<p>Did anyone on the forum have a student attend the WGI percussion world championships in Dayton this week? My son's ensemble won the gold medal in the Scholastic Concert Open division last night. There are some really talented musicians (and performers!) out there, I watched the whole day on live video stream yesterday. Today are the indoor marching finals, they are really fun to watch.</p>
<p>Here's a recap of my son's group from the WGI website (yes, I am a proud mom):</p>
<p>Mansfield (MA) (Gold Medal- 98.9) earned a record high score for the class performing selections from jazz legend Pat Metheny with Echoes of Metheny. An outstanding jazz guitar player, who had a tone reminiscent of the famed jazz-fusion master, gave the program an authentic feel. After opening with the up-tempo, blues-influenced Have You Heard, the mood grew tender with the hauntingly beautiful In Her Family. One of Methenys signature pieces, Minuano, closed the program as the group masterfully captured the stylistic nuances of the latin music.</p>
<p>Congrats to son, and of course to you.</p>
<p>This sounds fabulous! Why does our high school never do this sort of thing? They barely have a jazz band. Pat Metheny is one of my son's idols--he would have so loved this program! Congratulations to your son, and to both of you for having such a great music program available to you.</p>
<p>yes, we are very lucky. The ensemble leaders are both Berklee grads, one benefit of living in the area. The funny thing is that the high school jazz band is not quite as impressive, it is this percussion group that really shines. It's only 17-18 kids but full of accomplished musicians. Took me awhile to figure out how guitar is a percussion instrument..... ! But regardless it is a really fun type of music to watch live. (my son definitely does not consider himself a "jazz guitarist" - he has not taken a lot of jazz instruction but he practiced like crazy to master this piece). </p>
<p>The ensemble is really a sum total of the parts, however, the other kids are terrific musicians, most of whom play other instruments in the band but learn these special percussion instruments as they go. They practice constantly. There are no other outside interests (something I'm sure most of you can relate to). They even got to attend a Metheny concert a few weeks ago and they'd love to play the selection for him sometime, of course! </p>
<p>The other groups at the competition are all equally amazing in my opinion. Not having any music background at all myself, it has been a lot of fun watching and learning about the different classes of percussion groups. (don't tell my son but my favorite to watch are the marching groups - I'm sure the music isn't quite as difficult as the concert classes but they sure put on a great show)!</p>
<p>Here's a link to to the description of the marching groups finals (the class with which I am particularly impressed from a "showmanship" perspective). The Dartmouth group that won the world division is another Mass high school with a fine music program.</p>
<p>WGI</a> • Percussion World Class Review Apr 19, 2008</p>
<p>hmmm, that link didn't copy too well. Anyway the website is wgi.org if anyone is interested.</p>