The SIA Organisation has had a few great seasons ever since its return to competition through its main performing group, the SIA Cadets. Since then, the success of the SIA Cadets have infected the other groups that were revived from dormancy. Now in its 5th season back, the SIA Organisation intends to step up on its competitive game by announcing exciting and innovative programs that will be sure to turn heads and get crowds riled up!

The SIA Cadets:
The SIA Cadets have been on fire ever since "The Firebird" rocked Division 3 Drum Corps in Season 62 and shocked audiences with its stunning reproduction of Stravinsky's famous ballet suite. The show tells the story of the Russian legend of the Firebird, a powerful good spirit whose feathers supposedly convey beauty and protection upon the earth. The lore also tells of the heroic Prince Ivan Tsarevich and the evil sorcerer Kashchei, from whom Ivan must rescue the princess he loves. It is only through the intervention of the Firebird, whose life he spares early in the ballet, that Ivan is able to destroy Kashchei and his followers and marry the princess. The depiction of this folk story was true and accurate to the finest detail, with a strong brass and percussion line that was supported by a decent guard section and visuals. The production the SIA Cadets had put up earned them the Division III title, undisputedly, by going undefeated all season and sweeping all captions at finals with a previous corps record score at that time of 90.720, which also beat out the nearest competitor by more than 10 points! No one in the staff lineup nor the members had expected such a great feat to unfold before them. This truly was a revelation that the organisation had the potential to turn itself into one of the premier organisations in FMA.

A similar story followed the next season when the SIA Cadets presented a macro conceptual show called "The Young Person's Guide to Drum Corps", which was based off the Benjamin Britten classic. The show started off with "Variations on a Theme by Haydn" by Brahms, during which each section and instrument is introduced, followed by a true drum corps classic, Malaguena by Ernesto Lecuona, which displayed what potential drum corps has in entertaining audiences. The show ends off with the fugue-finale section of Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" where the brass, Drumline and Pit sections battle it out in a contrapuntal manner before resolving together in a triumphant fashion. The show was a huge success, with the SIA Cadets crowned as champions again, this time in Division II. They've also set another previous high score back then of 93.520, even when they've just been promoted that season. This meant that the SIA Cadets have earned two consecutive promotions and titles in different divisions, a feat few corps in FMA pulled off!

The next season saw them performing Claude T. Smith's Variations on a theme by Louis Borgeouis and tying it with a storyline of France's history. This show was filled with virtuosic brass playing and exciting percussion, despite a fairly weak show concept as compared to previous seasons. This was still enough for them to clinch 7th place on Finals night in their first season in Division I with a score of 93.620. Though it wasn't an immediate hit on audiences and the judges, the show was constantly revised and slowly grew onto those who watched. Whilst not necessarily considered an off year, the creative team felt that they could do better and give justice to the performing members who have so far been such a dedicated and talented team to work with.

This brings us to "Metropolis 1927: When Two Worlds Collide", a show conceived by the creative team where they felt proud of presenting and would give the corps their best show so far, and it did. The show is based off a German science-fiction film of the same name by Fritz Lang, and also a piece of brass band literature by Peter Graham, also based on the same name and film. The show is set in a futuristic, dystopian city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, where the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences (sorry if there are any spoilers all, it's a wonderful silent film if anyone is interested). The creative team borrowed some elements from the film, such as its dark expressionistic overtones and the futuristic and dystopian look. Not only did the corps finish the season with an all-time high score of 95.165, they've also managed to break into the upper half of the leaderboard by placing 5th at Division I Finals!

The SIA Cadets have decided to step off the accelerometer pedal for this season and instead celebrate its successes, with a show aptly named "Idyll". Idyll is defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as a very happy, peaceful, and simple situation or period of time, especially in the countryside, or a piece of music, literature, etc. Indeed, this period for the corps and organisation has been such a wonderful and blissful one, as such celebrations should be in order. This season is also coincidently the final season of the corp's first batch of age-outs, making the occasion to commemorate their successes much more symbolic. The show begins with the first movement of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, where the composer describes the work as "more the expression of feeling than painting". Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll" is the main focus of the next movement, in which it is simultaneously a grand gesture and an intimate musical love letter to Cosima, his wife. This, in turn, is our symbolic gesture to the age-outs in the corps whom we will miss very dearly. The scherzo of Dvorak's Sixth Symphony, a Furiant, Czech dance, kicks off the next movement with its groovy, syncopated cross-rhythms that will be sure to make you want to tap your foots. The show ends off on a triumphant, radiant high with the finale of Brahms' Second Symphony. We hope that everyone goes home joyful and bubbly from the show :)

The SIA Knights:

While the SIA Cadets is the main focus of the organisation, the SIA Knights also have their fair share of success, maybe arguably the most successful group in terms of silverware. The Knights returned to competition a season later than the Cadets in Season 63, performing the same program as their drum corps counterparts (A Young Person's Guide to Marching Band) to help them get started. The Knights were crowned Champions of Division II, their first of a string of consecutive medals to come.

The Knights then revisited an old classic of theirs from their early days, Les Misérables, a production which earned them an undisputed consecutive Division II title, which finally gained them promotion to Division I.

"The Spheres" is an ambitious show conceived the following season by the creative team that reflects upon the origins of the universe and deep space in general. The show is based upon Philip Sparke's "Music of the Spheres", commissioned by the Yorkshire Building Society Band and first performed by them at the European Brass Band Championships in Glasgow, May 2004. The show opens with a French horn solo called "t = 0", a name given by some scientists to the moment of the Big Bang when time and space were created, and this is followed by a depiction of the Big Bang itself, as the entire universe bursts out from a single point. A slower section follows called "The Lonely Planet", which is a meditation on the incredible and unlikely set of circumstances which led to the creation of the Earth as a planet that can support life, and the constant search for other civilizations elsewhere in the universe. "Asteroids and Shooting Stars" depicts both the benign and dangerous objects that are flying through space and which constantly threaten our planet. The show ends with "The Unknown", leaving in question whether our continually expanding exploration of the universe will eventually lead to enlightenment or destruction. The audiences (and press box judges, yippee) were thoroughly impressed with the show, particularly the fact that we were willing to take big risks and go all out. The band made it to the podium on Division I Finals night, being awarded the Bronze medal. This is an awesome achievement, especially since the Knights were newly promoted and were only 3 seasons in since returning to competition.

This season the Knights will present 'Turangalîla." The show is based on Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-symphonie, a monumental piece of orchestral music. The title is derived from two Sanskrit words, Turanga and Lîla, which roughly translate into English as "love song and hymn of joy, time, movement, rhythm, life, and death." The show will also feature an accompanying solo keyboard, and solo ondes martenot, which is an electronic musical instrument similar to the theremin but with a physical keyboard. It was invented in 1928 in France by Maurice Martenot. We hope that you get to imagine the Tristan and Isolde legend not as a musical re-telling, but as its essential idea that Messian describes as “a love that is fatal, irresistible and which, as a rule, leads to death; a love which, to some extent, invokes death, for it transcends the body—even the limits of the mind—and extends on a cosmic scale.”

The SIA Star and The SIA Beats:
The two indoor groups took a while to get started, starting out in Season 63 by making Division 3 finals. It was only in Season 65 that both groups finally made a breakthrough by clinching Division II titles for themselves. The SIA Stars and SIA Beats performed a show titled "Enigma", an intriguing show that will anyone who watched scratch their heads while appreciating the quasi-hypnotic visuals. Both groups used the same repertoire but utilized it differently to accommodate their ensembles.

The SIA Stars will present "Iridescence", a lustrous rainbow-like play of colour caused by differential refraction of light waves. The music used will be Iridescence by Zechariah Goh. "Ionization" by Edgard Varese will play a big role in the SIA Beats' show this season of the same name. One might expect to be subjected to a one-dimensional barrage of colourless noise when watching the show.

The SIA Organisation will continue to grow and put out electrifying and demanding shows that will push boundaries. We hope that we can continue to stay competitive for the seasons to come and we wish everyone good luck and Merry Christmas!

I've had some time on my hands so I decided to do a write up on my groups, hope you guys will enjoy reading it!

This is awesome. Congrats on achieving your goal of breaking into the top 5 last season!

Thanks man! :)