2013 WGI World Championships Recap

The 2013 WGI World Championships were held in Dayton, Ohio last weekend. Rhythm X won first place in Independent World competition with a record score of 98.263. Aimachi, the WGI group from Japan and always a fan favorite, placed 6th. In scholastic world class, for the first time ever, Dartmouth High School did NOT place in the top three (they just missed the medals by placing fourth)! Father Ryan always has entertaining shows and finally got a medal for their effort. The list of winners for each class is below (with some links to some YouTube videos):

• Independent World Champion - Rhythm X
• Scholastic World Champion - Chino Hills School
• Independent Open Champion - Capital City Percussion
• Scholastic Open Champion - Upper Darby High School
• Independent A Champion - Brookwood Independent
• Scholastic A Champion - Hilton High School
• Concert World Class - James Logan High School
• Concert Open Class - Clayton High School

You can find all the finals scores here.

Fan Favorite Awards

Fans at the show voted for their favorite drumline via text message. Interesting, none of the fan favorites were the gold medal champions picked by the judges. Here are the winners of the fan favorite award for each class:

• Independent World - Infinity
• Scholastic World - Father Ryan High School
• Independent Open - River City Rhythm
• Scholastic Open - Dorman High School
• Independent A - Spirit of America
• Scholastic A - Mechanicsburg High School
• Concert Class - Tunstall High School

Now that indoor drumline season is over it’s time to begin looking forward to drum corps. See the 2013 DCI schedule here: http://www.dci.org/schedule/

2012 WGI Show Video Update

We're in the midst of the 2012 WGI season and I have yet to make it to any shows (though hopefully that will change soon) so I've been trying to keep up with my favorite groups through YouTube. I've uploaded a couple of videos below.

Rhythm X 2012 MEPA 2/11/12 "Enlightened"

Northcoast Academy performing their 2012 show "Lose Yourself" February 11th at Troy Athens High School

Riverside Community College (RCC) 2012 Full ensemble 2-11-12 opener

Music City Mystique 2012 Premier | Nü Tribe

1984 Michigan State University Drumline Video

Check out this great, classic drumming video from 1984 featuring the Michigan State University MSU Drumline in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This vintage drumline footage was posted to DrumlineTV YouTube channel. Songs include: YYZ (Rush), Peter Gunn (Exit Cadence). What a great find! Do you have any old drumline videos floating around?

WGI World Championships PIW and PSW Finals Review

I know it's been awhile but, finally, here is my review from WGI World Championships held in Dayton, Ohio at the University of Dayton arena on Saturday, April 16, 2011. I was actually able to attend the Percussion Scholastic World and Percussion Independent World finals, which started at 5pm and lasted through 11pm. Parking was $5 and general seating tickets were $40 which is kind of steep (though it makes Cedar Point/Kings Island amusement parks look cheap in comparison). I think this was the first indoor drumline show I was able to go to in three years.

PSW
Milton HS had a bunching of spinning things and played "Like Spinning Plates" by Radiohead. I really enjoyed Walled Lake's show "Barriers" and thought it deserved a higher score as it was more entertaining than many of the others Walled Lake Central (MI) (8th- 90.950). Center Grove probably had the best all around synergy with their theme of a snake and I really liked the idea of the parents in the crowd with shakers imitating a rattlesnake. The PSW winner was Arcadia HS (CA) (Gold Medal- 97.525) and deservedly so. I thought they had the most innovative drill I've seen in a long time. They did a lot ofplaying on their knees, turning around, standing up and down. Their show "Rise" was really challenging and demanding on their bodies. They could play really well too. I would've liked to see more emotion and facial expressions but that's my only complaint. "The line displayed an amazing level of body control, as members were continually in kneeling or crouching positions with perfectly sculpted angles from person to person, and racing around the floor at warp speed velocities when moving. " You really need to watch this show!


Read other reviews here.

Aside: what is with all of the talking shows? If you need someone to explain what your show is about then it is too complicated in my opinion.

PIW
Blue Knights and Northcoast Academy had the most entertaining and crowd pleasing shows (stuff non-drummers in the audience could appreciate). I thought Rhythm X was bkind of boring this year. I felt bad for them that they had to perform after the two highest energy shows of the night. Riverside Community College and Music City Mystique definitely had the most musical and cleanest shows. After watching MCM in the lot videos, them cats can play!

One group played a horrible cover of Jonsi's "Go Do" but I don't remember which one it was.

Sorry, since it's been so long since finals I got a little lazy and shorthanded this review. But, if you have any specific questions or want to know what I thought of any groups please comment below and let me know and I'll gladly discuss it. Thanks.

Official review found here at wgi.org

WGI Season is here!

Indoor drumline competition season officially began this weekend (at least here in Ohio) as it was the first weekend for MEPA contests (Mid-East Performance Association). I plan on going to at least one MEPA show and hopefully I'll actually make it to Worlds this year. What contests are you planning on attending?