May We Have a Drumroll, Please!

McKinley ensemble competes on the Big Stage!

By Zachary Taylor, Director

This past spring the McKinley Band hit a milestone as we competed at the Winter Guard International World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. This organization brings together percussion groups from all across the country to compete at a national level.

For the McKinley Band, this placed our percussion ensemble on a national stage for the first time in program history.

The ensemble was started in 2019 with nine members. The group competed on the state level as part of the Ohio Indoor Performance Association (OIPA). In 2019 and 2023 we placed first in the state while placing second in 2022. Competitions in 2020 and 2021 were canceled because of Covid19.

As this ensemble grew not only in size but ability, we began to look at the next level of competition.

To compete in the OIPA circuit, groups must have a basic level of musicianship, but as you enter the WGI circuit, that basic level of musicianship must be able to be developed and expanded to create an artistic performance that will hold up against set criteria that all groups are judged against.

The championship weekend is split up into a preliminary round and a final round with groups competing from across the nation. Of the 117 groups in the country that compete at the state level, 22 participated

In addition to performing, the students were able to watch other groups in the concert classes. As we sat and watched the World Class concert ensembles perform I was able to start seeing things click for the kids as they slowly began to understand what this ensemble is all about.

We also visited the Air and Space Museum before heading back to Canton. The kids saw historic planes such as a Wright Flyer, The Memphis Bells, B2 Bomber, SR71 Blackbird, and several Presidential Planes. We made sure to highlight some of the exhibits as we went through such as the Tuskegee Airmen and where President Johnson was sworn in on Kennedy’s Air Force One.

The students in this ensemble have learned how to work together through good times and bad and have taken ownership of this group, showing pride that only comes through hard work and determination.

The best part was that we were able to see them laughing and having fun as kids — kids that don’t normally hang out with each other all getting along and talking. It was a side of our students we are seldom able to see in an authentic way.

This trip allowed them to see a worldview of life’s possibilities in the marching arts and will hopefully instill in them leadership values that we will be able to see as the marching band returns in a little over a month.