Meet Rhythm X and Music City Mystique

As I mentioned on my posts a week ago, I recently traveled to Dayton, Ohio to the World Guard International Championships. There I was able to witness many extraordinary percussion ensembles such as Rhythm X and Music City Mystique. Rhythm X's show this year was entitled, The Alpha, which was about how a wolf pack decided its leader, or the alpha male. They ended up in fourth place with a score of  95.963. Music City Mystique's show this year was called In Bloom. They ended up in fifth place with a score of 94.863.
Rhythm X was founded in 2001 as a percussion ensemble that wanted to provide a source of music education and performance opportunity in the Greater Columbus Area, which is located in Ohio. They quickly escalated and grew to become a premier performance ensemble in the Winter Guard International World Class. Their spectacular design team consisted of  Tim Fairbanks, who is in charge of the visual design, Mike Scott, the ensemble director, Andrew Markworth, the music coordinator/ arranger, and Tim Jackson, the battery coordinator/ arranger. In Rhythm X's first year as an independent ensemble competing in the WGI Open Class, they won the Gold medal, setting the standard for their excellence. For the next 10 years, Rhythm X would prove to be a unique voice in the percussion world bringing an incredible design influence to the activity. Over their ten seasons in the WGI World Class, Rhythm X has won the World Championships twice, back-to-back in 2008 and 2009. They earned four other medals in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2010. Rhythm X is more than just a performance ensemble. All of their staff members teach extensively in other programs across the country. Not only do they teach in drum corps and independent ensembles, the staff members also instruct private lessons, high schools, and middle school percussions, winds, and even string programs. What's even more amazing is the fact that the majority of their members, in addition to school and work, teach music in programs all over Ohio. Rhythm X fosters a culture of advocacy for music programs and positive, competent instruction. They also open most of their rehearsals to the public.

 Music City Mystique was founded in 1994,  the early days of what is now WGI Indoor Percussion.  The "early days" was a far cry from today’s WGI Indoor Percussion ensembles, but the seeds of competition are being sown in places like California, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, and middle Tennessee.
 While there were two high school groups, Father Ryan and John Overton, from Nashville, Tennessee, Alan Rice saw a void in one particular area of the competition:  the independent class.  While the independent class was created for the 1994 competitive season, three of the competing groups were associated with drum and bugle corps and the fourth group was connected with a university. There was no group representing the large talent pool in the South. Rice, who was well-connected in the marching percussion scene throughout the South, told his friends and former students, Don Click and Chris Finen, that Nashville is the perfect place to fill this gap in the independent class by starting an independent line representing Nashville.
At that time, Don Click already had a great front ensemble at Brentwood High School, but not enough students for a full-sized battery. Chris Finen has a great marching battery at Harpeth High School,but not enough students for a competitive front ensemble. As if it were meant to be, Don and Chris combine their schools and created Nashville’s first independent WGI Indoor Drumline: Music City Mystique. However, the performers were not just from Don and Chris’s high school groups. Players from all over middle Tennessee came out and  helped define Mystique’s goals and standards.Click, Finen, Alan, and countless others helped cobble together Mystique’s first show, “A New Beginning . . .,” and lay the foundation for what is now the second oldest, and most successful, Independent World Class percussion ensemble in WGI.
The link I used to research Music City Mystique was http://musiccitymystique.org/history-2/. The website was a very reliable source because it has been recently updated thus making it acceptable to use for my topic. It also provided a long list of information and details about their history and the shows from each year starting from 1995. I learned a lot about MCM and how they became so successful. My memory of watching them at Dayton, Ohio became a lot more meaningful and treasurable to me after learning their background and path to success. At the end of both ensembles' performances, I had that feeling of amazement deep inside of me, because I knew I just witnessed something beautiful, and something that I will never forget.

Music City Mystique. "Music City Mystique – History." Music City Mystique. Music City Mystique, n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.  
Rhythm X Inc. "About." Rhythm X, Inc. Rhythm X Inc.., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.                  

Rhythm X "The Alpha"

Music City Mystique "In Bloom"

What is the Western Band Association?

Ayala's percussion ensemble is a year- round program starting from the summer and ending in the spring. From June to November, we compete with our school marching band and color guard in an organization called the Western Band Association or WBA. The Western Band Association's mission statement is "to ensure a high quality performing experience, educationally sound and in full support of the total band program." They also believe that "competition is a means to encourage and reward creativity, artistry and excellence in design and performance while providing a standard that will educate all students in such a way that they will grow to understand and evolve to the greatest level of their potential. It is our intent to encourage and reward the training that augments the development of quality musical and visual skills."
The Western Band Association's journey to existence is quite interesting. In January of 1979, a group of band directors met to transform the face of marching band in Northern and Central California. These band directors were Mike Rubino (Live Oak HS), Ramiro Barrera (Lincoln HS), Dan Smith (Independence HS), Gary Runsten (Modesto HS) & Mel Stratton (Clovis HS). They all shared a common goal which was to establish an organization that would provide a competitive performance opportunity. These founders designed score sheets and established standard scoring methods to assure the bands the maximum competitive experienced envisioned. The sponsors of the first show in the fall of 1979 were Modesto, Live Oak, and Independence. The first WSMBC Championship was held along with the 1984 Music Bowl Prelims at James Logan HS and the first WSMBC Champion was Independence High School. In 1995, WSMBA was able to spread its activities and influence into Southern California through the efforts of John Hannan (Mission Viejo). He helped dig a path to a consistent set of rules and scoring basis that would unify the goals and competitive experience for bands all throughout the state. Over the past few years, bands have come from Washington, Oregon Nevada, Arizona and Utah to share this experience. The scoring system also became more sophisticated. It was transformed into a two-tiered criteria designed for bands of various size memberships. This assured that the smaller bands would have the same opportunity as the larger bands in earning a high score and the credibility they deserved for their performances. In 2002, under the leadership of Ramiro Barrera (James Logan), WSMBC changed its name to Western Band Association (WBA). In 2006, the competition schedule grew to offer competitions between the three regions: Northern, Central and Southern California. WBA now hopes to elevate their competition venues by following their mission statement in years to come.

The source I used was http://www.westernbands.org/about.php. It was a very good source because it provided detailed information and a lot of details about the history of WBA. The source I used was also WBA's main website which also provided official contact information such as the mailing address, phone number, and the administration members. WBA is an amazing organization to perform in and it will continue to improve in the future.

Western Band Association - WBA. "Western Band Association - WBA." Western Band Association - WBA. Western Band Association - WBA, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016

What does drumline mean to me?

As a veteran cymbal player in Ruben S. Ayala High School's world class drumline, I have developed many questions about the activity such as its history and background. After recently winning the world championships in Dayton, Ohio and witnessing other phenomenal performances, I realized that there was more to this activity than I currently know. Thus, I decided to do this blog post about the different drumlines around the world, talking about their programs, styles, and their history. I would also research on what companies manufacture drumline equipment and when the activity started and what organizations drumlines can compete in. Not only do drumlines compete by themselves, but they also combine with marching bands and color guards in high school and professional organizations. I plan on researching the programs that include the drumline with the band and color guard. This activity is all over the world, spreading from the west coast to the east coast and slowly to out of state regions. Drumlines from the west and east coast contain different styles on how they play, march, practice, teach, and compete. I intend on researching these topics and educate myself on the various styles and discover the many similarities and differences between the west coast and the east coast. I truly find it amazing that one activity can be interpreted and performed in many ways and on different skill levels, ranging from A class to World class. Drumline itself can be taken and turned into something spectacular just by a group of students, adults, and instructors. It is an activity where someone can express their physical, mental, and musical talents. I really hope to learn more about the background of this amazing activity and the diversity that the different groups provide within their drumline programs.

Meet Pulse and POW Percussion

As mentioned in my last post, I went to Dayton, Ohio with Ayala's drumline, or percussion ensemble, and won the world championships. Our victory was for the division, PSW or Percussion Scholastic World. There was another division above ours and that would be PIW, or Percussion Independent World. The winner of that division was Pulse Percussion with an unbelievable score of 98.0. Their show this year was entitled Brother. Watching their show gave me an indescribable feeling. That sensation made me want to research their organization.

As said on their website, "Pulse Percussion is a youth-arts organization dedicated to providing students the highest level of performance and development opportunities through multiple musical channels including competitive indoor percussion ensembles, educational clinics and other outreach activities nationwide." Pulse Percussion was founded in 2004, under the organization called Impulse Youth Arts Association, which was run by Caleb Rothe, Ike Jackson and Ken McGrath. In 2010, they became an independent ensemble known as Pulse Percussion, Inc. Since then, they have been under the direction of Mark Kveton, Chris Henderson, Justin Boordbalash, and Jessica DuBose. Pulse Percussion  also created a open class drumline called POW Percussion. They started out as “Pulse Open” in 2011, and earned the bronze medal in the independent Open class. In the second year of the ensemble, they were promoted to the highest level and were a World Class finalist in 2012, thus having the name “Pulse Open World,” POW. POW has remained in the world class division since then.

Pulse Percussion's website, http://pulsepercussion.org/org/, is an extremely reliable source. I know this because the domain of the website was a .org which means it is a nonprofit organization. I also know that is reliable because the website provides a contact info with the mailing address. With an organized website, with specific tabs labeled, I was able to easily navigate through the webpage and find information about the two ensembles. Even though the information about Pulse's and POW's history was limited, I was still able to learn a lot about the two drumlines. The website also provided a list of their medals or placements in each season. After researching about the organization, I know understand how they became world champions this year. The time, money, and dedication that the founders put it finally paid off. Since Pulse Percussion is part of the southern California region, just like Ayala High School, I was even more content about how much I learned and felt more connected to the Southern California region I learned that Pulse Percussion had a long history to reach where they are today and I feel that Pulse and POW will be successful for years to come.

Pulse Percussion. "The Organization." Pulse Percussion. Pulse Percussion, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016.