The Bridgewater-Raritan High school Indoor Percussion performed their final show of the season at MAPS Finals at Springford High School in Pennsylvania on April 5.
Bridgewater-Raritan’s show was titled “The Sound Gallery” and consisted of the following songs: “Spring” by Vivaldi, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston and “Hot To Go” by Chappell Roan.
The day started with an early call time of 7 a.m. The performers only had about an hour and 15 minutes to warm up together and do any finishing touches to their music before they hit the road to Springford High School.
It was a chill, slightly rainy day; however, the students did not let that stop them from performing their best to finish off their season with an amazing run. They all said a few encouraging words to each other right before they were about to perform, so everyone could be in the right headspace to put out their best effort.
This performance was the Indoor Percussion’s last performance, so this meant that all the hard work that they had put in over the last six months depended on this performance. Students were anxious but also exhilarated because they were all confident that this would go well, especially after their great MAPS Prelims performance the week before.
After months of hard work, it paid off. The group performed with excellent effort and energy, and placed 10th out of 21 teams with a score of 81.325. This made everyone extremely proud of all their work and themselves because they ended their season off with a satisfying run.
After the performance, students felt a sense of accomplishment, but the moment was also bittersweet. They all realized that this was their last competition of the season, and the seniors especially felt emotional towards this as it was the last competition of their high school career.
The seniors who are graduating this season are Caitlyn Hoff, Kaden Haley and Kai Cerruto.
The competition day ended fairly quickly compared to other competitions they attended this season, with students being free to go at 6:45 p.m. However, students still wanted to spend more time together afterward, so they decided to go to the arcade to cool off.
Overall, the Bridgewater-Raritan Indoor Percussion had a great season, with all their performances being something that the team is proud of. They are proud of their hard work over the past six months, and how it paid off during this last competition at MAPS Finals. They look forward to next year’s season, where team members are excited about the next show theme.
Section leader Nandini Kuppachi, a junior at Bridgewater-Raritan High School and Marimba 1 player, shared her thoughts about the team’s performance and the season.
“The team did amazingly well at MAPS Finals, and I am more than satisfied with how we ended. We especially put more effort into advancing ourselves after our WGI performance, which didn’t go as good as we’d hoped, but the improvement paid off with this last performance. Overall, I think the season went great, and that the members of the ensemble improved immensely over the past couple of months. Even though I am a junior, this was my first Indoor Percussion season, but it was astounding in my opinion, because everyone worked together and communicated well. I look forward to what the team accomplishes next year!” she said.
