Well, that sure went by fast. Windsor High School’s first ever Indoor Band season is over. It started off well, and ended even better with a second place plaque awarded to them at the state competition. Students who participated in this past season enjoyed it.

Junior Ashley Gardner said, “It was a really great season. I learned a lot, everyone has improved tremendously, and I can’t wait to see what next season brings.”

With rehearsals starting in early January, students had a little over a month before their first competition at Francis Howell. Everyone stayed dedicated and practiced hard almost every day after school. In fact, the hard work paid off because they took first place in all of their competitions excluding State.

“Since this was our first year, (we had the chance) to see people who have been in Indoor for a couple of years and put their ideas to ours, and hopefully do better in the upcoming years,” senior Drew Wallace said.

Indoor band consists of wind instruments, percussion, and Winter Guard. Everyone who plays an instrument takes classes during the school day, and practice for many long hours after school. The Winter Guard, however, practices with everyone, then goes to practice on their own after indoor practices. It is a big commitment and takes a significant amount of time.

“In Guard, we can do a lot more difficult work because we are indoors, so there is not any wind, and our flags are more controlled. It’s a smaller group (too), so you get to know each other better,” Sammi Young, one of the captains of Winter Guard, said.

On the more instrumental side of the spectrum, Indoor Band has percussion and wind instruments. Percussion plays a very important role in Indoor Band. Without percussion, it would be very hard to keep time for the other sections of the band. They also provide many of the supporting audio clips, which play through the sound systems during performances. And you cannot forget how amazing the different scales sound between transitions.

Junior Carter Drew said, “(My favorite thing about competitions is how) it is cool to see other groups do what you love to do.”

The last section of indoor is the “winds”. This includes both woodwinds and brass instruments. Those who are in Winds have the perfect balance between playing and performing. This means that while they are not dancing as much as those on Winter Guard and playing as much as Percussion, they are able to play without being stationary, and play a big part in making visuals.

“The potential for that group is insane. They are going to reach unbelievable levels, and my personal experience I could not have asked to be any other way. I thought it was perfect, and they are only going to better next year,” senior Joey Brown said.

All in all, this past season went great and was out of this world, not only for those who took part in Indoor Band, but also for their audiences.

Assistant Director, Percussion Director, and Indoor Band Director, Ryan Stains said, “Not only do (the students) love it, but it shows in their performances. Not only I, but Mr. Bubb too, have had people pull us aside and tell us, ‘you have something really special here’. We didn’t believe it was our kids out there at their first performance because of how confident they were out there, and we could not be more proud.”

As far as next year’s Indoor Band season goes, there are many things to be discussed, and thought about to improve performances. Of course there are high hopes to take first place at State next year, and many who are looking forward to it.

Junior Madison Morse said, “It’s bittersweet, but I’m really glad that it was able to come to life, and just be a thing for us.”