Warsaw Community High School marching band is ready to set their production ablaze with this year’s theme, “Catch Fire.” This year’s production features three composers. Composer Robert W. Smith wrote the first and last pieces for a suite he wrote called “The Diving Comedy,” according to Mickey Ratliff, band director. The first movement is called “Inferno,” that is the opener, and the closer is “Purgatorio,” based on Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” The two other pieces the band is performing are “Embers” by Michael Markowski and “Night On Fire” by John Markowski. There are 99 musicians this year and three drum majors, Morgan Kohler, Kyle Harter and Jannalynn Niebbia, all seniors, in the band. Kohler said this is her second year as a drum major. “This show is very dark and centered around fire and what fire can do,” Kohler said. The band’s first performance will be during half time at the first home football game against East Noble High School Aug. 26. Last year the band made it to state finals for the third year, and placed third, which is the highest they have ever placed, Ratliff said. This year the band will compete in six competitions. On Sept. 10 they will compete in Goshen; Sept. 17 at Concord High School; Sept. 24 at Penn High School; Oct. 1 at Homestead High School; Oct. 8 is the preliminary competition at Homestead where they qualify for state; and Oct. 22 is state finals. Ratliff said the concept of “Catch Fire” came from an idea he got from a saying he came across that said, “The most powerful weapon on Earth is the human soul on fire.” “I wanted to develop the show around the idea of artistically creating the concept of people becoming motivated or driven to perform at their highest level, and that is represented by the fire,” Ratliff said. Throughout the show, guard members and marching band members represent the fire. Ratliff said the music is really exciting and the visuals and the theme also will be entertaining and exciting to watch. The band and color guard started rehearsing at the beginning of June at the high school, learning the basics of marching. Last week, the band and color guard started going half days, developing the marching technique and playing the music. This week they have been learning the show. Tyler Claycomb, assistant band director, is new this year. He earned his degree in music education, vocal, instrumental and general music this past spring at Anderson University. “This show speaks to who we are as people and what we can accomplish. It’s about catching fire and how the human soul is a powerful weapon and asset,” Claycomb said. Marching band members said they are looking forward to this year’s production. Riley Bloemendaal, senior alto saxophonist, said she enjoys the performance. “You get a lot more musical experience in marching band, and along with marching it pushes you to a limit as your musician,” Bloemendaal said. Sam Schmidt, senior, is the section leader for the front line percussion and plays the synthesizer. Kylee Schooley, senior, plays the clarinet. “I love performing and it is great to be around everyone and work together to do the best we can do with this show,” Schooley said. Jaime Rice is the color guard director, and Amanda Reec is the assistant color guard director. There are 13 color guard members this year, Rice said. “In our opener we will use a black, yellow, orange and red flag and as it progresses we will go into a lighter color flag for the ballad and a red and yellow flag representing fire,” Rice said. The color guard has been learning flag extensions, drop spins and tosses.
