Winter Percussion ‘levels up’ for upcoming competitions

In preparation for the fast-approaching competition season, the 29 members of Winter Percussion have worked through much of their five-and-a-half-minute show, which is based on the idea of leveling up and borrows heavily from video games.

This year, the members experienced a major shift, in which the instructors from last year were completely replaced by new staff. The current lineup now includes Adam and Amanda Tsukamoto, Jared Baltazar, Chavadith Tantavirojn and Connor Carroll.

“Most of us were curious about their style, and how they like to write music,” senior David Lung said. “A lot of us are interested in the difficulty of the music rather than the theme.”

According to Lung, the theme of the show is “Level Up.” It is about growing in both size and experience, but with imagery and sounds from video games. The show begins with basic techniques, and eventually increases in complexity throughout the show.

One member will be playing sound effects from multiple video games that are associating to levelling up during the show. The costumes are also neon orange and resemble video game characters.

“I really enjoy this year’s music,” freshman marimba player Rishub Tamirisa said. “It’s really energetic and sounds really nice. It’s also really fun because I can learn a lot from the upperclassmen that are in the group.”

In Winter Percussion competitions, schools can choose to participate in one of three different classes: A, Open, and World, in increasing difficulty. Saratoga is competing in the Open class on Feb. 4 at California High School.

“We have only received about two-thirds of the movements for our show, and we won’t be able to have the official uniforms for the first competition,” Tamirisa said. “Three weeks feels short, but I think we’re doing really well, so I don’t see it as being too much of a problem.”