Through dedication during practices in and out of school, Indoor Percussion competed on March 7 in East Brunswick, New Jersey, showcasing their performance of the exploration of “feeling trapped.”
In order to make improvements, indoor percussion take time after school, over the weekends and in their spare time to rehearse.
One goal indoor percussion director Sean Rogan has is to work towards making “improvements year over year.”
“I don’t care about scores, I don’t care about placements, but as long as the ensemble is making improvements, that’s what I’m looking for,” Rogan said.
As for Rogan, his plan has “always been [to] hit three things: make sure the students enjoy their time, make sure they’re learning and they’re becoming better musicians.”
Many percussion students believe in Rogan’s goals, too, like senior Izzy McDonough for one.
“[Indoor percussion has] definitely progressed a lot in my four years. And I think this is one of the most technically complicated shows that we’ve done. So it’s really cool to see how they’ve grown,” McDonough said.
According to senior Curtis Edwards, the band is “progressing fast.”
“I don’t think that we’ve hit our peak yet,” Edwards said, “which is good because we need to get better throughout the entire season, and if we hit our peak too soon, then we’ll make no progress later.”
At their first competition earlier this season, they received a score of 70.5.
After receiving feedback from the judges, they increased their score to 78.2 at their March 7 show.
As for Edwards, he believes their first competition was “one of the best runs we could have had for where we are this season.”
Edwards has high hopes for their next shows.
“I do think we’re going to hit 90 with this show,” Edwards said.
According to Rogan, they have made more progress as an indoor percussion unit this year than in previous years. It is also the first year that all of the drill and music has been done before their first show.
“This is the first year, I think I’ve been comfortable going into the first show,” Rogan said. “We have the show fully done in terms of music and drill.”
He also feels the students did “well” in their first competition.
“I felt confident for the kids going into that show; they played well. They moved well,” Rogan said. “The judges responded well to their show. We’ve taken their feedback and made improvements.”