Band Camp Part 2 For Redwood’s Percussion!

By Isabella Chan

At the end of November, leaving the successful marching season behind, our Redwood band slows down from the 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. practices and settles in for concert season.

All except for Redwood’s percussion section. From January 1st to the 6th, percussion endured practices from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Ridgeview Middle School to prepare for the winter percussion season.

As crazy as it sounds, practices were successful for all the members who now look towards their major season doing what they do best.

Quad drum player Emma Buckley, ‘25, is a 4-year member of Redwood’s winter percussion. Each year, she finds herself thinking the show is great, for only the next year to be even better. Buckley thought that despite the success of the practices and getting a lot done, it was difficult being at the practices for so long.

Despite the optional sectional practices during the winter break, Buckley spent her time practicing her music at home to practice with audio and on her own time.

“They [this year’s practice] went different because we had a different visual director working with us, so we had a lot of different ways that we went about stuff,” Buckley says.

She finds that their coordinator for this year leads the practices much more effectively compared to previous years. Buckley hopes to maintain their uphill climb with achievements.

Jayden Estevez-Morales, ‘26, is on bass drum 2 and is entering his first year of winter percussion. Morales’ first winter percussion practice week was a fun, effective, and overall great experience for him. 

During the long practices, Morales took in mind to keep a positive mindset to carry him through the long days.

“It’s really great [doing his first year of winter percussion], I like to experience it with all my friends. Especially having them beforehand… I feel like I’m accepted into this family of drumline.” Morales can’t wait to see how they do later in the season, and he hopes he doesn’t fall!

Elias Hernandez, ‘25, is another first-year member of winter percussion. Despite being a 3-year member of the wind section of band, he decided this year to join and got placed on vibraphone.

Hernandez says he was scared at first, but everything went, “way better than I expected, and I’m having a lot of fun.”

During the practices, Hernandez felt as if he had learned a lot of new things through the week of practice. He had attended the optional practices before the 9 to 9’s to help him know his music better. 

“I’m really hyped for this percussion show because I feel I’m going to make a lot of good memories and it’s going to be really fun,” Hernandez says. 

Snare 5 drum player Seth Souza, ‘25, is in his 3rd year of participating in winter percussion. “It’s weird hearing it [being in his 3rd year of winter percussion] because after this I only have one more year until I’m gone,” Souza says.

Nonetheless, Souza found that they “are starting off the season very strongly, and I’m excited about what more we can do in the future.”  Like fellow drummer Estevez-Morales, Souza prepared by getting into the right head space and practicing whenever he could. 

Souza found that this year percussion had to work much harder compared to prior ones due to the higher level they’ve reached ever before in their categories.

He believes that their show is one of their best yet, and as long as they work as hard as they can, the show can reach as close to perfect as possible. 

Redwood’s percussionist’s positive outlook for this season laid the steps to a memorable and successful semester.

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