WGI, Time for a change?-

[Jeff Ream]

This thread has been quiet for a little while now, but I just got back from judges training at my local percussion circuit and we talked a lot about some things that are relevant. Just a bit of background, the circuit I'm active in (aside from WGI) uses the same sheets/rulebook as WGI, and they always bring in WGI judges for their training. During the PA portion of the workshop we talked a lot about the question of demand vs execution and there were really good arguments on both sides. The clinician brought in videos of a few groups, and used two specific examples to talk about this particular aspect of the PA sheet. He didn't say anything about the groups he was playing, or even what the discussion would be about. He even edited out the part of the video that introduced each group to try to minimize the biases in the room. He played group one, and asked us all to assign numbers. We didn't discuss, but we each had to assign a number without any other comparison. Then he played group two and we assigned numbers then. When we were done assigning numbers to each group, we had to justify them as if we were in critique with those groups. He played devils advocate and really got us all to think about it.

The interesting thing was the two shows he chose, which he later revealed that he had chosen in order to start a discussion on this very topic organically without any pretense. One group was very in your face, playing a lot of loud and fast notes at a very high level. Everything was very clean, and the show was extremely intense. The second show was much more subdued, but also much more intricate. From the first note, you could tell that there was much more nuance to the writing. They weren't playing as many notes, but the stylistic uniformity was much stronger. The interesting thing was that the numbers we all assigned were all over the map, and there were a lot of points made to support putting either group over the other. The first group was without question cleaner, and they were playing more notes. But they weren't doing as much with those notes. Some called group 2 a "breath of fresh air", while others liked the attitude behind group one. The thing is, neither argument was wrong. It was a really eye opening conversation about where different points of view came from.

This was all just based on the PA side of the sheet. We had similar conversations in the visual workshop and the GE workshop.

The agreement we all eventually came to was that even something as simple as demand can be subjective. The fact is, its hard to judge such a diverse field. We can complain all we want about the groups we like not winning, but if you really look at how the sheets are written, the judges actually do a pretty good job of judging to them on the national level. Of course there will be judges who's opinions we don't agree with, but in the end, you won't end up in a position to medal in Dayton if you ignore one of the sheets. There will always be those who disagree with the outcome when you're trying to judge art against other art.

Anyway, just thought that the experience I had was relevant to the conversation and thought I'd mention it.

[Bobbie']

After watching the indoor percussion activity for several years I am of the opinion it is time for some changes at the top. The activity seems to be going away from the best playing group winning and towards the ones with the most props and artistic development scoring the best.

Mark Thurston was a great instructor in his time but I am afraid the goals are being changed. I really don't know who Andy Sanders, Jimmy Haskell or Caleb are. Perhaps time to bring some more of the early people back such as Ward Durrett, Rick Brown and others I am not sure there is a place for early stage groups to be involved any more and the farther you move from playing to props the more it becomes the one with the most money wins.

Last year the overall amount of groups attending shows declined. Likely because of the economy and money.

The "change" I'd like to see would be WPI = Winter Percussion International.