had the props that moved over and then they were like, um,
00:43:34
Speaker
Great. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I had three different shows. Yeah. Yes. And then that one and there was spine and then like, I've just always watched it ever since. So I've been such a huge nerd. But when I saw this one and then like the way that they ripped that book and that there was a book there and then the way the props on the side one were basically like the same idea of a book, but they were like wiry was so
00:43:56
Speaker
me of like how you can create you know like the skeleton of a book and turn it into so many different ideas and looks so Broken City has always been like one of my favorite percussion groups just because like they create fresh ideas visually and like I love subtlety and then their subtlety to me is so beautiful and it matches the music and it matches visually and it's coordinated so well so those were three of my favorites I loved Horizon because Austin the way you played with the
00:44:25
Speaker
the sleeves and the way that it was black and it move around and do different and do different ideas with it. That was really cool. And then I love the fact that it ended on Birdland. I think pop tunes are seldom seen in an activity where we take things maybe sometimes maybe too seriously, because I think some pop tunes could really work. Sometimes those power ballads just really work when it's a pop tune. But that that choice to do Birdland was so cool, at least in my eyes.
00:44:53
Speaker
And yeah, those are like my highlights from this season, show-wise.
00:44:57
Speaker
Yeah, man, I love just like your encyclopedic knowledge of the shows you've watched. It's actually really impressive. Like you were so ready to go. It was so cool. Sorry. I actually know I want to talk to you about Broken City a little bit, too, because like I've been a big fan from afar, especially as a bass drummer. Mike Jackson is a bass drummer as well. And he writes some of like the most forward thinking bass book, even
00:45:26
Speaker
as someone that marched RXP and also thinks that's in its own way the most forward. But set that set that aside, the base drumming and all from their whole show perspective, I felt like this year's program was kind of cool in that like it was kind of more grounded in an idea. Like sometimes I think criticism you could levy on Broken City is that it's a little bit tough to understand the show or what's going on. And you need to watch the show multiple times to understand the read.
00:45:54
Speaker
Whereas this year I felt like they actually took a step in a direction that I appreciate that the show still had similar levels of depth to it and like artistic nature, but it was actually to me more grounded and readable on your first watch. What do you think since you're a Broken City fan?
00:46:12
Speaker
I agree with that. Yeah, I agree with that. And even though I am that type of person that will study your show to the ends of me and notice every single moment, I think that the approach that Broken City took, as any artist would take, it was different. It was fresh. And there is a risk in that sometimes that it's outside of your wheelhouse. But I think what they did was, I don't think they over-corrected themselves. I don't know what they set out to do, but it really felt like, OK, I get what they're going for, and I get like, here's what I'm going to say.
00:46:40
Speaker
I understood what they're going for, and they still had the ability to give me nuance and subtlety. And I think that's beautiful to me. That is super beautiful. Yeah, that was that's you articulated well there that like you got that graspable first read level of depth, but they still had that greater multiple reads level of depth. Yes. To the show, which is that's like that's where I that's super mature show design right there. Yes. Agreed. Agreed.
00:47:08
Speaker
Well, Aubrey, you look like you've been chomping at the bit to talk about X, Broken City, or really anyone you want to. So what are some of your favorite shows? And surely let's talk about Rhythm X at this point too. Yeah, for sure. So I am the type of person who doesn't really like to watch band while I'm doing band, especially as a performer, because like from a competitive aspect, like it's just so easy to like get in your own head and like
00:47:38
Speaker
start to doubt the process. Yeah. But also, I just kind of get tired of doing band and I don't really want to watch it while I'm also having to do it and think about it 24 seven. So you can tell the rest of us have done enough band watching for the all of us. Well, you can tell us about the the inside scoop a little on on X or whatever you really want to talk on.
00:48:02
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. So out of the shows that I did see, because I did see a few, I think my favorite was actually Monarch. Monarch show was nice. I'm typically a big Monarch fan. I think in years past, their design has not super been my favorite. And I think like last year and this year, they're kind of starting to move in a direction that like, I think is establishing their identity as an ensemble.
00:48:32
Speaker
which was very tasteful. Like I thought that the way they used lights and the like artistic nature of their show was just super like reserved and tasteful in like a mature way, you know. Yeah, absolutely. And that that front ensemble is always just absolutely wonderful. And they always have one of my favorite books of the whole year because Andy Philippiak is the one who writes the monarch front ensemble book. And he is just a master at like tasteful like
00:49:01
Speaker
It just sounds like percussion ensemble writing in the marching arts and I always really appreciate that. Yeah, Monarchs great. They also tend to have a pretty good baseline too. I appreciate them for that one as well. But what other ones were you a fan of? Let's see. I also quite enjoyed RCC.
00:49:21
Speaker
I think that no one is a bigger fan of RCC in the East Coast than Rhythm X at this point. I think we have found some common ground over the past couple years.
00:49:35
Speaker
I really love their ball feature where they were throwing the whole ensemble on the floor and had those red bouncy balls and were throwing them. And I remember we were watching it. We were about to go down into the tunnel for semis. And as I'm getting ready to go down the ramp, I'm watching on the TV their feature. And I'm just so anxious for them because I was so worried that someone was going to drop something.
00:50:04
Speaker
I definitely I don't know about it finals. I know for sure at semis, I call it a few balls go straight, but they have so many going out there. Like it would actually be a little tough, I think, to even see it all as the judge. Like there's that's kind of like what they were doing a little bit was like a maximalist thing with some of their moments. Like there's just so much going on out there.
00:50:24
Speaker
I thought that RCC show was super cool too. Their show was like trippy in a subtle way where like it seems kind of just like a fun childish maybe show on the surface like surface if you're looking at it but then if you read into it you realize like this whole idea of the carousel and like going around the circle of life and stuff is
00:50:44
Speaker
is actually kind of a bit of a trippy idea. So yeah, I totally agree with you, man. I've loved RCC. I never put the two and two together that it's because we're like trauma bonded in our efforts to get a gold medal.
00:51:00
Speaker
But, uh, and then I, I'm sure you probably also, you know, X's show is great and something that I, if I'll talk on X real quick, before you do appreciate it for right now is like really doing the work to try to compete with pulse at like a quality level where like, I think that X drums better and differently than, you know, everyone that's not pulse pretty much in my opinion now.
00:51:30
Speaker
It's just my opinion, but like I think the people over there know that like the thing that's making it hard to beat pulse is that they're so, so, so clean. So like, I can see that X is putting in the effort to become that clean and like.
00:51:47
Speaker
That's that's my read from watching you guys. I was just so impressed by the quality with which everything was executed. But like, what do you what were your thoughts on the program and everything? Yeah, so I'll admit at first, whenever they told us that we were doing a show about birds, I was admittedly pretty disappointed. That wasn't really the age outrage out that I was kind of anticipating because everyone jokes about how X has a pattern of like
00:52:15
Speaker
There's the artsy-fartsy year, then there's the in-your-face crowd pleaser year. And I was like, well, 22 is in-your-face crowd pleaser, 23 was artsy-fartsy, so 24 has got to be big in-your-face crowd pleaser. And then they said we were doing a show about birds. And so I was super doubtful at first. I didn't really see the vision.
00:52:38
Speaker
But then as the season progressed and we started to really dive deeper into the design process and really make the show our own, I began to really appreciate it for what it was intended to be and the story it portrayed.
00:52:57
Speaker
And also I think that this show is a really good step in the right direction of like trying to beat polls at their own game while also maintaining like rhythm X's sense of identity. Yeah. And that's interesting that you finished first. Go ahead. Okay. Well, that's just something that I, I think rhythm X has struggled with a little bit in like more recent past years of just like
00:53:22
Speaker
like swerving too far in either direction and like trying to find like that center line of like cleanliness, but also rhythm X this Yeah, that's definitely it's I never like thought about it exactly like that But you're so right that like to try to beat that stranglehold that essentially if we call a spade a spade pulse has on the activity due to how good they are at being so clean and high quality like
00:53:48
Speaker
It's hard to go beat that and maintain your own identity because a big thing that makes X X historically has been their willingness to change their stuff constantly to try to get the most exciting show they can by like just never being content with a moment all through the year. Just always being willing to change it to something better if they can.
00:54:10
Speaker
They can't do that if they want to work something for months, thus that it's competitively clean with Pulse. So it's cool to hear that that's something that's so deliberately thought out. And you as the member can tell as the show is being designed that they're trying to do this titration between maintaining their own identity and doing the things that they need to do within the meta of competing at that end of the activity to actually have a chance.
00:54:38
Speaker
That's awesome. As an excellent, I'm super happy to hear that update about like sort of where they're going with things. So I obviously really liked X. I think outside of that, my favorites, I'm going to give it probably to my MCM and
Audience Engagement and Competitive Strategies
00:54:55
Speaker
United. I'll talk on United as my favorite. We've talked about MCM enough throughout this, but the MCM show really just like pushed a risk in a way that I didn't see like
00:55:06
Speaker
I totally don't see MCM take that often and I don't think really anyone else like took either this year in some ways like they definitely did stuff that was not just trying to play the most difficult thing the cleanest like they took other avenues with their show to try to achieve success which like
00:55:26
Speaker
At that end of the activity, you're trying to win. You're trying to compete at the highest level you possibly could like to take a risk like that is actually huge. You know, that might not pay off at all. And from some perspectives, like they came in fifth. That's not really the goal that MCM has, you know.
00:55:45
Speaker
In that regard, it might not have paid off, but in a different regard, you've got most of the folks on the call saying that, yep, that MCM show was an absolute banger and probably my favorite moment of the year. I am in love that MCM was willing to take that risk and do a show that they knew was going to absolutely rock with the fans, but may or may not hit with the judges, and they were content with that.
00:56:12
Speaker
That's cool. And then the United show, man, I don't want to drag on it too long. I'm probably the only person out here that cares that much about United. But it was it was awesome to see it come together. I've been a part of that organization since 2017. I was not there for like a year or two while I was over at X, but I obviously still cared what was going on around there. And like what I see happening at United is the ensemble finally like
00:56:37
Speaker
learning through its 20, I think this is its 20th year of consecutive making finals or something like that. It's like insane. And they finally have hashed through so many of these issues. Like so many of the things we're getting compliments for like our show has been because United got dragged for not fixing that issue in a year past. Like
00:57:00
Speaker
And there's so many things as I watch the design staff put it together where I've seen them put together so many shows. I actually feel like I see how they've matured to the point where they were able to put together.
00:57:13
Speaker
a program that is right there with infinity, you know, like knocking on the door to compete at the highest level, you know, still building. We'd all, all the folks at United would agree, you know, clearly it's not quite, you know, MCM, max pulse RCC or, or those groups, but we're really starting to get there. And to be able to, to be on the other side of that as an instructor for the first time was incredibly rewarding. So it was cool. It was.
00:57:43
Speaker
You guys are all talking about being the performers faces and everything. Like I've never been able to sit in the front row of WGI, like where the staff sits and like watch my students have the experience that I had for so many years. So that was absolutely rewarding. And I look forward to doing that again next year. So for now, I'm going to go get back to the books on figuring out what United show will be next year. But we will be back with you all in just a moment.
00:58:25
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Jeremy, and here are your announcements coming from the box. Don't miss all of our bonus content, including On a Water Break in Rhinestones with your host, Lexi Duda, exploring the world of the Twirlers. Don't miss parades and drum majors at Step Off with your host, Jack Goudreau, and Get Lost in Translation with your host, Cynthia Bernard, exploring all the words that confuse all of us in the marching arts all across the world.
00:58:54
Speaker
and go behind the lens with marching arts photographers all across the country with your host, Chris Marr. Plenty more bonus content from On A Water Break, so listen anywhere you get your podcasts. If you want to be on On A Water Break as a guest, or you know somebody that would make a great guest for On A Water Break, email us at onawaterbreakpodcast at gmail.com, or find us on social media. OK, field staff, take it away. Let's reset.
00:59:36
Speaker
All right. Well, WGI was an amazing time and some incredible things came out of this season. I'm sure many of our listeners know what it's like to go through a whole season and think about everything that happened along the way. And since WGI is most recent on our minds right now, why don't we think about some things that could have been a little bit different in our segment that we call what are we doing?
01:00:07
Speaker
What are we doing? All right, let's get started here. Anybody got some stuff they want to kick us off with here? Anybody got a decent take? Yeah, I'll jump in first. What are we doing not giving our performers ample rest time the week of finals? That's one thing that is at least in the mission of Horizon.
01:00:35
Speaker
When we come up to finals and everything, we're always making sure that we're giving our performers just as much rest time as we are rehearsal time, so that they're as fresh as they can possibly be. It's like I know we're trying to squeeze every
01:00:49
Speaker
every last ounce out of them from a, um, from an educational standpoint, from a performance standpoint. But in my opinion, give the kids some time off. Yeah. I think like the rest is just as important. It's the, it's what, it's what the blue devils do. They give their kids the time off. I'm just saying, I'll put it out there.
01:01:09
Speaker
And they perform the best. That's what they do. I think like you do got to start to look at it at the end of the season and ask like, what's going to accomplish the best wrap down?
01:01:20
Speaker
Like we've had all the time to do the instruction. I think there's a lot of merit to still teaching all the way to the end, but there's also a lot of merit, like as an educator to shifting more towards being like a coach as you get towards the end of the year, where my role becomes less and less to give you new information and more and more to just facilitate the best rep occurring. You know? Oh, absolutely. I mean, we were out, I mean, we were out there and we.
01:01:46
Speaker
I mean, Horizon, we actually gained nine points from the Sunday to the Sunday. And it was a coach. It was coaching to the end. But we made sure that we got every last downs out of them. We sat them down. We said, hey, here's the deal. This is what's going on. You can either just coast the rest of the weekend and be happy with whatever happens.
01:02:09
Speaker
but or you can put your head down and fight for it for the next three days because the top four in independent world wins is a it is an absolute bloodbath and you can make something happen and they all agreed and so they worked their they worked their butts off and they and they absolutely got rewarded for it in the very end but um one thing that we made sure that we did it was give them ample rest time as well and that i think that's kind of what
01:02:34
Speaker
That actually probably had a big factor in their results, in my opinion. Because if we would have beat them, they would have been absolutely dead and God knows how they would have performed.
01:02:46
Speaker
Yeah, you really do got to pay attention to it. I think like, especially in something where you're going to be about performances and like facial expression, communicating to an audience, like if everyone's tired and drained, it might seem a little dead out there. Like you probably, uh, I think everyone's best served by making sure we get some good rest. So while we move on this one, Matt, you were about to jump in, uh, when we just got started there, what's your water we doing?
Logistical Challenges in Performances
01:03:13
Speaker
My water we doing is what are we doing being so reliant on electronics in our shows and you know it always comes down to you live and die by the electronics and it's not even just the sound systems anymore it's the lighting and all the wireless and all this stuff and you know I get it because it's the it's the progression of the pageantry arts right and you know you add more and more things but
01:03:39
Speaker
You know, when, when you have to spend a considerable percentage of your rehearsal time, just making sure you can set everything up in 120 seconds. What are we doing? Well, it's interesting that does become like a big part of the finals week proceedings is like finding your logistics, making sure that everything is nailed out, planned out. Like we were going for a bit of a prop maximalism thing at United this year, which means like.
01:04:07
Speaker
You've got a lot of logistics that you need to know exactly who's doing what, at what time, and getting where. It's funny, I think we were just talking about the success of X and stuff like that. I think prop logistics very well may have been the thing that kept me from having a gold medal in my year. At Prelims, we came in second in subtotal, but third due to a penalty.
01:04:33
Speaker
So then we were always fighting to get like from third to second. We were really competing in the second and third range instead of competing in the first and second range. And that was ultimately due to a prop penalty since we couldn't like really truly know until we got out there just how much space we had. And we weren't able to like, we weren't able to get out there penalty lists on prelims. We needed to make corrections to our routine from prelims to semis.
01:04:59
Speaker
It's exactly like you say that, you know, you want to get your show better and make it more exciting by having all these different elements to it, but each of these elements are a risk. And like, I think we for sure saw that at like many different venues this year, certainly semi-finals for percussion had a good bit of issues with electronics.
01:05:20
Speaker
What would you do? Would you, as a director, would you be trying to design a show that's going to succeed without it? Or are you trying to, you know, take the beast at face value and figure out how to make it all work?
01:05:33
Speaker
I don't think you can design a show without it anymore, just because that's the nature of the activity. But it wouldn't be, it would have to be like a large movement from a lot of people to move away from that. But I just think like, the further we get, the more, the more it's going to be integrated. And, you know, it's, it's not going away, but it's, you know, it's the one thing that is completely out of the kid's control and it can just make or break you.
01:06:04
Speaker
Yeah, it is. And it sucks too. Cause the kids always like feel so bad about it. I know I've seen like electronics kids, like people that are having to deal with that equipment more closely for their own logistics, get like real recs when there's an issue there, especially at finals, you come up and you're like blaming yourself. It's a hard situation. Well,
01:06:26
Speaker
If there's any lesson, it's that you got to do those prop logistics and as much planning as you can finals week, because it's going to throw you all sorts of curve balls when you get out there and you're going to wish you took as much preparation as you could. Joey, what do you have for us? Mine's kind of like a weird, like kind of positive one. I'd say what wins, what are we doing being so supportive of each other and how can we get our drum and guard people to kind of.
01:06:50
Speaker
get on that same boat. It was so cool to see Susie Harloff and Beth Fabrizio walking around the lot on Sunday and giving hugs to people. Eva had a GoFundMe going out for gas and stuff. We just had some logistical things happen and just needed some money for gas. There it shows up. Avon Indoor has donated $25 and it's like
01:07:14
Speaker
You guys have tons of things that you need to pay for and your budgets are minimal as well. Everybody's just scrounging pennies to make this happen. For another organization to donate is pretty incredible. What are we doing and how can we share what we're doing as an idiom to the rest of the activity? Even in the advisory board meetings, it is so much chiller. There's donuts, there's
01:07:41
Speaker
you know, we're having good times. And then you walk into the garden and the and the drum one. And it feels like people are out for blood. Like are we taking artistry out of the concert percussion space? You know, are we going to allow 50 year olds in a class guard? What's going to happen? Like here's another proposal. And then you walk into the wins one again. It's like, I'll have another donut. This is nice. I just like the chill vibes. And I love the chill vibes that that the wins idiom has has continued to grow and thrive in.
01:08:09
Speaker
I really like the like insider perspective that you guys offer on wins versus percussion to us. Cause you're right. Percussion is so like, and just like stressed the whole time. And I never knew cause I didn't know anything else. And by comparison, talking to you guys, it's like all about art or chill or having a good time. Percussion is like, we got beef. We've got like, people are upset with one another.
01:08:36
Speaker
How do I get on the wins advisory board? I kind of want some doughnuts right now. That sounds fun. I think, buddy, you're in it. You can come. Everybody's allowed to come. I need to show up. Now I need to show up. Yeah. Get a doughnut, dude. Yeah. Jamar, you're coming to right. What's the Vegas? Yeah. Yeah. What is it? I totally forget every June, June 7th through the night. Last weekend or last year, we said my significant other of 10 years. We haven't been married yet. We're not going to get to that in the podcast, but
01:09:05
Speaker
And we pretended like it was her bachelorette party and walked around the casino and people were like, do you want our free drink vouchers? Do you want a drink? Do you want to come over here and play the slot machine for us? We have $30 in it. And so like we just walked around pretending like it was her bachelorette party and we were her her, you know, group. And we had a good old time. Come, come here. Come be my bachelorette. Let's let's make it happen, Jamar. We'll make it happen. I got a headband. We're going to make it happen, bro.
01:09:33
Speaker
This is great. So what happens if I crash the WG icon in Vegas and, uh, you stay with me. We're going to have a good time. The more, the merrier is what I say. Word. Yeah. Understood. All right. Cool. Jamar. What do you have for us this week? Aubrey go first. Cause I don't have one yet. I don't have one yet. I'm thinking I'm still sure. Yeah. Do you have one Aubrey? It is hard sometimes to come up with these ones.
01:10:01
Speaker
I do. And this one may lie more in personal preference, but what are we doing with the tent before retreat? There's got to be a better way to assemble 400 people than in that tiny like 50 by 10 foot tent. I'm anti-tent. No tents.
01:10:25
Speaker
A lot of people love it. I think I have been in the tent for probably two out of the three most chaotic years of the tent's existence. One with Motor City Percussion doing their Blue Man Group show and Open Class in 22. Probably the wildest tent experience anyone has ever seen. And then last year with the Air Mattress. Now thankfully Air Mattresses are banned from the tent. Thank you Matrix Indoor.
01:10:53
Speaker
The tent is just very small, very crowded, very loud. I just think we could just be outside. You bring up valid points. I think the tent is a little debaucherous. I think that things have gotten out of hand back there lately. Didn't they, uh, they now you have to have like an adult supervisor now in the tent. Yep. Yeah. Did that change things at all? Like Aubrey, do you think it changed things at all?
01:11:23
Speaker
No, I, I mean, at least for, at least for Rhythm X, like there's 63 of us. And so one staff member is not going to be able to handle 63 people. Who was tasked with being Rhythm X's nanny? It was Zyra, one of our admin staff. It was Zyra. Oh, okay. All right. That makes sense for it to be Zyra, I guess. Okay. Yes. I was curious. You wanted it to be like Josh Brittney.
01:11:52
Speaker
No, I'm sure he was probably in the stands by that point. Yeah, no, I want to know what happens in the tent. I've never experienced the tent from a retreat standpoint. I can only imagine what that looks like, because I've never performed in WJI in my life. The way that I would describe the tent is that there's several hours between when these performers get done their final performance and when they need to convene for the tent.
01:12:20
Speaker
And that's all that you probably need to know about how some of them arrive and their behavior in the tent. And most of them are over the age of 21. That makes sense. Okay.
01:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, at least in P.I.W. finals, you'll have enough true 21 year olds. But, you know, there's certainly some rule breaking and some loose behavior going on back there, I would say. Kind of sounds like the tunnels of drum core finals a little bit. Yes, that's exactly the same. That tells me everything I need to know. We'll see everything you need to know. I'll go ahead and brush Rhythm X's hands clean of any debauchery. We were speed loading the truck.
01:13:01
Speaker
Oh, yeah. No. Rhythm X for sure. Oh, no, we lost you. I think we lost you for a second. Oh, yeah. Rhythm X has no time because they're good. They have no time to be so dangerous. But Jamara, did you do you got an idea? Yes. What are we doing about keeping WJ wins that are dating and what if we bought it to Orlando? Oh.
01:13:29
Speaker
I don't think it'd be very fun. The strike man speaks. Listen, hear me out. Hear me out. You did a whole weekend. We could end on a Saturday and on Sunday you go to Disney. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. Think about it. Think about it. I love all of you. Yeah, fun fact. WGI was this close to moving to Orlando permanently pre-COVID and
01:13:53
Speaker
There was, without revealing information that I know from being on the board, it was one small, small, tiny detail from Disney that stopped it from Disney's end.
WGI's Future and Impact
01:14:06
Speaker
And they also just signed an extension with the city of Dayton through 2037, so it's gonna be there for a long time. All right, someone needs to unfreeze long and we need to figure this out like right now.
01:14:20
Speaker
You know, I do love going to Ohio like the trip like the trek of like driving up there I do I just wonder like where like what would it like? What fun would it be to see if we change the venues? But I get it now we're gonna be there until 2037 2037 37 get on that advisory board and start getting some some ideas out we got we change venues from last year to this year Right because by the time 2037 comes is coming I think that's in the figures 22 is out like oh my gosh
01:14:48
Speaker
That's crazy. In 2037, I'd be almost 40. I just aged out. All right. Okay. Let's start with the gushing goes here. Austin, what do you got for us? Oh, goodness. Oh, I didn't even think about this. Joey, you want to go first?
01:15:10
Speaker
I forget what gushing goes are, but I feel like it's just complaining. Anything you want to talk about. No, actually, this is your chance to gush and go on about whatever you want for about a minute of pertaining to you or the marching arts. Okay. Okay. Pertaining to me in the marching arts. That gives me some boundaries. You can't just let me go off. You or the marching arts was what was said. Oh my goodness. Okay. Well.
01:15:31
Speaker
I don't know, I'm having a good time. I'm super excited. It sounds weird. I'm excited that the season's done. There's planning going into next season. What Eva's got planned for our 2025 production is absolutely insane to the point where we need physical trainers and we're going to have jazz specialists come out and explain how this type of music that we want to play is happening. We've got tons of drum corps people lined up to come in and consult.
01:16:00
Speaker
Eva's Eva's about to grow. We're about to start a winds group. Sorry, we started a winds group. We're about to set a guard in a percussion group and and watch that kind of expand. And summer and fall is happening. So like this this microphone and this camera has been used a lot to talk about what trees should look like on on a fake field. And yeah, I'm just just vibing out.
01:16:27
Speaker
And the churn continues, more shows, more ensembles. It's never stopping over there. You keep yourself busy, man. I got to, or I'm going to, I'm going to get in trouble. It's awesome though. We love hearing about all the things that you stay up to. Let's see, Matt, what do you have for us?
01:16:46
Speaker
I'll just say now that we're post WGI looking forward to 2025 for anybody that's listening, if you've never been to Dayton with either just yourself or your kids, or if you're like on the cusp and you're thinking about like, well, maybe we want to go, but I don't think we're going to do well or whatever. The answer is just go. Just go.
01:17:10
Speaker
and get that experience, get your kids seeing what the top of the activity actually is because it will just blow their perspective up and they'll understand so much more about what this absolutely ridiculous thing that we do when we dress in silly costumes and dance around and play drums and horns and all that stuff, they'll understand what it is just from seeing it live because there's
01:17:39
Speaker
there's nothing that replaces getting to see it in person. So if anybody ever gets the chance, and you haven't gone, just do it. It's an amazing experience. It will change your life, it will change your kids' lives, and it will change your program.
01:17:55
Speaker
Yeah, no, literally I'll stamp that one. It'll change your kids lives. I went to a high school that took me all four years of my high school and that sent me down an absolute path that made me who I am. So WGI is truly life changing. I agree. Jamar, what do you got?
Looking Forward to 2025 and Personal Growth
01:18:12
Speaker
Uh, gush and go. So basically it's like, um, what's going on with me. Um, I'll just be super honest. I'm super excited for the 2025 season, but I'm going to take my time because I think, um, I'm more excited to see how I can grow in the fall. I've been doing a lot of, um, a lot of work and a lot of reading and figuring out different ways to kind of not just teach, but like think about how I, not even think about design. I think how I approach design and how I approach ideas and things. And I'm finding it really fun to like,
01:18:40
Speaker
like to use my mind as like a visual playground when I'm creating ideas and it's becoming more and more fun. And I think one thing that's really important to me right now is the mindfulness of members. And I guess I want to share this. There was a moment that we had one of our saxophone soloists at strike wins.
01:18:59
Speaker
he he was really really really scared about uh playing his solos at finals and he was getting in his head and i could tell when he was getting his head in the morning of finals and um i was talking to him the whole season about it i'm like regardless of what happens it's gonna happen so you're gonna have to do whatever you need to do and then it it got to a moment where i told him and on that last run that morning where i was just like you need to look at me as you perform and just look and just look and imagine i'm a judge and then what would you want to communicate to that judge as you're playing and um
01:19:27
Speaker
I don't know what it was. And it worked for him in that run. And then when he got in there, I told him again, he looked at me, he said, I got it. And then once we went into that run, that was the most he's hit that solo or solos in all his years. And I think that for me was my biggest gush and go. I love that moment. That was my favorite moment for him. And yeah, that's where I'm at. Helping members not just be better performers, but to have confidence in themselves. Yeah.
01:19:57
Speaker
No, that's such that's like the most rewarding moment as a instructor. That's kind of what I was feeling as I was going through the moments with my baseline there. It's like a lot of my kids would look towards like me as a role model for having been in baselines that they like and for having done it in a place, look at it and they're like, wow, we want to do it like he did it. And then as I was watching them, I'm like, wow, they did it better than I did it. Like, especially in terms of like
01:20:25
Speaker
Like for sure they were a way better UP base than like I was. So like it's, it's, that's what is truly the best achievement I think. And the most rewarding thing is an instructor to see. Absolutely. Let's see. Aubrey, do you got a gush and go for us? Yeah, sure. So I, let's see. So I just aged out and I, everyone told me like what all of my feelings were, I think supposed to be whenever I was aging out.
01:20:55
Speaker
But the main thing that I feel is just super content and happy to be on the other side of it. Happy to get into the teaching side of independent and actually get to like pass the torch and do all of the things I've been training to do. And I just really love the direction that WGI is taking and like making these more meaningful and impactful shows and
01:21:22
Speaker
While groups are still, you know, focusing on the cleanliness, I think a lot of groups are focusing more on the emotional quality than they've been focusing on them in the past. And that's something that I always appreciate because, I mean, I could watch, you know, lots all day of stair lines being clean, of marimba lines, you know, hitting their, hitting their licks and all that, all that jazz. But what makes a show is the performers and like you guys were saying, like seeing the looks on students' faces and performers' faces as they're
01:21:53
Speaker
actually putting themselves into the program is just, that's what it's all about. And I think a lot of times we get super caught up and like, it has to be clean. It has to have this like XYZ level of excellence when, you know, that's not what all the people who don't know anything about bands who are probably at least 35% of our audience are coming to see. So I like that our activities have been there.
01:22:21
Speaker
I think that it is like the shows are getting a lot better. It's cool. Like, um, I do think that when you watch nowadays, like.
01:22:28
Speaker
There's more depth to the programs. If you really think about the groups right outside of the top five too, they're astoundingly better than they used to be. So much closer to competing at that high level. I think that United show that we put out this year would have been extremely competitive a few years ago. Not to knock it, not to say it's dated, it's just to say that we're keeping up.
01:22:58
Speaker
It's like really cool to see the growth of the activity all come together. Gets me excited for 2025. Austin, do you got one now? We'll come back to you before we wrap. I do. You kind of beat me to it a little bit there, Steven.
The Future of Pageantry Arts and Podcast Engagement
01:23:11
Speaker
The quality of production from top to bottom across all circuits of WGI has just been incredible. Like if you're like, like special shout out to guard, go watch some of those scholastic world groups. Oh my God. Like Avon.
01:23:25
Speaker
Ridiculous. Even the Scholastic A groups in the guard world, ridiculous. I'm like, how are you teaching 16 year olds to do that? And then like even in percussion, top to bottom, it's just getting better and better and better and better. And it's getting more competitive each year, which is fantastic. And then this year in wins, from top to bottom, there was quality in every single class.
01:23:52
Speaker
from Scholastic A all the way to Independent World. There was quality across all the classes and it was just so fun to, it was just so fun. It's so fun to be able to watch this activity grow. I mean, I've only been involved in, this is, this was my fifth year involved in WGI as a whole. Like I never did, I never participated, did anything or even honestly cared about WGI. I was a drum corps guy through and through, coming up through high school and then through like my early twenties.
01:24:20
Speaker
But being able to like, kind of go back and then look at the quality of everything that's going on within WGI from top to bottom across all the circuits. It's just, it's really cool. And my hot take is that this, I mean, WGI is the future of the passenger yards, like as they pull straight up. I agree. I was about to use that absolutely the future. I mean.
01:24:47
Speaker
The model is there. It's just the way it's going to go. It's a more intimate performing environment. And I think people enjoy, or people are starting to enjoy WGI, like more people are starting to enjoy WGI more and more.
01:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I was going to say the same thing. Like we're getting into drum core season. We obviously love drum core. I don't mean this as a detriment to it, but a lot of our conversations on, on a water break in the last year have been about the sustainability of drum core and whether or not it's something that's even possible for a longer timeframe. And it's like.
01:25:19
Speaker
WGI works, it's growing, it's possible, it's practical, it's like regional until you get to the national performance at the end. WGI doesn't deal with the same weather issues related to warming. I think that WGI really is probably the future of the activity.
01:25:42
Speaker
That's that's really what I would want to gush and go on about man I just get excited about not just 2025 but like I intend to teach for a while I intend to see you know what we're what we all can do not just myself over a couple years with my baseline but what the whole activity can push itself to be so thank you all for it's called gush and go not gush and stay let's go clearly Jeremy was on the exact same page as me there
01:26:08
Speaker
Thank you all for a great rehearsal this week. Thank you to our hosts, Austin, Joey, Matt, Matt, where could people find you? Um, they can find me either my groups socials. It's a hype H I P E. That dot indoor or, um, rep my home circuit to, um, K I D A dot indoor. Either one find me there. Very nice. Uh, go check them out. Uh, Jamar, where could, uh, we find you or strike.
01:26:35
Speaker
We can find strike at pretty much on Instagram for strike wins or strike BAC or you can find me on Facebook my name Jamar Kareem Morrison or That's Jamar. No, no one say Jamal. Sorry. It's my life story. I don't know how I say Jamar and somehow it's well Jamal so it's insane to me anyway, but But you can find me there and then on my Instagram. It's my name backwards. So romage.jkm because of my business JKM
01:27:00
Speaker
All right. Go check him out. Give him a follow. And, you know, we'd also love to have you on on the pod more often. Thank you for coming on today. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. And then, Aubrey, where should people go follow you? Yeah. So I have Instagram and it's just Aubrey dot music. Oh, we got you. Oh, OK. Oh, yeah. My Instagram is just Aubrey. We got we did get your plug. OK, good.
01:27:30
Speaker
Awesome. Yeah, I think we had a little bit of lag there, but go check Aubrey out. Go give her a follow and also go check out Rhythm X at Rhythm X as well as any other of their subsection accounts on Instagram. One more thing. Don't forget that we have our YouTube channel now. It's got many of our interviews coming out as well in a full video editions for those interviews. So go subscribe. You do not want to miss those.
01:27:53
Speaker
Before you close out of your podcast listening at please subscribe and write a review, share with a friend. Uh, we read every single review. There are not enough of them. We need more. So go leave some follow us on social media at on a water break. And we will see you at the next rehearsal on a water break.