On Saturday February 19, 2022, our very own Ayala High School Drumline competed at Temescal Canyon High School. After a long awaited 2 years to get back into competing, they finally made it. Their current show got them a fabulous second place at their first competition of this season. 

“Our show is titled Invidia! It’s basically about envy, named after the goddess of envy herself, and is about how people constantly want more and more of what they don’t have that they forget about the things that they started with, so much so that they begin to desire the things they started with after losing them,” said junior Lily Lott. 

As beautiful as the show looks now and as easy as it may look to do, it really isn’t. Shows like this take tons of time and patience to put together. 

“Practice in performances are helpful in the way that it gives off ‘before-show adrenaline’ which helps overshadow any anxiety or nervousness beforehand,” said Lott.

Junior Front Ensemble member Malia Dela Cruz said, “We could have had more practice time as an ensemble so that we knew what it would feel like, but what would be most helpful is experience in gyms and at competitions. Now that we know what it’s like we will be able to make adjustments better and faster.” 

Occasionally, a group will mess up or have some technical issues that throws off the groups performance. What makes performers truly great is the way that they are affected, as the team faced some challenges during their performance, but got right back into to swing of it. 

Junior drumline member Amare King said, “We did our job as mature performers and made sure that we can finish strong even despite having a rocky start that essentially made it impossible to hear anything.” 

Though when one thinks about one of these shows, they may only picture the drumline. But there are actually many different sections in a competition like this: the main, and most well-known being Drumline, and the others being Visual Ensemble and Front Ensemble. 

“I’m a part of the visual ensemble. We don’t play any of the instruments in the production, but we do a lot of cool choreography that adds so much to the general effect of the show,” Said Lott. 

Each section is responsible for their own part of the show and makes it better. Individually, the sections may not shine as bright as they can, but when all together, they can make extraordinary entertainment. 

Dela Cruz said, “My favorite part of the show was the visuals from the battery (aka drumline). The visuals really tie the show together to show the whole story.” 

As responsible members of this group and as performers, it is essential that they know the meaning of the show and understand it. Some members know more than others, but they help each other gain a better understanding of it and work as a team. 

King said, “I always take the time to make sure I know every detail about the show that I can learn so that the rest of the group is on the same page with me.” 

After all schools perform in their competition groups, there is the awards ceremony. Each school gets a score and a placement from their division. 

“Yeah, we go to these comps so that we can get scored on how well the show is going so far and to get feedback from the judges on how to improve the show,” said King. 

Typically, Ayala’s team will place in the top three. On the rare occasion that they don’t, they take it well, and use it as motivation to do better for their next competition. 

Lott said, “We got 2nd place. Honestly, I think it’s a well deserved placement. We had some mess ups here and there, but the recovery the entire ensemble had was really impressive!” 

This is a very impressive place, considering it was their first show. Imagine what they could have placed, had it been their third or fourth show! It is also very impressive due to the high number of new members in their group. This is the first year for many people. Like Front Ensemble member, Malia Dela Cruz and Visual Ensemble member, Lily Lott.