In the beginning, the band Genesis created progressive rock music. Forty-some years later, those tunes from the 1970s are coming from the instruments of the Warsaw Community High School Percussion Ensemble. “Dance on a Volcano” is the ensemble’s show this year, based on the music of Genesis. The songs for the show come from the early to mid-’70s, the progressive rock period of the band, Director Mickey Ratliff explained. “So it’s probably not going to be music anyone is familiar with unless they’re a big fan of Genesis. If they just know the band’s songs from the 1980s, they’re probably not going to know these. But it’s what I grew up listening to. A few years ago we did Rush, and that’s music I listened to. ‘Dance on a Volcano’ is the title of one of the songs we’re playing,” he said. Ratliff said he used to think the phrase “dance on a volcano” was about being intense to get something done. Once he decided to use and arrange the music, he did some research and discovered that the phrase “dance on a volcano” is the French version of “skating on thin ice.” “I never realized that. The lyrics to the song, I always interpreted as a poetic way of saying to be successful, you have to put yourself out there,” Ratliff recalled. Along with “Dance on a Volcano,” the opening piece of the Percussion Ensemble’s show includes the song “Firth of Fifth.” That title is a pun on the Firth of Forth, an estuary in Scotland. “They were all private school kids when they formed the band (Genesis), so they were well educated. They had that dry sense of humor,” Ratliff said. Another song in the ensemble’s show is “Entangled,” with the closer being “Los Endos.” “Within those songs, I’m trying to sprinkle in little bits and pieces of other songs,” Ratliff said. The show begins with a quote from “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway,” which was a song and title of a double concept album from Genesis that has a storyline through it, he said. “It was the last album Peter Gabriel recorded with the band before he went solo.” Seniors Eric Coppes and Ben Meulink are learning about Genesis through performing the music. Coppes, who plays the vibraphone, said, “I’m enjoying it a lot. I’ve never been super knowledgeable about Genesis, but these shows are fun to do. ... I can’t say I’ve known any of their songs before.” “I think it’s some really catchy music,” Meulink said. He plays the marimba. “The music has interesting time signatures and the melodies are catchy as well.” Coppes said the music Ratliff has presented to the ensemble to perform over the last four years has always been challenging. He said it has gotten easier for him to play them, but the music is still demanding. “It’s usually a challenge,” Meulink said. “More so this year because of the time signatures and the progression.” The Percussion Ensemble will start playing the music of Genesis in public Feb. 14 at Owen Valley High School, Spencer. It then performs Feb. 21 at Carroll High School, Fort Wayne, before hosting its own invitational March 7 in the WCHS Tiger Den. At least 24 groups will compete in the Warsaw gym. “Everyone come to the March 7 show and support us on our home court,” he said. State prelims are March 14 at Decatur Central, Indianapolis, with state finals scheduled for March 21 at Ben Davis High School, Indianapolis. “Our goal is the same as it is with all of our groups and that is to make every performance the best they can be and then the next one even better,” Ratliff said. As a teacher and band director, he said his goal is to get kids to perform at the best concert level they can, and strive for that in every rehearsal, performance and competition. The Warsaw Percussion Ensemble has a long history of success, he said, winning state in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2012 and 2013. It also has placed second and third many times. While those accomplishments are nice, he said the first priority is the music and students performing at their best. Accolades are “not the end goal,” he said. Having won state their freshman and sophomore years, Coppes and Meulink want to win it all again this year. “I know there’s a lot of competition this year. Lots of bands are now performing in the class we perform in. It would be good to get in the top four this year,” Meulink said. Coppes said they created high standards for themselves when they won in 2012 and 2013. At the start of this year, he said he thought about how great it would be to win state again and in his senior year.
