Winter percussion serves as artistic sport and community

When freshman Winston Liu finished marching band at the end of first semester, he was hesitant to join winter percussion, a sport exclusively for percussionists seeking to improve their music capabilities.

Because of its three hours of practice on Tuesday and Thursday, eight hours on Saturday and extra practices on Monday and Friday, Liu was intimidated by the activity’s demanding schedule; nonetheless, his friends eventually convinced him to join the ensemble.

Founded five years ago, winter percussion has more than 30 members this year, consisting mostly of freshmen and sophomores from fall marching band. Practices have been preparing the ensemble for their first competition on Feb. 24 at Cesar Chavez High School, where they will play the first two movements of this year’s piece “Stand Out,” written by winter percussion’s six instructors: Chavadith Tantavirojn, Kunal Kathuria, Sarah Culbertson, Adam Tsukamoto, Jared Baltazar, and Ally Thylin.

Percussionists are split into two groups: one for drummers, called the Battery, and one for mallet and auxiliary players, called the Front Ensemble.

Compared to sports like soccer or basketball, winter percussion seems fairly static; however, it can be just as physically demanding as other sports, participants say. Percussionists practice for a minimum of 14 hours a week and often even more based on their respective sections.

“A lot of endurance is needed to last the rehearsal,” said Liu, a member of the Front Ensemble. “The long hours require you to stand for most of it while using your hands to play the instruments, which can be very difficult.”

While most of the exercise comes from standing for long periods, percussionists also need to run laps at the beginning of practice and carry heavy equipment and electronics.

“There’s a lot of mallet instruments, drumsets and electronics; it’s a huge mess,” said sophomore Priscilla Widjaja, who joined the program last year.

Despite the long hours, Liu and Widjaja have both found winter percussion to be a meaningful experience, sometimes even better than marching band. Liu especially likes that winter percussion is such a bonded community.

Winter percussion also incorporates artistry with exercise, so members of both ensembles can boost their musical ability while getting fit at the same time.

As compared to a larger group like marching band, winter percussion has allowed for percussionists to perform in a smaller, advanced group, Widjaja said. Rehearsals are also more individualized and each member of the ensemble gets more attention from instructors. She also said that marching band music is easier than winter percussion music because, in marching band, there are so many people that the audience and judges cannot focus on every person individually.

“With winter percussion, there’s a smaller community and we perform in the gym versus the football field, which is much smaller and more up close and personal with the audience,” she said.

As the season progresses, Widjaja looks forward to spending time with ensemble members and learning harder pieces.

“I love the culture, the people and the instrument,” Widjaja said. “Winter percussion is a break from normal academics and gives me a community where I can forget about school and focus on something that I can happily put my energy in and be proud of!”