Stimson Middle School’s 7th grade orchestra, band, and chorus students were treated to a special showcase performance just for them by Walt Whitman High School’s Winter Guard and Winter Percussion teams on March 26th.  It’s the third year the teams have visited Stimson with the aim of recruiting more students for the district’s Marching Band, Winter Guard and Winter Percussion programs.  Marching Band Co-Director Shannon Ganci, who also teaches music at Birchwood, believes that by showing the middle school students what’s happening in the high school it will generate early interest in participating.  Students don’t have to wait to get to high school before they join the Walt Whitman Marching Band, Winter Guard or Winter Percussion. They can start in middle school. And very often, artistically creative students have interest in more than one area of arts. These teams can give them a chance to try something else.

“The big thing we touched on today was showing them that they're all musicians. So they can transfer their skill set from one instrument to another.  The students who are performing in winter percussion, there are a lot of them who are not percussionists, but they participate in winter percussion during the winter season. And same thing with the guard program. Some of them play in marching band during the outdoor season, a wind and brass instrument, and they transfer their skills and they do color guard for the winter. So we’re showing them that there's something for everyone,” said Ms. Ganci.

There is no audition process, and students don’t need any prior experience playing an instrument or dancing. Staff members are ready to instruct them on a whole assortment of percussive instruments including snare and bass drums, xylophones and vibraphones. Winter Guard incorporates choreography and the use of flags, prop rifles and sabres performed to recorded music.  Both teams compete indoors during the winter. The South Huntington School District is one of only a handful of Long Island districts that have competitive Percussion and Guard teams in the winter.

The two elements come together in the fall, along with brass and woodwind sections, to make up the Wildcat Marching Band which competes outdoors and also participates in school events, football games and community parades.

Both Winter Percussion and Winter Guard are in the final weeks of their competitive seasons before heading to the championships.  Winter Percussion will be competing with their program “Metamorphosis” at the US Bands Championship on Saturday, April 5th at South Brunswick High School in New Jersey.  Winter Guard is headed for the Mid-Atlantic Indoor Network (MAIN) 2025 Championships at Stabler Arena at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania on Saturday, April 12th.  We wish them all the best of luck!

Any student interested in learning more about these amazing programs can contact marching band co-directors Ms. Shannon Ganci or Mr. Joseph Vetack.

Marching Band Co-Director Shannon Ganci spoke with Stimson’s 7th graders with the belief that by showing them what’s happening in the high school, it will generate early interest in participating in these programs.

Winter Percussion shared this season’s program “Metamorphosis” with such talent that wowed the 7th grade crowd.

High school students in the Color Guard gave the middle schoolers a showcase of their choreography while demonstrating a number of props used in this piece.