Walt Whitman HS Wins USBands Indoor Percussion Championship

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — The Walt Whitman Indoor Percussion ensemble won first place in the USBands Indoor Percussion Championships for the first time, the South Huntington School District announced.

Indoor Percussion, which is a subgroup of the Walt Whitman Marching Band, achieved the highest score in its history with a 90.3 at the championships at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey on April 15.

Their performance piece, "Native," explored Native American culture with musical themes.

"It takes listeners on a journey through a day in the life of a villager, a war cry against invaders, and the village chief performing ritual chants," the school district wrote.

Indoor Percussion uses the drum line and pit sections of the marching band and competes indoors during the winter. Instruments can include snare drums, tenors, bass drums, xylophones, vibraphones, timpani, and even electronic keyboards.

South Huntington is the only school district on Long Island with a competitive winter percussion ensemble.

Whitman’s winter percussion program is open to all students, even those without any musical experience, the district wrote. While most of the students are continuing from marching band, some of these students are learning an instrument for the first time.

Winter Percussion director Sean Lucas said this season was a great example of everything coming together at the right time.

"This was a perfect amount of challenge and rising to the occasion," Lucas said. "The challenges of previous years always inform later years. It’s a never ending process of improvement. But I think what made this so successful, aside from just really peaking at the right time, was having a group that was really perfect for it."

With only four seniors in the winning group this year, Lucas hopes this young group leads to continued growth and more success representing Walt Whitman High School and the South Huntington District in the years to come, he said.

The championship ensemble included students Derek Busch, Jose Canas Garcia, Chris Codero, Jaden Dancy, Aiden Dearborn, Andrew Fogel. Nick Guarini, Griffin Hamilton, Maggie Lahm, Jack Miller Henson, Vincent Monez, Frankie Monez, Franklin Parada, Luca Pugliese, Stan Seifried, Erick Recinos, Grayson Slansky, Angelina Todaro, and Matthew Winski.