Terrific Trio

By: Jessica Larkin
            What happens to all of the students who add the color to the marching band show after football season? What happens to the drumline and the other musicians of the Volunteer High School Band? Shopping at the mall? Lying at home watching TV? Guess again! During the winter months, the VHS Winterguard and Indoor Percussion Ensemble come together and are formed by students who truly love the thrill of performance. Students who are dedicated enough to work six extra months after the football stadium lights are black until the next fall.
            Winterguard is a color guard group that performs dance, flag, rifle, and sabre work to recorded music indoors. The students who try out for this team do not have to be enrolled in band/color guard. This year, the Volunteer Band had two guards, the Volunteer White Guard and the Volunteer Blue Guard. This year the guard shows were both titled The Quest.
            The Indoor Percussion Ensemble consists of a marching   battery, just like marching season, and a front    ensemble, or pit. The   front ensemble is the mallet instruments, cymbals, keyboards, and   other various “noise    makers.” It is also where the melody usually   comes from. The battery marches drill while playing    accompaniments to the melody coming from the pit. Like the   winterguards, students wishing to try out for this    ensemble do not   have to be enrolled in band. This year the Volunteer High School   Indoor Percussion Ensemble    performed a show entitled   Clockworks. Of course the theme was “clock-ish” with the battery   marching    rotational and sharp drill moves.
            The first competition of the season was held at Volunteer and   was hosted by the VHS Band. It was the    last weekend in January.   Between February and March the units traveled to more than five   contests between the    states of Virginia, North Carolina, South   Carolina, and Tennessee. All three units placed well at each   competition and their scores continued to grow. At the fifth contest of   the season, the White Guard was bumped up to the next competition   division for exceptional performances.
  
       With the season coming to a close, the units loaded up on Friday April 4th, and traveled to Western Carolina University in North Carolina to compete in the CIPA (Carolina Indoor Performance Association) Championships held on April 5th. After a very long day of performing and watching many other amazing performances, the students’ nerves finally went away when they announced that the VHS White Guard placed first in their field of competition. The percussion ensembles’ hard work paid off by receiving the silver medal (2nd place) in the PSN division; the VHS Blue Guards amazing dedication was rewarded by receiving 2nd in their field of competition. Each unit received their highest scores of the season.
        These students who put their heart into every performance are sad to see this season come to a close, but are looking forward to this coming marching season that is just right around the corner. Congratulations to both guards and the drumline on an amazing season!