WGI along with their partner circuits divide and classify their activities in order to suit the needs of competitors. WGI recognized the different interests that were not colorguard, which included of percussion and people who played wind instruments. Those activities were left out of the winter arts, so in 1992, WGI added indoor percussion and later, in 2014, added indoor marching ensemble (or Winds) to their competitive units. WGI considers winds the final extension of their organization and completes their support for the entire band program. WGI divide each activity into two groups: scholastic and independent, and their partner circuits follow suit. The scholastic division is made up of members from the same high schools in which they …show more content…
The classifications of winds and winterguard include, scholastic “A”, scholastic open, scholastic world, independent “A”, independent open, and independent world. Winter percussion stays constant with the exception of percussion scholastic concert open and percussion scholastic concert world. These classifications allow the competitors to have fair competition and not be consistently beat by groups of high skill levels. In addition, classification is flexible, groups are allowed to move up and down in their classes. “A” class groups are defined as beginner programs and performers. Usually new programs start at this level of classification and work their way up the levels. For example, Arvin high school winterguard started in “A” class and as of 2017, moved up to open class due to their newly achieved performance skills. It is common for a group to master their current class before moving up a class.
Open class groups are defined as intermediate level. Instead of basing their show on counts, they are more lyrical, showing the obvious difference in the classifications. This class shows a higher understanding of the activities, along with a larger grasp on their knowledge of