My Role in Music

For those of you who don't know, I teach at a local high school.
I'm not a math or english teacher, I help with the music department.
A group of 20 students have taken over the school, the south, and perhaps the whole world... how, you may ask?

Percussion. :)

The director, David Waters, was my teacher from 6th grade until my high school graduation, and I started working for him shortly after that.
He has three techs working for him. The first is a technique person, who watches how each person plays their instrument. The second is a musical person, who listens without watching, making sure the melody is heard in each delicate phrase. The third is the overall tech, who watches, listens, and makes sure each person looks identical to the next. I am the third tech.

We've had astounding success since 2007, when the percussion ensemble began competing.
My senior year, 2008, was the first year we competed worldwide, at a competition called Winter Guard International. We competed in the Percussion Scholastic Concert Open class, and placed third overall.
We could not have been more thrilled!
With the recent success in our minds, the ensemble took full advantage of every resource available in 2009. By the end of the season, we had beaten our opponents by 5 points in the Championships. We received a gold medal in PSCO. Still, we wanted more.
2010 brought many changes, but particularly the jump from Open to World class, the most competitive, tough, and elite class in the world. We went into the competition with blind faith, biting our nails but believing in our students. A Bronze Medal isn't bad for our first year, right?
In our most recent 2011 season, we received a gold medal in PSCW.
We have high hopes for the 2012 competitive season.

Here is their first performance on March 1, 2012.