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A commentary on what's happening in the marching arts specifically around the Omaha metro area reaching into the surrounding states.
Inside the 50 (00:00)
Hello everybody, my name is Wade Kellett and welcome to Inside the 50. This is a podcast that has been in the works for quite a while. I have had this idea going on a year or so, two years now. And so I'm really happy to be bringing this podcast to you today. We're having it obviously on the audio side, but also streaming this as you're seeing it right now on YouTube.
And so feel free to check it out in any platform that should have podcasts. So what is this podcast? What are we going to be doing? So this podcast is going to be a commentary on what's going on in the marching arts world, mostly in our area and our state and slightly our region. Of course, as time goes on, we're going to be expanding into the national side of things. Of course, in the summertime, we're going to be talking about drum corps.
which is definitely a national and kind of worldwide program. And so we are, we're going to be talking about all those things. If you've got any questions along the way, you wish to want to know more about a certain subject, feel free to talk in the comments or, you know, find us on social media and send us a message so we can get back to you and, and hopefully answer your question or get someone on the show that can answer that question more thoroughly. This.
podcast is going to be geared towards really anybody wants to know about the marching arts in this area and the region. We're not just going to be talking strictly about our area, but we're going to have interviews of anyone from band directors to instructors, designers, choreographers, photographers, anybody that is involved with our marching arts scene.
and somehow is involved with it and somehow helps it grow, expand and prosper. So if you've got ideas, if you want your instructor, band director, designer, whoever interviewed so you can know more about them or know about their process or why they do what they do, feel free, like I said, to reach out to us so we can get a hold of them and maybe set something up. There's a lot to talk about.
We're right in the middle of indoor band season. We've had sit down band for a while, right? We've got our Christmas concert, holiday concerts all done. We're well into the spring, half way through the spring semester. So we are in the thick of indoor season. Now, if you don't know what indoor season is, we're talking, you take a full marching band, you've got your winds, you've got your percussion, and then you've got your color guard. You take those three components, you split them up.
and then they get to do their own show, you know, based on any type of different ideas that they might have for their theme. But there's going to be wins. You're granted in the wins side of things, there are different other components of the two that could be in there. Most of the wins activity though are win players, you know, woodwinds and brass with a backtrack doing a performance, a show, which I think is incredible. I love the wins so much.
I am a tuba player, so I am a little partial, but I love that it is such a new frontier for the activity, and I really don't think it has been fully flushed out yet. I think there are a lot of ideas. There's a lot of good ideas coming through the woodwork right now, and I think it can only grow. Definitely can only grow. Next, you've got your indoor percussion. So they've been along a lot longer than the Wintergards side, I'm sorry, the wind side of things.
and they have been, you know, you're talking your drum line on the floor. You're also talking your front ensemble. You know, recently there have been, you know, maybe a wind player to put in there. There have been visual performers in the indoor percussion side of things, but your basics are your drum line moving on the floor and then your front ensemble also playing in that mix. Great shows. Very entertaining. That's for sure.
And I tell you what, if you don't make it inside the show and you just watch the lots outside of everybody warming up, performing pieces of their show, getting ready for the final performance, it's such a cool experience to go in lots, especially Dayton, Ohio for world championships. And then from there, you're the oldest, you know, portion of the indoor activity, the Winter Guard. That's your color guard. That's your spinning flag, saber rifle, and then whatever prop you can find, right? You know, whatever.
crazy idea that designer or choreographer comes up with that you're, you know, you as a performer like, Oh man, how am I going to spin this? You know, but they will find a way and they're going to help you along the way. So we are, we are totally into this indoor season. Um, some people have favorites of the others. It's just, it's an incredible thing for each, um, section to kind of go on their own path and really get specific instruction. Usually in the indoor season, you're going to have a little bit more staff possibly to help.
harness and tone into the different fundamentals, the different pieces that can make you successful as you kind of grow in your career as a performer. And so a lot of the comments sometimes are more specific to each individual because the performance base is a lot smaller and there's only so many people that can be on the floor. And then, you you've, like I said, you're just honing your craft. You've got your...
You're specifically working on a show for your instrument group, winds, percussion, color guard. And so there's been a lot going on. Locally in our area, there's a lot of different, what they call circuits. So in our area, Omaha Metro area, we have what's called Heartland Winter Arts Association, HWAA. And this is the 25th season of HWAA. We're very happy that...
It's been able to continue for this long and provide performance opportunities for individuals in the Omaha metro area and even beyond into neighboring from groups from neighboring states. So we it's been great. I've been a part of it for a long time here, whether it has been, you know, my parents being banned, you know, band director, color guard instructor being involved in the activity or myself running an organization that had groups within the activity.
And then of course, as a designer and a choreographer, I've had groups in the H -J -B -A circuit. And it's been great. And like I said, celebrating 25 years, which is great for our area, and continue to create more and more opportunities. So with that, we're kind of, like I said, halfway through our season, we've got just a few shows left. Within the circuit, there's actually only two shows left.
So there's a total of six shows within our circuit. And then, so we have two more left, but before those last two shows, we have two regionals. So on March 9th, so this Saturday, we've got our color guard regional at Bellevue East High School. I helped start this regional and bring it to the Omaha area. And man, has it been a great impact because yes, we are in a local circuit. We're bringing groups in, not groups, I should say judges. We're bringing judges in.
from the outside area to help get better perspective on better comments, to help enhance our shows and to sit down, especially, we got judges tapes and then obviously a critique at the end of each local show. And having those one -on -one conversations, although they might be only a few minutes long, are very helpful because you're talking to someone who's been around in the activity, who's judged the activity and seen a lot of groups. And so those are priceless.
So now hosting a regional, I would say all of those judges are going to be from out of the area being brought in. And so now you're getting people from all over the United States who have judged regional competitions throughout the year so far, who are now coming in here to give their point of view, to judge your group, to give you feedback and to sit down and tell you what.
they might see off the first read and then going into the finals if you are lucky to make it, you're able to then get a second read from them to help even better your show. So we have the Color Guard Regional Bellevue East. There's 43 groups, which is the most groups you can have at a WGI Regional and make it a one -day regional. So they topped it off at 43, which is great. I want to say it's the biggest, the...
the Guard Regional has been in our area so far. I think this is the biggest year we've had. We've got groups from, I believe, Oklahoma and Missouri, and I think Kansas. Belleville's from Illinois. We've got South Dakota. We've got Minnesota. We do have a group coming from Colorado. And so there is a lot of excitement over it. So it'll be fun to watch and fun to see those groups go head to head.
to see who can make it into finals and then ultimately top three in their category. So after that, we've got our percussion regional, WGI regional. Sorry, WGI, if you don't know, is Wintergarten International. They are the NFL of football. They are the governing body that makes sure that there are regional events and then a world championships for people to come to. They're the ones helping to provide.
providing overall rules and rubrics and to the activity to help moving it forward. So there's a percussion and winds regional at Bellevue West High School. So these are once again another great opportunity for groups in the local area, some from the outside to come in and take part and get a really good read from these national judges. That's March 16th at Bellevue West. And then we stay at Bellevue West with our local circuit and host the last
regular season show on March 23rd. And then finally, April 6th is the HWA championship and that's going to be at Bellevue East High School. So what's great about our regionals is they're held usually at the sites where our last regular season show is and our final championship show is. And so it's nice because you can get a good read on what it is like to perform in those venues before you go and perform at the local circuit.
championships. It's, it's going to be great. There's a, there's a really tight competition right now. Uh, these last, the last regular season show is so important on a local level is because there is a ranking system. Um, and so they're kind of putting it in a nutshell. You perform, you get a score. And then from there, you, um, get put into an equation depending on what week it is. And then it pops out a.
an additional score. And then that you were then ranked upon those scores through the equation. And then that determines the position that you go come world, sorry, come the local circuit championships. WGI started this, they do it on the color guard side of things. And so, but we do it on the color guard wins and percussion side to help seed everybody for.
the last show of the season. So it's really good to get a good score that last show of the season so that you can be set up for a nice slot come the championships for the local circuit. So that's why that one's so important. And then obviously the championships is important also. We're going to check out really quick, give you just an update on what the rankings are.
We're gonna start with our percussion and then we're gonna go into our winds side of the world. So in our local circuit, we have one novice group. I should clarify real quick before I get into this. There are many different categories in regards to, let's just call them divisions. So you have like your division one, division two, division three.
And that in the grand scheme of things is world -class open class and a class from there There are different categories that can be low that a class we have regional a and then we also have a novice division and so some circuits have additional tiers within those lower ones Just because there are so many groups, but we keep ours pretty simple with the number of groups that we have
on the local area. So, and then on top of that, you have, like I said, your groups going down, your divisions. You have two separate, you push them out into two separate categories. So, you have your scholastic, that's your scholastic, world scholastic, open scholastic, A, regionally, such like that. Those are groups that are made up for my high school. High school or middle school, and they can be all from the same district.
or separate schools. So let's talk about Bellevue East and West, right? So Bellevue East can have its own winds group, Bellevue, and that's scholastic. You have Bellevue West has their own winds group. That's also a scholastic group. And then you have the Bellevues have their own combined percussion group between both schools. And that is also a scholastic group. When you start to pull kids, students from different
districts to create one group, that's when you start to go on the independent category. So you have scholastic and you have independent. The independent also is for those groups that are past that high school level. So colleges and then the groups that are out there that form from people who want to continue with that activity and want to have a place to go. So most of our group.
are scholastic in our local circuit. So, like I said, we're gonna start with the ranking so far for our percussion and then into our wins. This is all available on the HWA website, hwa .org, but we're gonna go through it real quick here. We've got our Bellevue Combined Novice. So that percussion group I talked about with both Bellevue High Schools, they actually have a novice group that will perform. And they are currently the only ones in that category.
From there, we've got our Scholastic A, so just above that. And right now, we've got our Bellevue combined percussion. So just to kind of explain this a little bit, so their contest score, this last one, they performed on the 17th, and they scored a 71 .6. Putting that into the equation, depending on what week, that number, the seed score will...
start to decrease as we get closer to championships. So their seed score is a 74 .6. So that's a three point difference that's added. And then you've got Columbus, their percussion group at a 70 .1. So their seed score is a 73 .1. So right now you've got Bellevue combined in first and Columbus very close behind in that second place. And then we have one group in the open category.
and that is our proponent, the Vista South Varsity Percussion. They're in the open, Scholastic open category. You might ask, and I'm going to stop right here just to say it real quick, because they had such an interesting story this last year. What if you're very good? What if you are in, say, the Scholastic A category and you are performing so well and your show is very intricate, it's thought out, it makes sense, you're playing a lot of notes, you're spinning very well, you're doing a lot of advanced...
maneuvers, then judges will look at you at the end of a contest or even in between a contest and decide that you are not at the correct level and they might bump you up. The only other way to bump up is at the beginning of a season to then register for a different category, different division. So the interesting thing is last year, Pupin -Livestas South started as an A -class group, Scholastic A,
In the season, they got bumped to open class. And then right before world championships, they were bumped to world class. So they made the run of the gamut and went all the way up. It was such a crazy experience to watch, to be a part of. I wasn't totally, I wasn't a part of it. I will say I am an alumni, so go Titans. But it was such a cool thing to watch and those kids to grow. It's very difficult as a director, as a designer to now go, okay, as an instructor.
you go into rehearsals a certain way, you go into designing a certain way for a certain class. And so to get bumped up through those categories had to just been incredibly difficult, but they were able to survive it. They did as best as they could for the situation they were in. And it was just really cool to have a world -class group in the local area. Now we're going to go to the WINS division for the local circuit. We've got our scholastic
Novice, which is above us wins novice. They are the only ones in their category. And then we've got our win scholastic a so as of right now, we've got Bellevue West wins at the top seed. They performed on the 17th just like the percussions did and crushed crushed they had a great score 78 .45. Really excited to see their show coming up and see all the changes they made from their
Papio South wins. They were one of the two groups to compete this previous weekend at Papio South and they are now in second. From there, we've got Gretna High School wins who they were actually novice and got bumped up and then are I believe maybe they were regionally, but they got bumped up and then Bellevue East wins rounding out those categories. So it's going to be a tight race. I think.
towards the end of the season. A lot of changes being made for these groups to really hone in their craft. So it'll be fun. I'm pretty sure Bellevue West, Pepeo South, and Bellevue East are all going to the Windsor Percussion Regional at Bellevue West. So it'll be fun to see them with some national judges in front of them and seeing what their scores turn out to be.
Now, we're gonna move on, like I said, I'm trying to make it quick. We're moving on to the color guard side of things. This is a big weekend for our color guards. The local circuit obviously has it off, but we've got the regional. We're gonna be talking more about this regional in our next episode with our special guest also who we're gonna be interviewing and kind of bring on the show to talk more about it. But just a quick little rankings, seedings I should say. We've got our Sioux Falls Lincoln.
their regional A group. Then it goes Bellevue West, Papua South. Once again, these are most of the JV groups of these. They usually have a varsity group in Scholastic A and then a regional A group. And some of them also have novice groups, which is incredible because you're giving students a pathway.
to ease into the activity and to slowly grow and perfect their craft. And so I think it's such a great thing when groups are able to have schools, I should say, are able to have enough people to have separate groups to grow their organization and grow their students and individuals. So, Sioux Falls, then Bellevue West, then Bellevue South, Millard West, Brandon Valley, Millard North, Creighton East, Millard South.
Omaha combined. Once again, Omaha combined is Omaha Public Schools and they've combined to create one. There's a lot of close scores in there right now. I would say, oh, maybe half of those groups are coming down for the regional, which is going to be exciting to see. And then we'll move into our Scholastic A. Also some very tight races in our Scholastic A division. Some...
Most everybody competed on the 2nd of March, but there were some groups that were still had competed on the 17th of February. So it's very interesting to see what those groups might make a jump if they're at the regional and then if, you know, make even a further jump to the last show, a regular season show of Bellevue West. We'll find out. But right now our current seedings are Papillion Levis' South, Sioux Falls, Bellevue West, Millard West, Millard South, Millard North.
Omaha combined, Brandon Valley, Creston, Gretna, Bellevue, Gretna High School, Bellevue East, Westside, and then Elkhorn combined. Like I said, a lot of close scores in there. Really excited to see what all is going to happen with them. Most, I would say most of these groups are going to be at the regional. So it's going to be great to see them kind of head to head with groups from the region.
the literal region coming in and converting into Bellevue that day. And then our last group in our circuit in independent A is the UNO Maverick Guard. And great to see an actual independent A group in our circuit again. Really excited for them and what they've been doing. So we've got, like I said, this podcast is going to be a lot about what happens in the local area.
and we're gonna be interviewing those people and I'm really, really excited to bring our first interview to you today. We've got Jeff Peabody, who is the, I'm gonna introduce him in a second, but he is a dear friend of mine. I helped design with him in the fall, helped a little bit with their percussion group in the winter time, but he is somebody who's been with H2BA for a long time.
a great proponent for indoor percussion and the indoor guard in this activity, as well as just making people better. And so I hope you enjoy this interview with him. They're gonna be heading out to Denver this weekend to go at the regional. And I'm really pumped for them and excited to see how well they're doing. So with that, thank you for listening. If you enjoy this material, if you wanna see more of what we're gonna be talking about,
down the road. Like I said, we're going to be doing our second episode pretty quick here about the regional for the color guard this weekend. And so we're going to be talking more about that. So if you want to see that, do all the things that all those other YouTube podcasters tell you, like subscribe, share it, share it out so we can continue to grow. What one of the great things is when we interview somebody like an instructor, a band director,
that's tied to a school, any money, I'm sorry, a portion of the money that we're making, not that it's gonna be very much at all, but hopefully we start to gain some steam, but any money that we're making is going to go towards that school's program because we're here to continually make our circuit and our students better. So thank you again, and I can't wait for you to see you on the next episode.