WCHS Percussion Ensemble Plays 'Molecular Dance City'
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
After winning the Indiana Percussion Association State Championship in 2012 and 2013 in the Open Class division, members of the Warsaw Community High School Percussion Ensemble aren’t feeling any pressure to take the state title again this year. But if they do, they’re OK with that. “There’s no pressure because I have a lot of fun doing it. I don’t get worried at all because I have fun playing. If we do win, it’s just icing on the cake. It’s not a goal. It’s something to shoot for. We play to get better. We know we have a good season if we get better,” senior Patrick Sullivan stated. “There’s a little bit of pressure,” senior Olivia Fisher admitted, emphasizing the word “little.” Director Mickey Ratliff said he doesn’t feel any more pressure this year than usual. “There’s pressure to be your best and do good, but I feel it’s an internal pressure I put on myself as a teacher and students put on themselves to be the best they can be. But that’s the way it’s always been,” Ratliff said. “If anything, (winning state two years in a row) relieves pressure because I feel we don’t have to prove anything. I know a lot of good programs are in our class and more are joining our class that I expect to be good. Knowing we can be competitive is a really strong achievement. We’ve already proven we can be at the top of our class so I don’t think it’s a goal, that if we don’t achieve it again we will fall short.” For their 2014 season, the Percussion Ensemble is playing three pieces by the same composer who wrote the marching band’s music, Michael Markowski. “When we were looking to use his music for the marching band show, I liked a lot of his music but I couldn’t use it all for the marching band show. When I began looking for music for the Percussion Ensemble, I revisited his pieces from the fall,” Ratliff explained. The three Markowski pieces the Percussion Ensemble is using for its season are more rhythmically complex, so they are good for the ensemble but would have been difficult on the marching band field, Ratliff stated. The title for the group’s show this year is “Molecular Dance City,” a pun on “molecular density.” “I started out calling it ‘Molecular Density.’ Then when I started writing (the arrangement), I was playing with the arrangements and finding ways for it to groove more,” Ratliff said. He played with the music, twisting it so the arrangement became more jazzy and rock oriented than the original pieces were. “So that’s how I stumbled upon the pieces. One of the pieces is ‘Remember the Molecules,’ so that’s where I got ‘Molecule’ from,” Ratliff stated. The second piece is “City Trees,” as in New York City, he said, and the third is “Instinctive Travels.” Ratliff said the first and third pieces are fast moving, while “City Trees” is the soft and pretty section of the performance. “Even that is more rhythmic and intricate than a ballad may be. It still contrasts with the loud and fast pieces,” he said. In ways, Ratliff said the music this year is more challenging for students. “I expect it to be another strong group. We won the state championship the last two years and there’s a lot of returning students so my expectations, regardless of how things line up competitively, is I think it will be a really strong group. I know if I make it different or challenging, they will be ready to handle it. It’s different than when you’re writing for a group at a certain level or below that because you know they’re not ready for it yet,” Ratliff said. The Percussion Ensemble’s first competition is Feb. 15 at Mt. Vernon High School. They then compete Feb. 22 at Pendleton Heights before hosting their own invitational March 8. State preliminary competition is March 15 at Decatur Central, with state finals March 22 at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. As for Warsaw’s own invitational, Ratliff said they had 37 to 38 schools compete in it last year, and that was the most they ever hosted so he hopes they have something close to that this year. It will be in the WCHS Tiger Den, and Ratliff said he thought it was the eighth year for the competition. More information on the Warsaw invitational will be announced at a later date. “Right now I know of 23 coming, but there’s always more coming. They sometimes wait until the last minute,” he said. Sullivan said the performance of the year that will be the most fun for him will be at Ben Davis because it’s a really big school. It gives him an idea of how many percussionists are out there, he said. For Fisher, it will be the Warsaw Invitational because they get the home team advantage. Everyone in the audience will be cheering Warsaw on, she said. The last performance should be your best, Sullivan said, but the Warsaw Invite is when the home team is at its highest energy. Fisher said they get their best scores at their own invitational because they do their best. As a senior, Fisher said this season will be her last opportunity to make it the best possible. She wants to set an example for the younger students. “For me, being a senior, it’s kind of sad because I really love this program and am going to have a hard time moving away from it,” Sullivan stated. “I am going to try to set the best example for other people.” No matter what the outcome this year, on Jan. 16 Ratliff was looking forward to the season. “I’m looking forward to another great season, another year of great performances,” he concluded.
