Farmington Hills, Farmington

By David Wallace
C & G Staff Writer

By David Wallace

C & G Staff Writer

FARMINGTON HILLS —The 51-member Farmington United Percussion Ensemble won its third consecutive state championship March 28 despite a major change made during the season.

The powers that be decided that the ensemble, made up of percussion instruments from marimbas to bass drums, was too good for its competition: After the young percussionists pounded the field in an earlier competition, they moved from the Independent A class to the Independent Open class.

Such competitions pit different ensembles against each other, and judges use a point system to score the performances, which resemble halftime shows.

“We’ve been doing more and more each year, and there are a couple of people who watch you and try to make sure you’re in the right classification, and we’ve been put up into this open class.

“Now what that basically means is that instead of competing against kids who are mostly high school age with some college groups, we’re going to a level now that is much more of a college-age type of a group. We won’t see too many high school kids now,” said ensemble director Joe Kuerzi.

“We’ve been in the same class for three years, so it was a surprise to all of us, and it was a challenge, but we took it and we stepped up, worked hard and we’ve been successful,” said section leader Andrew Butman, a Harrison High School senior.

“The average age of the pit is probably about 15, so the fact that we’re able to compete against these groups and somewhat stand a chance, like be in there in the running, is really amazing,” said Alyssa MacDonald, pit section leader and a senior at North Farmington High School. Instruments whose musicians do not move around the field, such as marimbas, make up the pit.

And the ensemble did more than stand a chance with the state finals win.

“It meant a lot, because we’ve been working really hard, and we’re really young this year,” said MacDonald. “So it was kind of exciting to be able to pull it out, and we got a lot better in the last, like, three days before it, and it was just cool to see everyone bond together and come together, and the energy, which was amazing, especially afterwards. It was so intense, and you could just see on everyone’s faces that we had a great show.”

The ensemble’s win advanced them to the 2010 Percussion World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, April 15-17.

“Two years ago, we were third place, the bronze medalists at the world finals. Last year, we were the silver medalist. Would we have won this year? I don’t know, and we’ll never know, but we’re going to a class now that kind of changes our goal, too, a little bit. The goal will be to try to make finals,” said Kuerzi.

The world competition includes a preliminary stage for the approximately 30 ensembles in the Independent Open class. The top 12 advance to the finals. Kuerzi thinks Farmington United has a good chance to advance.

About 90 percent of the ensemble’s members come from Farmington Public Schools, but some students whose nearby schools do not have ensembles join the group. The ensemble plays a six-minute program on a theme, and judges examine every performance aspect, from the musical quality to the ensemble’s formations.

Butman compared the percussion ensemble to regular high school band.

“This is a lot more detailed, because we have a six-minute show and we practice six months for those six minutes,” said Butman. “In band, we play a lot of different, other pieces. We don’t really play each song as perfect and as detailed.”

The ensemble’s program this year begins with the “Star Trek” theme, but winds up somewhere unexpected.

“It’s about space. Not space, though, like outer space. It’s about space like architectural space. It’s about the space and time between notes, or the space between a first and second place. Personal space, inner space, all those kind of things,” said Kuerzi. “The idea by the end of it is that we’ve explored all these different areas of space to show some spaces that really matter a lot to us. And to us, the most personal space is where we drum.”

You can reach C & G Staff Writer David Wallace at dwallace@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1053.