WGI Winds Breakdown
AKA Band in a Gym 101
Indoor Winds is one of the enigmas of the marching arts for many people. What is it? Is it the future of the activity? Is it the grounds for innovation like we haven’t seen anywhere else? Is it just marching band but smaller and in a gym? One can contemplate these questions for a long time because, let’s be honest, who is really paying attention to WGI Winds? I’ll tell you who, it’s me. I’m also here to tell you what specifically you should pay attention to.
Winds is the newest addition to the Indoor marching arts suite, with their first year competing at WGI not even a decade ago in 2015. Due to how new it is, only a handful of groups compete. Still, that number is gradually growing, doubling since its inception in 2015 from 20 groups at Dayton to 42 groups currently signed up for Championships. I will have another article soon going over some of the groups to keep your eyes out for this season, so stay tuned for that.
CLASS:
If you saw our recent article about WGI Percussion by
, then you’ll have a basic idea of the class system for winds because it is very similar. To summarize, A = novice, Open = intermediate, and World = advanced; then Scholastic = high school, and Independent = not high school. If you want to read more to understand this system, then check out the article below. The only difference between Percussion and Winds is that there is a Concert class in percussion.
RULES
Just like the class system, there are a lot of similarities in the rules between Winds and Percussion, but also some key differences. The most notable of these differences is age eligibility, being by far the most accessible out of the three paths WGI offers. There is no age limit for any groups competing in the Independent class. In contrast, in Color Guard, only Independent World has no age limit, and Percussion has a maximum age of 22 for all its Independent classes. If you read the Percussion article and not just the section on Classes, you’ll also see the timing rules. These are identical to Winds. Summing up the maximum times quickly, A = 9 minutes, Open = 10 minutes, and World = 11 minutes. Strict timing penalties and all carry over for drums to horns as well.
There are effectively no limits on instrumentation in WGI Winds, and I think that is most easily demonstrated by quoting the rulebook directly:
4.2.1 Instruments typically utilized and recognized as part of a band or orchestra, including electronic instruments, are allowed as well as visual only performers such as color guard.
As you can see, these rules allow for not just wind instruments but also strings, percussion, and electronic instruments. This leads to a very diverse landscape in what individual groups field as their ensemble. For example, the two World Class Champions from last year had very different takes on how to deal with the rhythm section. The Scholastic Champion, Avon, took a more “purist” route, having a drumset beat played over speakers instead of having an actual percussion section there to keep time. The Independent Champion, UTRGV Winds, went hard in the other direction, fielding a drumset, two marimbas, a vibraphone and xylophone, two rack players, and a synthesizer. The only actual gray area in these rules is where acoustic “exotic” instruments (“exotic” in this case meaning not typically in a band or orchestra) such as accordion, pan flute, or mouth harp (if you’re going for a traditional Mongolian twist). There have been no groups to my knowledge to have gone beyond these boundaries, so I can’t say if an ensemble would be penalized for using these instruments.
JUDGING
This aspect of Winds differs the most from its sibling in Percussion, only calling for three judges. Here is the official breakdown taken straight from the rulebook once again:
3.1.1 Music Analysis = Thirty percent (30%), one judge
Composition = Fifteen percent (15%), Achievement = Fifteen percent (15%)
3.1.2 Visual Analysis = Thirty percent (30%), one judge
Composition = Fifteen percent (15%), Achievement = Fifteen percent (15%)
3.1.3 Overall Effect = Forty percent (40%), one judge
Repertoire Effectiveness = Twenty percent (20%), Communication Effectiveness = Twenty percent (20%)
The Music Analysis and Visual Analysis captions are pretty straightforward. The judge looks at both the achievement and the content to sum the total score for their caption, very similar to what we see in many other aspects of the marching arts.
The Effect caption is quite different from what we see in most aspects of the arts, as usually there is a split, explicit or implied, down the middle of the caption between Visual and Music. However, in Winds, the single Effect judge considers the entire package for both subsections, with “Repertoire Effectiveness” looking at design and “Communication Effectiveness” looking at performance. One may find this vague and confusing. Even if you aren’t confused, be sure to check out General Effect Media’s favorite article to shamelessly plug at every available opportunity, my very own explanation of General Effect written last summer.
Well, there you have it. That’s WGI Winds in a nutshell! If reading any of this made you more interested in this budding aspect of the Indoor Marching Arts Suite, that’s great because it needs all the attention it can get. Despite the bad rap many give it for being “too much like fall marching band,” it never hurts to tune in and be surprised.
A Scholastic A Winds group from Arkansas surprised me at the WGI Dallas Regional in 2020 (days before COVID-19 upended our lives). Greenwood HS started as most other wind shows would, but halfway through the show, the woodwinds put down their instruments in favor of brass instruments for the ballad. In 2019, I saw UTRGV Winds perform at WGI Houston (which was also their first WGI performance ever), where they stunned the audience and the judges, who immediately decided to have them compete in World Class for finals at the same event. This marked the beginning of a dream season, culminating in a bronze medal at Dayton.
With all that said, keep your eyes peeled this winter for more WGI content for you to enjoy, including an article introducing you to some of the rising stars and newcomers to the WGI Winds circuit.
Aaron Blackley is one of the original contributors for General Effect Media. Despite being young and fresh out of college, he has a vast knowledge and passion for the marching arts and has worked alongside the likes of HornRank as a ranker and moderator as well as the TxBands.com liveblog team since summer 2021. He can be found on Twitter as @GEMAaronB.