For the first time in school history, the award-winning percussion program was selected last spring as one of only two California high-school level percussion studios invited to perform at the the 78th Midwest Clinic, an international band and orchestra conference this December.
Since the start of the school year, the 35 percussion students have had rehearsals on Mondays from 5-6:30 p.m. This is in addition to their usual Red Day class periods and grueling marching band rehearsals.
Held in Chicago, from Dec. 18-21, the Midwest Clinic is one of the largest gatherings of musicians available for secondary and collegiate students, with more than 18,000 attendees from all 50 states and more than 40 countries. As a result, the Midwest Clinic offers unmatched networking opportunities for both music educators and students.
In order to qualify for the prestigious conference, the studio had to submit recordings of three different pieces performed by percussionists in the auditioned Symphonic Wind Ensemble (SWE) in March. Those recordings were later evaluated by judges and organizers of the Clinic, many of whom are music directors of high schools and universities around the country. Now, all percussion students in the band program, whether a part of the Freshman Band and Symphonic Band (FBSB) or SWE, will perform at the Midwest Clinic.
Throughout the repertoire, the percussionists will play with numerous guest artists and composers following a loose theme of people who have shaped the Saratoga band community.
“[It’s the idea that] every single person that passes through music has a super big effect and an impact through time,” interim associate band director and director of percussion Sean Clark said. “Even if it’s someone who taught us or who taught someone else [who then taught us], all those connections and ties still helped to grow a program in a lot of ways.”
They will be performing alongside six guest artists: Scott Johnson, a percussion instructor and arranger; Terry Longshore, a percussion studies professor at Southern Oregon University; Maxwell Longshore, DJ and freelance producer; Anthony Gonzales, an audio professional and percussion instructor at SHS; Class of ‘22 alumnus Ryan Lee, a marimba soloist currently studying music education at Northwestern University; and Tony Glausi, a professional trumpet player who also attended the Midwest Clinic with the SHS Saratoga Strings orchestra in 2023.
Percussion is preparing a total of eight pieces, with varying difficulty levels that can be divided into Grades 1 to 6, with Grade 1 being beginner-level pieces and Grade 6 being advanced selections. The Clinic requires that half the program feature pieces in Grades 1-3, and the other half in Grades 4-6. Due to the conference’s emphasis on showcasing varied repertoire, half of the pieces performed are also required to be composed within the last two years.
The group is also preparing four brand-new pieces — two of which were commissioned just for the percussion ensembles. Of those two, one was commissioned for the SWE percussion studio and the other for the FBSB studio.
“I think it’s important to write about the fact that these pieces are known as commissions,” Clark said. “A lot of times you go on a website and buy a piece of [pre-composed] music. But in this instance, we approached specific composers because we felt like they had something to say, and we felt like that message is something our students could learn from.”
The first of the two commissioned pieces is titled “Cascade” by Terry Longshore; his son, Maxwell Longshore, also a composer, is in charge of the audio for the piece. As a percussionist, educator, composer and performer, Terry taught a few master classes for Saratoga students in 2017 and then again in 2023. Aiming to make music more accessible and relatable to students, the piece captures the Lo-Fi, electro-acoustic genre of music.
On the other hand, “Tam Wua” by Glausi is inspired by his trip to Thailand as well as the “hustle and bustle” of New York City, where he currently resides. The composition is an auditory representation of his meditative experience at a Thailand Buddhist temple. Percussion students rehearse directly with Terry and Glausi on their pieces, in preparation for the Midwest Clinic.
“They get to immediately work with the composers who help shape this piece, and we’re doing it together collaboratively,” percussion director Chavadith Tantavirojn said. “But this is a really cool opportunity for them to really understand what the context was when they wrote the piece.”
However, due to the guest performers’ busy schedules, Clark said it has been difficult to coordinate times for these joint rehearsals. Moreover, a number of the guest artists — including Longshore, Glausi and Lee — live in other states. Although some guest artists have not been able to meet with the group yet, Clark is planning these rehearsals for the near future, aiming for at least one joint session with each artist.
In order to gain the most help from rehearsals with guest artists, students are required to prepare and practice their parts themselves before the actual rehearsals.
“I think [the rehearsals] require a lot of focus,” sophomore percussionist Meera Minocha said. “You have to be prepared ahead of the rehearsal. That way, during a rehearsal, we focus on the overall ensemble and making music together.”
Another step in the preparation process was a preview concert on Nov. 20 from 7-8 p.m., in the music building. Since students’ families will not be traveling to the Midwest Clinic, this concert was a chance for the percussion group to showcase its pieces to parents and the larger community. In addition, Tantavirojn believes that this is a great performance opportunity for percussionists before their actual performance in Chicago.
There are a few scheduling challenges concerning the Clinic, however. The dates for the Midwest Clinic overlap with the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of finals week, so the percussion students will be taking their finals the week before or will be following an alternate schedule based on teacher preferences. This same process was followed by the SHS orchestra members who attended the Clinic in 2023.
With both technical preparations and countless hours of practice planned in the coming weeks leading up to the performance, Minocha believes the percussion studio is on track to shine at the Midwest Clinic.
“[I’m looking forward to] getting to meet a lot of the percussionists that we read about or see online; they’ll all be there, because it’s one of the biggest events. So seeing all that is gonna be really cool,” Minocha said.
