Throughout the week of April 7-13, the Selma High School Concert Percussion competed in the World Championships (WGI) at Dayton, Ohio. Receiving a score of 92.00 in preliminaries, the highest score in Selma history, and winning first overall with a 91.2, this competition was a great opportunity for all students.
Being the first time that the Selma Percussion attended this competition, some members were nervous while others were excited, yet everybody still put in a tremendous amount of hard work into the show, months before it even began.
“We have been preparing for championships for quite a while,” Damian Vasquez stated, “We had some guests come out a long way to listen to us in person and give us feedback.”
Alongside guests, the band spent time looking at old critiques and applying them to their current work. Rehearsals occurred before and after school since the beginning of the school year, where students dedicated hours of their time perfecting their performances. Preparing themselves for every situation that could be thrown at them, they even practiced their performance without warm-ups.
Being in band for a total of seven years, junior Damian Vasquez performed at the competition playing the marimba for their piece, “Three Dances.”
Another player of the marimba, a member of band for the 6th year, sophomore Nathalia Guevera expressed, “I love ‘Three Dances’ so much. Ever since hearing it for the first time, I was in love with the literature I was going to have the opportunity to play.”
She feels that this piece was the perfect show to perform at Dayton, explaining how each movement of the song had its own sound.
After preliminaries, the percussion group was gathered to take a photo, when their teacher, Mrs. Jimenez, revealed the news of their score of 92.
Percussionist Zoe Thompson shared, “When we were told that we had gotten a 92, I thought Ms. Jiminez was lying to us. I literally couldn’t sleep that night because of how excited I was.”
Currently a freshman, Zoe Thompson has been in band for four years, and is in her second year of percussion, primarily playing the clarinet.
Anybody was allowed to sign up to compete at the Championships, but groups could be cut if judges felt they were unqualified.
Band Director Ms. Jimenez stated, “In fact, we had to submit a video to be properly classified before competing at the WGI World Championships.”
Getting gold in their local championships, percussion was able to prove themselves worthy as competitors, yet online analysts predicted their group to get fourth place due to their local and regional scores being below mid-80’s. Despite this, they came out as first place with a score of 91.2.
“I was surprised to hear our name being called out for first place,” Vasquez conveyed. “I was almost in tears because it was such an amazing experience to perform out of state and then to end on such an awesome note was something unforgettable.”
This competition was something unbelievable for all of concert percussion, and alongside their victory, it was an opportunity for the group to become closer, and meet other bands. Even though everybody at Championships was from different parts across the country, the environment felt very welcoming.
“An opportunity this event brought me was meeting people from across the country and other schools that were kids just like me,” Guevera explained.
Alongside meeting other people, the percussion gained inspiration from watching other performances and they were able to learn more about the history of Ohio.
Zoe Thompson said, “The whole experience was something that I never thought I would be able to do. Every group we watched, every place we went, everything we did, the hours of rehearsals and practicing, all of it was worth it.”
