Dropping Beats with DAWG
Weapons of Mass Percussion performing at the DUC Encore. Photo by Kathryn Wisniewski

Dropping Beats with DAWG

No microphones were needed for this weekend’s performance in the Encore, though they did help throw about drum puns.

On Saturday night, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s student organization, Drum and Wind Group, presented Weapons of Mass Percussion in the Dreyfus University Center.

Weapons of Mass Percussion was an exhibition of DAWG’s drumline.

Cody Gehrke, sophomore math major, is vice president of DAWG and the drumline section leader.

Weapons of Mass Percussion performing at the DUC Encore. Photo by Kathryn Wisniewski

Weapons of Mass Percussion performing at the DUC Encore. Photo by Kathryn Wisniewski

“We hope people come for the entertainment and to see cool stuff,” Gehrke said. “We try to do as much as possible, but this is our drumline feature.”

Robert Ehr, the club’s secretary, emceed the evening’s entertainment to guide the audience through the variety of numbers the club had organized for the show.

The first segment had the drum line perform to set the tone for the night.

Two other numbers made up the first half of Weapons of Mass Percussion. The first was having audience members join the drumline on stage to play The Cup Song from Pitch Perfect.

The audience was again asked for their input in a competition entitled Drums versus Dinos. Two of the DAWG members donned inflatable tyrannosaurus rex costumes to compete against two other DAWG members in drum playing ability.

Victory went to the dinos by measure of audience applause.

The whole of the performance consisted of similar give and take between performances, both as solos and group numbers, and audience participation.

Lindsey Bungaard, freshman English and Spanish majors, and Shannon Kruzicki, freshman communication sciences and disorders major, are members of DAWG who attended Weapons of Mass Percussion.

“It’s amazing what they can do up there,” Bungaard said. “It was definitely more than I expected. You hear drumline showcase and you think they’re going to play some drums, but they come out and do stuff like this and it’s amazing.”

While the drumline brought a fun air to Saturday night’s event, they also showcased the amount of effort that goes into any sort of performance.

“I feel like being a musician makes me appreciate it more because I know how much work it takes to do even simple things, and then for them to come out here and do this is special,” Bungaard said.

DAWG will be performing again on Saturday, May 13, at 7 p.m. in the Laird Room of the DUC. Admission is free.

Anyone who plays a marching instrument and is interested in joining DAWG can find them through SPIN and Facebook or contact them through their email, dawg@uwsp.edu.

“We’re lots of fun, and we like to jam out,” Kruzicki said.

During Weapons of Mass Percussion, Ehr encouraged anyone to reach out to the organization.

“We’re all really friendly,” Ehr said. “Our bark is worse than our bite.”

 

Kathryn Wisniewski

Reporter

kathryn.e.wisniewski@uwsp.edu

About pointer

Avatar

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*