Drum Corps of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (DC UMY) became the second runner up in the category of marching show at Thailand World Music Championship (TWMC) 2017 competition with total score of 87.050. The winner was Attawit Commercial Technology College, Thailand with a total score of 90.650 while the second runner up was achieved Orkiestra OSP Nadarzyn of Poland with a total score of 76.975. In addition to being the second winner of the World Class marching show category, DC UMY also became the third winner of Street Parade and was awarded as the most favourable band. In addition, Drum Corps UMY was also the only representative of University Band joining the TWMC 2017.
Thailand World Music Championships itself is an annual international marching band competition organised by the TWMC Association since 2010. The 2017 competition was held in Sisaket, Thailand. This grand event is one of the cynosure of world marching band competition. That is because not only the category is diverse but also the judges are presented from various countries and are qualified experts in such international event.
The TWMC 2017 was conducted from 15 to 17 December and was participated by four countries namely Indonesia, Thailand, Poland, and People’s Republic of China. The Drum Corps of UMY brought “The Creation of Universe” as the theme telling the creation of the universe with the concept of a performance combining music and da’wah. In the street parade, the DC of UMY performed the song of Manuk Dadali from West Java. In this competition, DC of UMY brought along 139 personnel consisting of 101 players, 11 trainers and 27 crews.
In an interview on Tuesday (19/12), Head of Student and Alumni Development Office (LPKA) of UMY who also accompanied the team expressed his pride in the achievement. “I was touched and proud of them. I was touched of seeing their very long process facing many obstacles, yet they were still competing in the TWMC. I am proud because they tried to do their best performance and to entertain Thai people. This is proven as they became the Popular Vote and finished the 2nd Place in the World Class. In Jogja, we become the first successful university in the World Class championship. This is a proud achievement for UMY,” Sugito added.
Sugito also advised the DC team to continue to maintain to be disciplined, never to give up on thier hard work, solid and to have more professional and reliable management.
Meanwhile, one of the crews Ayu Rahayu crew admitted that in preparing for the championship her team wanted to continue to convey the Islamic value as their characteristic. “We prepared a performance with the theme of ‘The Creation of Universe’ from January to December. The DC of UMY would like to diffuse Islamic values as our previous performances,” explained Ayu.
However, the achievements they obtained cannot be unglued from the various challenges and obstacles. With their persistence and effort to keep showing their best performance, the DC team could finally reach the second world champion. “During the preparation, the obstacles were difficulties in meeting the composition of players, interconnecting the composition of the show, and many others. We are grateful that finally we could get this achievement,” maintaineds Ayu.
In addition, one of the players Siti Aulia Maharani said that the competition was very exhausting. There was a tough feeling when competing with other teams from various countries. “Therefore, we and other players just feel so proud of the achievements we acquired. Indeed, it brings certain more happiness when we remember the exercises we did together,” expressed Aulia.
