Percussion power

In a literal sense, the percussionists take a back seat.
The pit is lined up along the back of the track, and for most of the Marching Patriots’ show the drum line marches behind the woodwinds, brass and color guard.
But there is a key break during the show when the drum line bursts through to the left of drum major Serrena McCaffery, showcasing its talents.
And when it came time for awards Saturday, Jay County High School’s percussion group took center stage again as it earned the band’s first caption award in nearly a decade.
After having come up just short in the last several years, the Marching Patriot percussionists won the Class AAA caption award Saturday afternoon at the Indiana State Fair Band Day competition. The last caption award for JCHS came in music in 2006.
“I really don’t know how to describe it,” said senior Connor Daniels, who marches on the drum line. “It just feels really good to have our name back up on the board.”
“I’m really proud that we’re the ones that did it,” added pit percussionist Kaity Grady. “We worked hard enough, and we got it. It’s just great instructors that took us there.”
Jay County went on to finish seventh overall for its show “Angels Among Us” on Saturday night to continue its three-and-a-half decade streak of top-10 performances.
The Marching Patriots scored 83.875 points, finishing less than a point behind sixth-place Anderson and 0.675 in front of eighth-place Centerville.
Winchester, which was the runner-up behind Muncie Central a year ago, reclaimed the title for the fourth time in five years with 92.925 points. The Force took caption awards for general effect and music.
Northeastern was the runner-up at 91.275 followed by Kokomo (89.9), Noblesville (87.85) and Richmond (85.35).
“I’m really pleased with the Patriots tonight,” said JCHS band director Kelly Smeltzer, whose group was sixth a year ago and has finished fifth, sixth or seventh in each of the last nine years. “I thought they still put on a consistent performance tonight, and that’s all we ask of them.”
The Marching Patriots dominated the percussion category to win their caption award, decided during the preliminary performance, as one of just two groups to break the 90-point mark for both composition and quality of performance.
They earned 188 out of a possible 200 points, including 95 in the quality category to finish four points ahead of runner-up Richmond. Noblesville was third with 177.
The Jay County percussion section experimented with cold rolls — going from silence to a full drum roll with no transition — which are uncommon in track shows. It also used several hybrid rudiments — varied patterns of playing — but overall percussion instructor Mitch Snyder said he believes a focus on fundamentals is what lifted the Marching Patriots to the top spot after placing third last year and second in both 2013 and ’12.
“I’ve just always believed that consistency will create your results,” he said. “It feels nice. It really does. We just try to progress as a group. We try to be the best that we can every single year.”
The band as a whole ranked highest for visual general effect — visual performance effectiveness — tying for fourth with 85 out of a possible 100 points. It trailed only the top three bands while finishing deadlocked with Noblesville.
The Marching Patriots were between fifth and ninth in the remaining judging categories.
As they headed to the finals, Smeltzer asked his band members to focus on little fixes rather than big ones. If each made just one marching and one playing correction, he told them, the improvement would be vast.
That strategy helped Jay County move up one spot in the evening after finishing eighth overall in the preliminaries. The Marching Patriots and Anderson both leapfrogged Centerville, which was sixth in the afternoon and had been named the best Class AA band.
“I truly believe that paid off tonight,” said Smeltzer. “When you add that up, that really makes a difference, especially when it comes down to the point difference between placing tonight. That really helped.”