A Memoir from the Band Room

Indoor Percussion

As mentioned before, the Indoor Percussion starts their season a week or so after marching band ends with auditions. There are two forms of an indoor groups one that has a drum line and marches around to drill on a tarp and a concert style like the one in the video above, they don't move around much. From there groups decide to compete in a level that suits them. Where as in Marching Band schools compete in a class based on how big their schools are, Indoor Percussion competes in classes based on skill level.   

Class systems really aren't that complicated but people tend to like to try to make them complicated. The director chooses what class you compete in typically and things are decided from there. If a group was put into A class and they went out the first week of contests and slaughtered everyone else in the class score-wise, they would be bumped up to Open class. This was put into effect to try and stop one group from dominating a class every year because they are competing in a class that is below their skill level. It keeps everyone challenged. In the different classes there are also some requirements such as how long your show has to be. each show is judged against the other shows in their specified class. They are judged on music, visuals and as an ensemble. If a group tanks in one section they may be able to redeem themselves in another but that is pretty rare.

Our Indoor Percussion went out first year as a concert group and received a 94.4 at state finals, they were put into open class pretty quick after that. When I first joined my band program the Indoor Percussion had a movement line and were doing pretty bad all the time but my sophomore year they switched to a concert line and have done an amazing job ever since even if they don't agree with the last season they had. Part of why they went to a concert line was because they couldn't get and gym space.

In most ensemble groups the percussion is the backbone of everything and are often overlooked by everyone except the directors (please reference the sections: Marching Band from a Drum Line Member's Point of View and It's Just Eight Minuets if you haven't already). Indoor Percussion gives them a chance to show everyone at least a little bit of what they can really do. Most people who aren't in band and even some people who are only see the percussionist guys who hit things with sticks (because in their minds girls can't do percussion?). If these people were to take two minuets out of their life to talk to ant percussionist they would realize they don't just hit things with sticks. It takes so much more skill than that, trust me being a non band kid it's definitely a great deal harder than it looks. A percussionist can play a scale on a marimba and it would sound beautiful, I would attempt to play the same thing and it would sound like a train wreck and a half. It takes oodles of skill, practice and determination to be a decent percussionist.

Percussionists take pride in the show that they put onto the floor and how they present themselves, as do most performers. When i pinned down a percussionist for a statement on Indoor he began by telling me he loved doing it because it gave him something to challenge him and make him a better musician. It was his chance to tell the world that he could do something amazing and not just him but his friends too. That is was his chance to make everyone see its more than just hitting things with sticks, they make beautiful music too. I asked him how he felt about performing and what it made him feel, this was his response:

"The feeling of performing for Indoor is something that I can not compare to anything else on this Earth. It is like I am on top of the world because I know everyone is there to watch just us, not anything else."

That really does make a difference. I know in marching band we perform better and harder on Saturdays than any Friday night football game just because we know the people there on Saturdays are actually there to see bands and not just our band but other bands too. Its nice to know someone there actually cares and they aren't using you as a chance to take a break from the game. It means even more at your specified performances. When someone shows up to an Indoor contest you know they are there to see the Indoor perform and they aren't there to see their flute player child, unless of course their flute player child is also a percussionist.

Indoor is the Percussion sections time to shine.

I have been around this program for a few years and have witnessed many an Indoor Percussion show. Not just from my school but other schools too. The point of any competition is to be better than everyone else you are competing against. In the world of Indoor Percussion it pays to do something out there and do things no other group is doing. For example, if four groups show concepts for the year are about a mental asylum those groups are going to have to try so much harder to stand out than the other groups performing different show concepts. Standing out could mean having a dancer in your show to tell a story or play an instrument a way that is different from normal. 

In all honesty it doesn't matter what your show concept is, you could be performing a show about baseball while everyone else in your class is performing a show about mental asylums and you could still lose. Show concept plays a small part on how you are judged. Its more about how the show concept is performed and how well the performers bring it across than what it really is. They are also judged on how well they play as an ensemble and visually how they loo as a whole. It is a group effort. In this program you can't just out perform everybody around you and be the only one. then they will ask why everyone else isn't performing like you or if you are wrong. It is about being unison and uniform not doing better than the other members of your group.