Lewis Cass percussion weathers storm, competes for championship
Apr. 18—By the time you read this, the Lewis Cass winter percussion band will already be in Ohio, ready to compete at the Winter Guard International Percussion World Championships.
Winter percussion is in its third year at Lewis Cass. This is the group's third trip to the world championship.
That title, world champion, has so far eluded them. They advanced to the finals in 2022. But 2023 was a stormy year for the group and it fell short of its goal.
This group is different, said director Hope Turcheck. There's a chemistry it lacked one year ago.
"It's been very interesting over the last three years here," she said. "The first year, it was all excitement. Last year, we grew in numbers but we had some issues we had to work through. At the end of the season, we overcame them but it was heartbreaking because we didn't make it to finals like the first year did. This group, there is only 11 of them. We are definitely smaller this year, which is perfectly fine. Somehow, magically, I've arranged (the performance) enough where every part gets covered."
The Lewis Cass show was written for 18 musicians. At state, only one other school was smaller with 10 members.
Turcheck said this year's squad has worked well together and bonded. They are accepting and help each other cope with any troubles they might experience.
"I'm really proud of them," she said. "They've made this season really smooth."
Winter percussion focuses on the percussion side of band. Where marching band brings elaborate routines, percussion is more stationary in nature. There is no color guard and no horn section. It's just drums, chimes and keyboard. And terracotta pots.
The performance is inspired by the terracotta warriors that protected the first emperor of China in the afterlife. The band uses terracotta pots for percussion. There are 55 total pots used in its three-part set. Many terracotta pots shattered to bring us the performance.
At state, Lewis Cass qualified for worlds with a third-place finish. To advance to the final round of the world championship, they will need to finish as high as third.
Adam Healton, a junior, has been part of the band since its beginning. He said he was feeling hopeful after the challenges of last season.
"I feel pretty good about (going back to worlds)," he said. "Overall, the whole group feels pretty good about it, but I know some of us feel pretty anxious and I don't want that to affect our performances."
Healton said adding the terracotta pots into the mix created a big learning curve. While he doesn't personally interact with them during the performance, he said they create a muted sound and any difference in timing is easily noticeable, so those who do play the pots have to be super precise while also delicate with their strikes.
"You have to hit them in the right spots or they will legit just crack and blow apart," he said.
Faith Abbott is one of two seniors in winter percussion. Her friend since kindergarten, Abbey Hileman, is the other. Abbott said it has been really cool to see the change this year's group has made compared to last year's experience.
"We've done so much more this year," she said. "We've gotten so much more detailed. We've grown the show so much and developed it into a full story. It's been really cool to watch all of that happen and also help that happen."
Xic (pronounced Zeke) Miles, a junior, said it would take focus and commitment to advance to the final round once again.
"I think for us, every single person in the group really has to focus in and not worry about things outside of (the competition) and just give the best performance," he said.
Lewis Cass is scheduled to perform at 3 p.m. Thursday afternoon at Wright State University. They are the last in their class to do so. Their performance will be streamed on flomarching.com. They will compete with bands from California, Idaho and North Carolina.
Finals will be announced within an hour after completion of their performance and if they advance, they will compete again Friday evening.
