Indiana Percussion Association State Finals!

Saturday morning, March 19th, the students arrived bright and early at 7:30am for rehearsal. They practiced the show and worked out areas that needed improvement until a little after noon. They enjoyed some traditional “last rehearsal of the season” shenanigans before packing up their instruments and getting the equipment ready to be loaded onto the trailers. They were served a lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, protein bars, chips, drinks, and birthday cake for Cody and Derick. The parents had a confetti surprise for both Derick and Cody and had music (“Light ‘Em Up”) and even a disco ball going!

Lunch provided by parents

Happy Birthday to Cody and Derick!

The students were all given Good Luck goody bags to enjoy on their 2.5 hour bus ride to Greenwood. Inside, they found candy, Cheez-Its, mini flashlights, and glow balls. Their bus was escorted from the school to 469 by the fire department, EMS, and a parade of parents. Many of the students tried to sleep on the drive to Greenwood.

The bus was escorted to 469 by the Fire Department, EMS, and a parent parade.

Apryl Hoot gets the pleasure of being the bus chaperone every week :)

We arrived at Center Grove High School and began to unload the trailers. The weather was quite windy, cold and was sprinkling on and off. The path for unloading led us down a large hill and a long walk to the entrance, which was about the length of 1.5 football fields. That also meant a long walk back up hill to get the next round of equipment. The students changed into their uniforms and got ready for warm-up. There were some nerves about being a state performance, as well as some sadness about this being the last performance for the seniors.

Warm ups

Cody imparting some last minute words of wisdom.

This was the only competition this season that featured a vertical timeline for entrance onto the floor. For all other competitions, the sets and instruments could be loaded across the back half of the gym floor, but could not cross the horizontal half-way timeline until told by the competition staff. At this competition, the sets and equipment could be loaded in front to back on the closest side of the gym floor, but could not cross the vertical timeline until directed by staff. It was a different way of setting everything up, and plans were made to make adjustments. Some mistakes happened along the way, and some equipment was not set up quite right.

The students did a wonderful job during their performance and gave it their all. It was an exciting show, and the audience cheered in support. Getting back across the vertical timeline and getting off the floor proved to be quite chaotic once again. The directors were told that we could expect an approximate 10-minute walk with equipment back to the trailers (and have you seen all of our equipment and sets?). It was very cold and windy in the drizzling rain when we came out of the school to load the trailers. We again had a long walk in the cold out to where our trailers were parked, which this time, was about the length of 3 football fields. The logistics here were certainly not the best!!

The students grabbed dinner out of coolers that included Uncrustables, string cheese, Sunny D, Capri Suns, beef jerky, packaged desserts, Gogurts, and chips. They hurried back into the building to eat dinner in the hallway. They had to quickly head out to the gym to get ready for the awards show.

Because this was State Finals, all students remained in their uniforms and joined the other performers on the floor for the awards. This season, there were 11 groups that performed in the Percussion Scholastic B Class. Students, parents, and staff alike were all quite disappointed to hear Woodlan announced as 10th place. It was a disappointing placement after all the hard work they put into their show, especially as they had scored higher than several of the other groups in previous weeks. Here are the final results:

1. Northeastern Indoor Percussion

2. Star System Percussion

3. Whiteland Indoor Percussion Ensemble

4. Washington Indoor Percussion

5. New Prairie High School

6. Hamilton Heights Indoor Percussion

7. Fairfield Indoor Percussion

8. East Noble Winter Knights

9. Scottsburg High School Winter Percussion

10. Woodlan Indoor Percussion

11. Norwell Winter Percussion

After the awards ceremony, the students changed out of their uniforms and rounded up their belongings. Cody talked with the students afterwards and congratulated them on a successful season. He pointed out that, though they did not finish where they wanted to, they gained very valuable experiences and friendships and family this season. He reminded them that this was only the second year of having an indoor percussion group at Woodlan, and to make it to State Finals both years was impressive. He also reminded them that they did important things like the March for Mental Health and raised money for suicide prevention. It’s hard sometimes not to focus on the number or the placement, but there were so many wins for these students this season. It was a great reminder for the students that they have come so far, worked so hard, and have made their community very proud!

It was a very sleepy, very long, late-night drive home back to Woodlan, and the students were beat when they finally got back well after midnight. After an exciting and successful indoor percussion season, these students plan to rest, relax, and recharge… well, that is, for 10 days until marching band practice starts! A new season is upon us, and we begin again!

As a reminder, the first marching band practice will be held on Tuesday, March 29 from 6-8pm. At 7pm, there will be an informational meeting for parents as well as voting for the new band booster positions. See you all there!