Sounding Sharp

Winter Percussion and Guard Impress at Weekend Competition

Caroline Lee

Staff Writer

    The AHS Winter Guard and Percussion competed at the first of the two events they will be attending this year.

    On Saturday, March 15, 2014, the group of musicians left AHS at eight in the morning and travelled to Livermore, where they performed at not one, but two of the city’s high schools.  In the end, however, both Winter Guard and Winter Percussion finished high in placements.

    “The competition was a bit stressful at first because we had to rush from Livermore High School to Granada, since it’s two back-to-back competitions, but performing was exhilarating,” senior Leesa Choy said.  “It was fun to show the judges what we were capable of, but having the support of the parents, Mr. Wong, and the guard also made performing more exciting.”

    Though the percussion earned fourth at Livermore High and second at Granada High, Choy still sees opportunity for improvement.

    “This was our first competition of the season so it was basically the first time other schools and judges saw us,” Choy said.  “Now that we’ve heard the judges’ feedback, we can now clean up parts of our show before our last competition at Foothill High School.  We can only go up from here.”

    In fact that is what Winter Guard, which placed second at Livermore and third at Granada, believed and executed this past weekend.

    “The first performance we had was okay,” senior Molly Farmer said.  “It seemed like some members were a little nervous, especially the newer ones, since it was our first performance in front of judges.  However, the second performance felt much better than the first.”

    However, the competition was not overruled by seriousness and uneasiness as both the guard and percussion found time to hang with one another–and other schools.

    “The most interesting part of the day was meeting the percussion and guard group from Jesse Bethel in Vallejo,” Choy said.  “They all lined up in a single file in front of Molly [Farmer] and one-by-one, pulled out their smartphones to take a selfie with her. It was the most random and funniest thing that I’ve ever witnessed at a percussion competition.”

    Farmer credits guard captains Angelica Mack and Tanya Komrosky for “making a positive experience for everyone” and working to include everyone in the group.

    “The Winter Guard Selfie Olympics is a contest created by Angelica Mack for the guard to take and post selfies, which will be judged for a prize,” Farmer said.  “During the competition, a few friends and I joined forces to create the best selfies possible. The Selfie Olympics is a fun way for us to bond as a group and pass time during competitions.”

   Members of the guard and percussion will perform at the music program’s annual Pops Italian Dinner and Concert Friday, March 21 and compete in their second competition the day after.