By Kellie Finch
Everything you need to know about WGI Winds clinics in 2024
WGI will offer students the chance to attend hands-on, educational clinics at all of its Winds-only regionals during the 2024 season.
Run by a panel of WGI judges, these five clinics, spanning throughout February and March, will provide Winds students with a unique space to gain feedback and firsthand knowledge of the marching arts, as well as attend a world-class ensemble’s open rehearsal.
Organized by Wayne Markworth, WGI’s Director of Winds, these clinics proved to be a huge hit during the 2023 season, causing WGI to expand the number of regionals at which the clinics would be available. Clinics are expected to be offered at the following events:
Winds regionals consist of two performances per ensemble: prelims and finals. Combined with the smaller attendance pool for Winds, this leaves an empty block of time in the middle of the day – perfect for performers to learn.
On a Winds regional day, ensembles will perform their show once in the morning, receive feedback from the judges, and then eat lunch. After lunch, the performers will attend the clinic for several hours, before performing a second time at finals – to apply both their prelims feedback and the information they learned at the clinic.
During the 2023 season, clinics were divided into two one-hour-long blocks, Markworth said. The first was dedicated to leadership and membership, located in the respective school’s auditorium. The second block worked on playing fundamentals, as brass and woodwinds split up in arcs, taught by one of the clinicians.
Small marching lessons were provided by a visual judge as well, though high attendance numbers made marching in a tightly packed gymnasium difficult, Markworth said.
After the hands-on portion of the clinics concluded, attendees had the opportunity to sit in on a world-class ensemble’s open rehearsal, acting as a different learning format. Additionally, a staff member from the ensemble communicated with the audience throughout to explain the layout of the rehearsal in more detail.
The clinics are taught by various WGI judges from around the country, including Winds Chief Judge Wayne Dillon, Randy Greenwell, Richard Saucedo, and Bruce Jones, among others. The three judges at each regional are the primary instructors for those clinics.
One of the unique aspects of the clinics is the opportunity to mix all levels of ability and experience, Markworth said. Performers from different ensembles have the opportunity to intermingle and build relationships with one another that may not have been possible otherwise.
WGI is incredibly excited to offer this opportunity for performers and ensembles again this year!
About the Author:
Kellie Finch is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pursuing her BA in Media and Journalism through the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. At UNC, she is a member of the Marching Tar Heels in the tenor saxophone section. She participated in WGI winds during all four years of high school playing the alto saxophone, where she discovered her love for music and the activity through her experiences and the people she met.
