Events Article
2008 winter Guard International Wrap-Up
Dayton, OH Apr 19, 2008
Starting out Friday's competition was Nashville Tennessee's own Father Ryan High School giving an inspired performance of it's 2008 Program "7 Countries in 7 Minutes". We caught up with the Show-designer David England (committing him to video as well) getting some insight on how the Group chooses instruments to compliment their show among other helpful creative points (as well as Derek and Jeff Schletzer Director & Technical Assistant respectively). Advancing into Saturday nights Finals Father Ryan finished their 2008 Season with a score of 87 putting them at number 14 in the Scholastic World Class Finals.
The Centerville High School program turned out to be the performance that put them into Saturday's finals. Performing under the direction of Tim Fairbanks this group jumped ahead in Saturdays final competition coming in at number 5 in the Scholastic World Class Finals.
Next on deck was Gateway Indoor from St Louis, Missouri performing their program "Michael" based on the musical influence of Michael Jackson. Brian Fronzaglia and Chris Sakowski were captured on video talking about the group and this years show that, after today's performance had them added to the Saturday's Event where they scored a 90.05 placing them in 8th place in the Independent World class Finals.
As the afternoon wore on Surround Sound from Texas came out to compete with their 2008 show "Hero" .
Next on the floor was North Coast Academy from Saginaw, Michigan. This group hit the floor running with their 2008 Show "Unsquared Dance" inspired by the music of Dave Brubeck . They began the 2nd set of the afternoon's competition setting the crowd on it's ear (literally). Check out the commentary from the groups Cymbal-man Dan Schmatz, (Director, Diane King) talking about this years program and some of the Cymbals they use to create the textures and tones within a Percussive musical setting.
Following is Rhythm-X from Columbus, Ohio performing what would eventually be the winning Open Class field program entitled "Gone" (Saturday's performance). Congratulations to Diaz Clark & Craig Dunn and their Cymbal-line for another great performance, show and season in 2008!
Pulse Percussion from El Monte, California performed their 2008 program "Rules". Following their performance we interviewed Pulse's Pete Lucero about the inspiration for this years program, what cymbals they're using and why specifically they use the cymbals they use?enlightening to say the least?they finished their 2008 season with a score of 87.30 putting them in 12th Place in the Independent World Class Finals on Saturday night.
As the evening wore on the Odyssey Percussion Theater from Atlanta, Georgia performed their 2008 program for the huge Friday evening crowd with excitement growing for Saturday's Finals competition in the University of Dayton Basketball Field-house. Congratulations to Directors Shane George and Eric Miller for a Great Show and Season for their group.
Next in performance as a Friday night closer came Matrix from Akron, Ohio doing their 2008 Program, directed by Rob Ferguson and Jeff Hoke. Going into Saturdays Finals the group finished their Season in 4th Place.
Plymouth-Canton performed their program, "De-Construction" taking them into Saturday's Finals competition that eventually garnered them a score of 88.80 putting them in 10th Place in the Scholastic World Class Finals?Congratulations to the group and Director Jonathan Ovalle.
The 2008 Winter Guard International Competition highlighted over 20 groups performing with SABIAN products including Great Lakes Percussion (Jim Thompson, Director), Infinity, Twin Cities Area Independent (Robb Bruegger), Franklin Central High School (Derek Felix), I-2(Jim Bailey), Novi High School (Matt Ownby), Kettering High School (Tim Parker), LEAP (Jeff Hoke) Ayala High School (Ike Jackson, though they didn't compete this year) as well as musical luminaries such as Kit Chatham (Cirque du Soleil), Matt Savage, Ralph Hardimon, Dennis DeLucia, Jonathan Jadrani (University of Miami Marching Band) & Steve Ulicny amongst many others.
Immediately after the WGI World Class Finals on Saturday April 19, chaos erupted on the floor as members, family and friends celebrated the exciting performances of the day. Check out some of the SABIAN Banner shots of the finalists.
