MSD’s Indoor Percussion Program performed in the 2022 Florida Federation of Colorguards Circuit Championship from March 25 to 27. The FFCC Championships took place in the Daytona Beach Ocean Center, and held competitive events for color guard, indoor marching percussion, concert percussion and winds. The competition season begins in January and reaches its finale towards the beginning of April.

The Indoor Percussion Program is a part of the MSD Eagle Regiment band. Indoor Percussion is essentially a branch of a band that consists of the drumline, known as battery, and the front ensemble. The percussionists perform while marching with their respective instruments.

The MSD program has attended this championship before, as it is a state percussion competition for top percussion programs across the state of Florida. The championship was postponed due to COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021.

Indoor Percussion earned a bronze medal at the recent FFCC Championships and has been preparing for the most intense competition of its winter percussion season: Dayton, Ohio. It was announced during the beginning of the season that they would be performing at FFCC when the season calendar was released.

“Indoor Percussion has been practicing for FFCC since the season started in February,” sophomore Justin Krooks said. “We practice for other smaller competitions during the season, but overall it is for FFCC and Dayton, Ohio.”

Krooks is in his second year of the MSD Eagle Regiment band and plays the glockenspiel, an instrument similar to the xylophone, in the percussion ensemble.

MSD Indoor Percussion also has an upcoming Winter Guard International competition from April 21 to 23 in Dayton, Ohio. To qualify for WGI, a percussion program must compete in at least one regional competition. WGI is the international level percussion, winds and color guard competition, in which the strongest of all band programs compete.

“[The percussionists] are leading the way in the percussion arts,” Band Director Stephen Rivero said.

WGI and FFCC Championships are not only limited to Indoor Percussion Programs, but also include Color Guard and Wind Symphony. This will be MSD’s first time competing in the World Championships.

However, MSD’s Color Guard and Wind Symphony did not compete at FFCC this year, as the event was mainly reserved for Indoor Percussion. Nevertheless, the Winds and Color Guard ensembles have performed and competed across a spectrum of other events and competitions. For example, the World Guard performed at WGI Regional Orlando from March 18 to 19.

Bigger competitions like FFCC and WGI allow the percussionists to advance musically and together as a branch of the MSD Eagle Regiment. FFCC also allows students in Indoor Percussion to gain experience in a high-level statewide competition.

“The experience has brought me more of an understanding and maturity in my performance level,” sophomore Esther Bang said. “The more I am given the opportunity to perform, the more I learn how to control my mindset into staying calm and executing my performance the way I have been practicing.”

Bang plays bass drum and, like other members of Indoor Percussion, has improved her performance through various rehearsals and competitions.

Although the 2021-2022 Winter Percussion season is coming to an end, the Indoor Percussion ensemble plans to exceed last year’s performance at the FFCC Championships, and march on forward for next year’s season.