Mt. Vernon Indoor Percussion Places First at Semistate

At around 12:30 PM on March 18th, 2023, Mt. Vernon’s Indoor Percussion group competed at Brownsburg High School in the Indiana Percussion Association’s (IPA’s) semi state competition.
They started at 7:00 AM, practicing until 8:00 AM, where they loaded up equipment into the trailers, ate, put on makeup, did their hair, and left for Brownsburg High School. Once they got there, they unloaded the equipment, warmed up, and then performed their show, “Red Planet.” “Red Planet” is a percussion ensemble piece composed by Kevin Shah and arranged by Mt. Vernon’s Indoor Percussion director, Marissa Turney. Other assistant directors of Mt. Vernon’s Indoor Percussion program include Micheal Ahearn, Jack Doerges, and Jaclyn Nason.
At about 2:30 PM awards for the competition were announced. There were seventeen bands, including Mt. Vernon. Mt. Vernon’s Indoor Percussion program, represented onstage by senior Erin Ballinger and captains Daniel Barnes and Hannah Elstro, won the competition by several points.
Four bands were cut, leaving a total of thirteen groups, including Mt. Vernon’s Indoor Percussion, competing at finals in the Indiana State University Hulman Center in Terre Haute, Indiana on April 1st. Mt. Vernon’s members were released at about 5:00 PM, after traveling back to Mt. Vernon High School and putting the equipment away to the band room. Then, after the competition, members of the group went out for a celebratory dinner and had a movie night in the band room.
Mt. Vernon’s Indoor Percussion program takes part in Indiana’s state competitions only, competing in Indiana Percussion Association’s (IPA’s) Concert Class A. This means that IPA finals, held on April 1st, will be the last competition of the year for the group. However, the group does perform their most recent show each year at the end of the year band concert, known as Extravaganza. Tickets and dates will be available closer to the end of the school year for anyone interested in watching.