Over winter break, Perry winter guard and drumline were hard at work preparing for the numerous shows and performances in their upcoming season. During the “winter break camps,” they would spend all day adding onto the show with new music and choreography.

On Feb. 4, Perry hosted a winter guard show where 21 schools from across the state came to participate in. Since it is pretty early in the season, Perry decided to have only winter guard perform instead of both winter guard and drumline. This allowed members to focus solely on the color guard aspect. The setup and preparation was easier than most shows because “percussion has a lot of equipment,” said band director Brandon Kiesgen.

Kiesgen mentioned that the competition at the Perry show was Desert Vista, Corona Del Sol, and Rincon, as is typical, and that they will continue to be throughout the rest of the season.

This is not the first time Perry has hosted a competition, mainly because there was not an availability in the school and scheduling times. Hosting a band show is pretty much a fundraiser for the band program.

This year had a special surprise for the competitors; The Phoenix Independent Group (Arizona’s only independent world color guard unit) attended and performed for the students. This benefited the schools because, according to Kiesgan, “[it] helps them build their program…” and since they are “…the best around” the high schoolers got to see what is possible if they continue past high school.

Kiesgen said that there are at least “three Perry alumni” already in the group and he expects at least “two or three to continue on when they graduate”.

The possibility of Perry color guard members excelling into the top level is not far from reality. Considering the fact that Perry is in the scholastic A class, “the most competitive of the classes in colorguard,” said Kiesgen, Perry color guard members are given the opportunity to be exposed to professional teams and the possibility to join them. There are only 27 schools from Arizona in the scholastic A group, which is the largest high school student only division.

On Feb. 11, Perry will also be competing at the Millennium show, which will be the first show that winter guard and drumline will be performing together. Although they perform the same routine at every show, they are still “getting new sheet music and working on cleaning that up and making it presentable working on accuracy and dynamics” said Sophomore Mia Riddle.

Earlier, around the beginning of  Dec., open auditions were held, making one solid team unit of 30 members. Kiesgan said that the new kids really have “been really good…  really consistent about being on time at rehearsals and learning”. Freshman Jenny VanDusen said that “[they] work a lot during zero hour… do a lot of stretching and strengthening.  practice tosses and learning the routine and adding on to it.”