Working with only the weekends for practice and competition, PSUid begins its season in October and doesn’t wrap up until early April, after WGI Championships.
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A Full Time JobĪn indoor drumline show is one that takes hours of practice to perfect. The full ensemble set up on the floor before a competition performance. Fittingly, PSUid’s floor has been designed to look like the galaxy for 2015. Each ensemble has its own floor and gets a new one each year to match the show theme. The performance floor is another element used for visual appeal, but also is key logistically for the show.
Indoor ensembles can choose to dress however best complements the show, and PSUid’s outfits this year are a sleek combination of white, black, silver, and a shiny red that matches the drums. To round out the visual effects of the show, the group has matching costumes, but not the uptight uniforms that are synonymous with marching bands. While the group is not trying to tell any stories about the extraterrestrial with its performance, the music is powerful and fun, and the show itself is exciting. The group’s show this year, titled “The Big Bang,” is about space and gravity. As a part of this effort, not every show is the same from week to week, with little things added or changed so that PSUid never performs the same exact show twice. Penn State has since been competing in the WGI Open class, highlighted by a handful of medals in the four of eight years the group has made it to Open class finals.Īs a whole, indoor drumline is always evolving, and to keep up with the ever-changing competition, PSUid is constantly improving and evolving itself. The group performed as a World class drumline through the 2004 season, making it to the finals all four years. The group’s show, “Hell Yeah,” earned the ensemble a place in the World class for the 2001 season. A group can be bumped up or down a level for a number of different reasons, but the most important factor is its performance at the championship competition.ĭuring its second year of competition, PSUid won gold in the Open class. World class is the highest level of competition. WGI is the competitive circuit for indoor color guards and drumlines, and is split into A, Open, and World classes.
Its first year, it competed in the Winter Guard International (WGI) Independent Open Class, and earned third place out of seven finalist groups. The pit practices part of the show in preparation for the WGI Championships. “Due to the amount of time everyone spends together perfecting a single show, the camaraderie between the members of the group is strong,” Wade said, despite the performers being of varying age and coming from all over the state. Greg Wade, Front Ensemble Captain and marimba player, graduated from Penn State this past December. While many of the members attend Penn State, others come from IUP, Penn Tech, and Williamsport High School. The group is unique because it’s an official club, but members can range from 14 to 22 years of age, and can go to any high school or college. While the activity is comparable to marching band, the ensemble takes part in competitions against groups from around the country, all on an indoor performance floor not much larger than a basketball court. Penn State Indoor Drumline, or PSUid, is a competitive percussion ensemble made up of battery (the drums you hit with sticks) and pit percussion (like xylophones and drum kits.) The group uses drums, keyboards, and other percussion equipment, with the choreography of a play, and the emotions of a soap opera, to relay a theme or tell a story with its performance. The beating drums, tight drill sets, and sheer talent of the performers is impressive to music aficionados and the general public alike.Īdd some keyboards and guitars, take out all of the wind instruments, and throw the whole performance into a gym and you have marching band’s cool, intense, competitive counterpart - indoor drumline. The intensity of a marching band show is enough to bring goosebumps to arms and send shivers down spines.
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