The Warsaw Community High School Winter Percussion Ensemble is going full "circle" with its music choice this year.
Band Director Mickey Ratliffe can't make up his mind what to call this year's show, but it incorporates two songs by Pat Metheny. The first is "Have You Heard?" and the second is "The First Circle". The back of the ensemble's sweatshirts say "First Circle," but the school announcements call the show "Have You Heard?"
Last year, Ratliffe used music by Metheny, but wasn't able to use all the songs he enjoyed.
"Pat Metheny has just been a favorite artist of mine for a long time," Ratliffe said.
Until last year, Ratliffe didn't make use of Metheny's music. Having used it last year and found he liked it, Ratliffe decided to go back full circle to Metheny and use his music again.
"'First Circle' has always been one of my favorites since high school. It's always something I wanted to do. This was the year to do it," Ratliffe said.
Both of the songs are uptempo songs, he said. "Have You Heard?" is kind of a Latin tune with odd time signatures, most of it in seven beats per measure. "First Circle" is almost "New Agey," Ratliffe said, incorporating a variety of music such as rock and Latin. It has 22 beats per measure. Both go well together, he said.
Students in the ensemble this year love the music.
"It's my favorite show I've ever done," said senior Mike Howie. "It's actually been done by a lot of bands. It's been a definite championship winner and I think Mr. Ratliffe's done a great arrangement of it."
Junior Nathan Sheetz said it's a fairly difficult show, but people can still get their groove on with the music.
The WCHS Percussion Ensemble is in Open Class competition this year, which is the intermediate class. That means the musical is a bit more technically challenging, but the ensemble is still a fairly young group, he said. Most of the students are sophomores or juniors, with some freshmen or seniors.
As of Tuesday, the WCHS ensemble has competed in one contest, placing second. Ratliffe said the group scored an 80, which is "pretty decent" for the first time out.
This Saturday, Warsaw hosts its own invitational with 25 ensembles performing. The first group starts at 4:30 p.m., with Warsaw starting at 7:54 p.m. in the Tiger Den. Awards are at 9:15 p.m. Cost is $5 per person, but free for children under 5 years old.
Among the competitors at Warsaw's invitational will be two groups from Plymouth, Lake Central, Northridge, Norwell, Ben Davis, Carroll and Bishop Dwenger.
"The nature of our competition and our contests is that we're usually performing some distance away," said Ratliffe.
The Warsaw contest is an opportunity for the students to perform in front of a hometown crowd in its home gym, and an opportunity for the community to see a performance they might not otherwise have a chance to see, Ratliffe said.
The WCHS Winter Guard also will perform at 8:49 p.m. Saturday in exhibition in the Tiger Den.
"It's a great opportunity for the guard to perform at home in front of the hometown crowd," Ratliffe said.
Whether members of the community have a child in the percussion ensemble or not, it would be great to have their support at Saturday's contest, he said.
"I am kind of nervous because it is a home crowd. You want to get first place ... It's a motivation to have the home crowd," said Howie.
"With the Warsaw show, there is a bit of nervousness, but it makes you want to do better," said Sheetz.After Saturday's competition, the Warsaw ensemble heads to state preliminary competition March 13 in Avon. State finals are march 20 at Ben Davis in Indianapolis.
"We've been state finalists for 13 years, so that's the expectation - that we're going to make it to state finals and hopefully we'll do well," said Ratliffe.
"This is definitely my biggest year of winter percussion because I love the music," said Howie. "So far, all the music we've gotten we've been able to play it so well."
"We definitely want to improve on last year," said Sheetz. "The goal, as with anything like sports, is to improve on the year before."
Howie and Sheetz both praised Ratliffe as the director.
"Mr. Ratliffe is beyond brilliant with what he does with percussion," said Sheetz.
"I feel very fortunate to have Ratliffe, who can arrange music," said Howie.
"All the time he puts into it is far greater than what we can imagine," said Sheetz.
"He works on it constantly," said Howie. "We end up with some great shows and plaques on the wall, so I'm happy."
