Warsaw Percussion Ensemble Wins State Honors
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
The WCHS Percussion Ensemble placed first in Concert Open Class Saturday at the Indiana Percussion Association State Finals at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.
The theme for this year’s percussion ensemble performance was “Roman Holiday,” with music by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi.
Senior Jordan Friddle said winning was “awesome. It’s my senior year and a great way to go out. We’ve been kind of building toward that the last four years.”
He said the ensemble’s performance at state finals was a really good performance.
“I felt it was the best of the season,” he said.
Of winning, Zoe Marshall, senior, said, “It was great. It was pretty amazing.”
During the performance, Marshall said the ensemble was confident in its performance. The whole season was great this year, she said.
Marshall said the ensemble was not nervous during the state finals performance, and the whole season was strong.
“A solid rehearsal beforehand helped,” said Friddle.
Ratliff said, “Our score was 91.05 (out of 100), which is really an excellent score. The high score of the day was 91.6 in another class. Another group from another class had a 91. So getting in the 90s at all was really a great achievement whether you win or not. It’s hard to do. It’s something to be proud of.”
The most important thing, Ratliff said, was that the students played amazingly well. He said he preaches all the time to the students about getting better with each performance, and the students really bought into that this year.
The morning rehearsal Saturday, the day of the competition, went really great, Ratliff said. He would have been happy with the ensemble’s performance at state finals if they played as well as they did at rehearsal. However, for the state contest, the students stepped it up even more, he said.
Teams that come in first through third place get medals and plaques, Ratliff said, but those are just icing on the cake. The music, the performance and the students bettering themselves is what it’s all about. Winning is just a reflection of that, he said.[[In-content Ad]]
The WCHS Percussion Ensemble placed first in Concert Open Class Saturday at the Indiana Percussion Association State Finals at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.
The theme for this year’s percussion ensemble performance was “Roman Holiday,” with music by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi.
Senior Jordan Friddle said winning was “awesome. It’s my senior year and a great way to go out. We’ve been kind of building toward that the last four years.”
He said the ensemble’s performance at state finals was a really good performance.
“I felt it was the best of the season,” he said.
Of winning, Zoe Marshall, senior, said, “It was great. It was pretty amazing.”
During the performance, Marshall said the ensemble was confident in its performance. The whole season was great this year, she said.
Marshall said the ensemble was not nervous during the state finals performance, and the whole season was strong.
“A solid rehearsal beforehand helped,” said Friddle.
Ratliff said, “Our score was 91.05 (out of 100), which is really an excellent score. The high score of the day was 91.6 in another class. Another group from another class had a 91. So getting in the 90s at all was really a great achievement whether you win or not. It’s hard to do. It’s something to be proud of.”
The most important thing, Ratliff said, was that the students played amazingly well. He said he preaches all the time to the students about getting better with each performance, and the students really bought into that this year.
The morning rehearsal Saturday, the day of the competition, went really great, Ratliff said. He would have been happy with the ensemble’s performance at state finals if they played as well as they did at rehearsal. However, for the state contest, the students stepped it up even more, he said.
Teams that come in first through third place get medals and plaques, Ratliff said, but those are just icing on the cake. The music, the performance and the students bettering themselves is what it’s all about. Winning is just a reflection of that, he said.[[In-content Ad]]
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