Yamaha Ensembles Take Home Eight Medals at 2017 WGI Championships

By SBO+ Staff

At this year’s Winter Guard International (WGI) Indoor Percussion & Winds World Championships, eight awards were earned by groups using solely Yamaha instruments.

The championships, which took place from April 20-23, featured over 590 participants in Dayton, Ohio. Almost all of the competitive ensembles used an instrument from Yamaha.

Chino Hills High School Percussion Ensemble of California received the 2017 WGI gold medal in the scholastic category, while the percussion ensemble from the Arcadia Unified School District (also of California) received the silver. Pulse Percussion of California won the 2017 bronze in the independent category. Fair Lawn of New Jersey won the gold medal in the Scholastic ‘A’ category, and Farmington United of Michigan received the silver medal in the Independent ‘A’ category.

Chromium Winds of Illinois won both the Winds Championship Independent Open class and the “fan favorite award.” The Scholastic World gold medal was awarded to Avon High School of Indiana.

“Yamaha has been a proud supporter of WGI and indoor percussion for nearly 20 years, and is the only company that has all the instruments and products these groups need to compete at the highest level – from drum sets, marching percussion and wind instruments to mixers, PA systems, sampling and arranging products,” said Troy C. Wollwage, the percussion marketing manager, Band & Orchestral division, of Yamaha Corporation of America. “Competing at WGI is akin to playing in the major leagues. The numbers of young performers and their musicianship levels keep rising and many of these young people will become the music educators of the future.”

In addition, nearly 30 Yamaha performing artists worked on the event, offering their services as instructors, judges, and ensemble directors.