My project for this indoor season

[roastduck]

So I've begun a project in my school district, and I'd like to tell you guys about it and hopefully get some feedback or insight.

In the circuit my school competes in (Louisiana-Mississippi Color Guard and Percussion Circuit), the bulk of the schools are from southeast Louisiana/southern Mississippi. Where I'm at in southwest LA, there are only two groups that participate in indoor. There are tons of great percussion programs in the area, though.

What I'm doing is I'm trying to open up my ensemble to students from other schools. I want to foster interest in indoor percussion in the area, and eventually have it lead to more schools participating (hopefully in a few years there will be enough interest that I can finally start the independent line I've been itching to launch).

It will also have the added benefit of lighting a fire under the butts of the kids I teach now, because they seem reluctant to practice outside of rehearsal.

According to WGI rules, which the circuit follows, we need approval of all principals of schools that prospective members attend, plus the district superintendent, plus the circuit/WGI. We're working on all of that, but in the meantime, has anyone else ever tried to get an all-district/all-county group going? What do you guys think?

[Hobbes]

I believe some schools that do this end up going into the independent class appropriate for the ensemble. Things like rehearsals schedules may be difficult to coordinate as well between multiple schools in one program. I would like to hear how it goes though! I live in a more rural area so if there was a way to consolidate districts into one program that would be very beneficial to these small programs.

[Antaeus]

Figured I'd chime in on this.

I work for a band that combines with another local school for the indoor season. Both are relatively small programs, so when combined it allows us to have a larger talent pool to pull from and it made lots of things a lot easier. Fortunately both programs rehearsed on the same nights, so combining wasn't a big hassle as far as rehearsing goes. We always rehearsed at the same school, and the kids from the other school carpooled to and from. Because the indoor guards combined as well, and they went to all the same shows, both schools had their own buses and would arrive and then split into guard and percussion.

Overall it was a great move for the two schools to take and it allowed us to really push the bounds of what the programs were able to achieve and we were much more successful than we would have been separate. In the coming years we plan to continue growing and gaining membership from even more schools, and having multiple ensembles for different skill levels where appropriate. Here in Maryland there isn't a great amount of talent per school, so consolidating is the only way to really have a successful and nationally competitive group to hopefully go to WGI as a long term goal to achieve in the next couple years.

One thing you may want to be weary of is the amount of kids you are trying to have in each section compared to the amount of kids you will have. Fortunately for the program I worked for, it was roughly the amount of kids we had that we needed; however you may run into the situation of perhaps a kid from an outside school may be better than a kid of yours, but there might not be a spot for both of them and then that may result in angry parents.

Oh, and we stayed as scholastic and went under the neutral name of West Frederick indoor rather than one school name or the other. I see no reason to run as an independent group if all the performers are in high school still. Its well within the WGI bounds to be scholastic. You may need to RUN it like an independent group, like rehearsing on weekends, but I see no need to literally be an independent group.

[roastduck]

At the moment, there is a Google doc where all the techs from all schools involved are coordinating logistics ahead of a meeting for parents and students. I've been hammering the point to every student I talk to that A) everyone auditioning gets a fair shot, and B) that the only way to improve your chances of making the cut is to practice. That their goal should not be to make the line, but to get better.

We'll be competing in Scholastic under the "host" school's name, because that's what is required by the WGI rulebook. I definitely don't want to ruffle any feathers, but at the same time, I don't want to turn away someone who is actually willing to put in the work

[SteelSampson]

Awesome stuff! I pushed throughout HS to get them to try an indoor program... wasn't until a year after I graduated that they actually started one. Oh well, at least it's happening now.

Something some colleges do if they run into the problem of having too many players is they rotate some so more people get a chance to play and you have a backup in case something happens. Generally one rotating or backup for each section. I think this also creates a little more pressure knowing that someone is gunning for your spot. It keeps those who have made the line from getting complacent. Something to consider.

[roastduck]

Nah, I'm gonna keep the phone numbers of one or two guys just in case I need to replace someone, but as for the kids from my school who don't make the cut, I'll do some percussion ensemble stuff with them to keep their hands moving before we start gearing up for marching band in april/may

[pcs80]

When I was in high school several of us wanted to do this...it never happened, which was really disappointing. I hope it all works out for you, it's a great idea!

[particleplatypus]

Our high school just started working on having the drumline play for basketball games, if the first 6 go well, we are trying to transition to an indoor style performance. (something that has been discussed heavily in the area). The problem I see in the future is financial however. The local circuit seems pretty maxed our already, so adding indoor might be too much.