The Greenwood High School Winter Winds group is at the end of their third season competing in WGI. They continue to learn and grow as they compete on the national level in Hattiesburg, MS and Dayton, OH.
Three years ago, Greenwood High School formed a small ensemble of Color Guard and Wind Instruments in hopes of branching their band into a different area. The first year, Greenwood traveled to Dallas to compete in a WGI competition. Unfortunately, there were not a lot of other wind ensembles competing. WGI stands for Winter Guard International and takes place in an indoor setting. For those that follow Drum Corps, this is a lot like DCI but groups compete indoors on the weekends and are formed locally not internationally. With WGI being more local, that allows for high schools to form groups and compete while their students are still in school.
WGI is made up of color guard, percussion, and wind that compete in two divisions. The Scholastic Division is made up of groups whose members come from the same High School or a school that feeds to that particular High School. The Independent Division is made up of groups whose members are not necessarily associated with a particular school. The groups are then divided into classes: A Class is for beginning programs and performers. Open Class is for the intermediate developmental level of performers. And World Class is for more advanced programs and performers.
Last year, the Greenwood Winter Winds went to Dayton, Ohio to compete in the WGI World Championships. With a score of 82.756, they placed tenth out of sixteen ensembles in the Scholastic A Winds division. This was very impressive for them seeing that it was their first time to compete in WGI on the national level. This year the Winter Winds hopes to build off last year’s success.
This year the group consists of 34 members. The students have been practicing every Tuesday and Thursday after school from 4 to 6 pm since coming back from winter break.
Their show is titled “Bloques” and it is based on the piece “Malaguena” by Ernesto Lecuona. Bloques is Spanish for “to block” which adds to the theme of 20th Century Impressionism.
This past Spring Break, the group went to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to compete at the South Power Winds Regional. They placed 2nd out of 4 groups with a score of 78.050. On April 11th, the ensemble will travel to Dayton, Ohio to compete in the 2019 WGI World Championships. They will perform on Saturday at 11:21 am.
A high school participating in WGI is new and exciting for our area. There are a few other high schools in the state that participate but not in this area that I am aware of. The members of Greenwood’s Winter Winds are extremely dedicated to this activity. On top of after-school practices are homework, school, jobs, All-Region and All-State, and Region Concert Assessment.
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