West Ranch High School’s winter percussion ensemble won a first-place championship at the Southern California Percussion Alliance competition on April 15.
The acclaimed percussion team had the highest score of any team in the championship round (96.25) and the highest in its division — the Percussion Scholastic Concert World.
Julio Diaz, music director for West Ranch, said he was extremely proud of his drumline, particularly after all the hard work that went into getting as far as they did.
“It’s really great to see the kids be rewarded for their hard work. And they work year-round towards this common goal of being the best they can be at their craft and to see them to be rewarded and perform, really essentially their best performance on the last day of the year and the season,” said Diaz. “It’s really rewarding to watch the seniors that are laboring through to become these amazing musicians and have a wonderful performance at the end.”
Truman Harrah, a senior on the drumline, said he was forced to make a difficult transition early on in the season. But, perseverance helped push him, and his team, to achieving the ultimate goal.
“For me personally, I got put in a completely separate instrument than from what I’m used to. So it was very, very difficult for me, especially starting out the season,” said Harrah. “So I think getting to the end goal and getting as far as we did, now considering how much progress I had to make in such a short amount of time, I think it’s just [amazing] to accomplish what we have accomplished.”
Harrah’s mom, Terri, said she’s very proud of the progress both her sons (Harrah’s younger brother, Ethan, is also on the drumline) have made during their time at West Ranch.
“It feels wonderful,” said Terri. “It’s very emotional this year, because it’s [Harrah]’s last year, but watching how he’s grown through the four years under (Diaz) and the music department at West Ranch has just been nothing short of wonderful.”
