YOGYAKARTA- UGM Marching Band (MB) Team once again made a national achievement. This time, the UGM MB team achieved the second place in the Grand Prix Marching Band Indonesia 2010, which was held from 26 to 27 December 2010 at Istora Senayan, Jakarta. This achievement repeats the previous performance in 2005.
In the recent XXVI Competition, UGM MB team managed to eliminate 12 teams from various government agencies, corporations, and universities. Some of them are teams of State University of Eleven March (UNS), PT Garuda, Padjadjaran University, PT Semen Padang, Gita Teladan Jakarta and Banten province. "It was exciting for us because we were able to win. The training we had done so far was not in vain," said Secretary of Marching Band Student Activity Unit, Ayu Meivitasari, on Wednesday (5/1) in the Student Center.
For the recent competition, the UGM MB team brings 104 players and 36 crews. Their effort is not easy. They worked hard through the routine workout for months. "Especially for this event, we did exercise for 2-3 times a week for 8 months," she said.
Their previous achievements at the same eventwere; ranked fifth in 2008 and ranked sixth in 2007. "Last year, we did not participate," said the student of Faculty of Pharmacy who was born in Yogyakarta, May 16, 1990.
Contacted separately, UGM Director of Student Affairs, Drs. Haryanto, M.Sc., expresed his happiness with the achievement.In his opinion, this success is the result of the students’ process of soft skill training in playing musical instruments. "This remarkable achievement has been made by the students. They competed for the general category in this competition," said Sentot, his nickname.
Nevertheless, a series of musical play, such as percussion, trumpet, and drums, combined with a solid team performance in each concert made this team worth to be taken into account by the jury. "Even the equipment team had trainedon how they should prepare a musical instrument for the players within 5 minutes," said Sentot.
Sentot admitted that he continually escorted the UGM MB team right from departure up until the competition in Jakarta. Upon the qualifying rounds and finals, each of their appearances was opened with the Hymn of Gadjah Mada.
In the current competition, the UGM achieved the second place after the UI.whilethe third and fourth positions by the Province of Banten and Taruna Teladan.