MAPS Champs take on the (WGI) World

Junior Crowley Sellas stays in sync with his band mates while playing the cymbal on the auxiliary rack.

BY ATLEY GABRIEL
The Indoor Percussion ensemble won the Mid Atlantic Percussion Society (MAPS) Finals on April 5. The Knights currently rank 5th in the country for the Percussion Scholastic Open (PSO) division, three places higher than where they ended last year.

The group scored 91.7 to take home a close win. “We felt relieved and happy, but we won by 0.1 of a point, so we know that the competition is tight,“ said senior Mitya Nigam.

Winning the MAPS competition built the performers’ confidence as they head to Ohio for the final competition of the season, the Winter Guard International (WGI) World Championship. “MAPS finals went amazing,” said senior Steven LaBarbera. “The win was definitely a great way to end our regular season, but we remember that winning the WGI championship this week is the goal.”

Sophomore visual performer Cecelia Geier drops to a knee while extending caution tape as part of the show.

The Film Noir genre, known for dark detective stories, inspired this year’s “Unusual Suspects” show. “It’s very mysterious and noir based, where the detective is solving a murder but finds out it was himself,” said senior Braeden Appleton. “This ends up in a peaceful moment in the show, to show the understanding of it all.”

In order to accurately portray the narrative, the ensemble had to creatively depict the theme through the tempo. “The show starts with a slow tempo and then accelerates to feel the realization more,” said Appleton.

“Performing the show could be physically demanding at some points,” said senior William Rahner. The show requires a lot of precise movement by the musicians and visual performers to portray the story of the noir detective.

Sophomore Reed Nocera p[lays the snare drum as other percussionists perform choreographed movements behind him.

The visuals, including props and visual performers in addition to the musicians, played a key part in this year’s theme, which highlighted the ensemble’s creativity, “We use red stanchions as like the pin and string on a cork board which point at the detective,” said Appleton.

The ensemble first performed an early version of the show in competition at Downingtown East High School in Pennsylvania on February 22, where the unfinished show earned a score of 76.95, but they still pulled through with a win, “It went very well. We did have a few unstable moments in our performance, but it gave us something to work on,” said junior Crowley Sellas. “Since then, we have worked on adding and fixing a lot in the show. We were pleasantly surprised to win first.”

Sophomore Giancarlo Vallo plays his bass drum while intesely looking at the crowd.

They made a significant improvement since their first competition, scoring 85.65 at North Penn High School in Pennsylvania on March 15. “We didn’t have any competition, but we still put on a great performance,” said Rahner.

The transition from marching band to indoor percussion posed an obstacle for some of the players. “The toughest moment during the season had to be towards the start. Coming from marching band, which is a lot stricter in how you perform, I had to learn to perform in a new way that’s a lot more personal,” said junior Manvir Singh.

Singh plays a crucial role in the ensemble’s theme, posing as the main character. ”I play the lead character for the show as the only saxophone player on the floor. My job is to play melody lines while also acting to immerse the crowd into the show,” said Singh.

Junior Angus Walker wraps himself in red belts, symbolizing the detective putting the clues together

Singh now has to perform as the main character, expressing emotions and a narrative while performing instead of only focusing on his instrument. “In marching band your individual projection doesn’t matter as much because the audience isn’t close enough to see your facial expressions, but in Indoor percussion every little detail is important because of the proximity to the audience,” said Singh.

The Indoor Percussion ensemble left for WGI World Championship in Ohio today. “Expectations are certainly high, but all we know is that we are the best in this region,” said LaBarbera. “I am excited to see how we stack up against the best of the best from around the country.”

Junior Hailey Spiro sports a noir-style fedora while playing the marimba.
Senior cymbal player William Rahner brings the intensity to his performance.
Manvir Singh takes a break from playing his tenor saxophone to dramatically flourish the symbolic red hankerchief.
Senior Aaron Hernandez plays the bass drum.
Sophomore visual performer Charlotte Hage, wearing a noir-inpired fedora, spins to face the crowd.
Senior visual performer Gabriella Vallo dramtically points her finger while wearing a bloody glove.