The Baldwin indoor percussion and color guard competed at Three Rivers Winter Ensemble Championships at Norwin this Saturday. 

The guard earned sixth place with a score of 76.08 with their show “Down the Rabbit Hole.”

“This is an improvement by more than 16 points” from their previous competition score, sophomore Emma Smerbeck said. 

Smerbeck congratulated junior Julianna Lang’s performance, as it is her first season participating in indoor guard. 

“She did amazing,” Smerbeck said.

Indoor percussion earned fourth place with a score of 77.6, which is a 10-point improvement from their last competition. Their show is entitled “Into the Wild.”

Junior Matthew Colwell said freshman Leland Leppard and eighth-grader Robbie Gallagher have improved greatly throughout the season.  

“Both of them are on an instrument they have never played before,” Colwell said.

Both Smerbeck and Colwell agreed that one of the best parts of any competition is the friendly competition and support from other groups. 

“It’s definitely getting to cheer on fellow groups and talking with the other schools,” Smerbeck said. 

Though the competition was inside a gymnasium, the rough weather and high winds on Saturday made it difficult to transition from practice at Baldwin beforehand to the competition at Norwin. 

 “The storm made it a bit more chaotic, but it worked out,” Smerbeck said. Colwell said it was difficult to load the band trailer without equipment blowing away. 

Now that TRWEA competitions are over, both groups are practicing for Tournament Indoor Association competitions, with championships for TIA at Baldwin on April 29.

“Just hosting it at Baldwin is going to be fun,” Colwell said. 

The indoor percussion and color guard’s next competition is TIA on April 15 at Keystone Oaks.