In the Winter Percussion’s first competition of the season, Newtown High School scored a 78.45 and walked away with the first place trophy in the Marching Percussion 2A division, defeating host New Milford High School on Saturday, February 21 in a USBands event.

The 28-member NHS Winter Percussion program performed its show “The Rainforest,” which tells the tale of restoration following callous destruction in three parts. With an original score written by NHS Winter Percussion director David Brush, the group delivered a choreographed and engaging performance.

“They’re really getting into it, and that’s great,” said James Gilbert, a former NHS band student and now a staff member specializing in tenor tech.

Additional winter percussion instructors include co-director Richie Lake, Kurt Berglund (music), Steve Surina (visuals), Tom Sulzicki (music), Alan Amendola (music), and Chris DeBorough (music) teaching and cheering their unit to victory.

There were many cheers on Saturday for the three NHS Winter Guard divisions, with both juniors and junior varsity taking first place at the New Milford USBands show, and the junior varsity bringing home the second place trophy, narrowly missing first place by just .3 points to Bunnell High School’s varsity team, which normally competes at a level higher than Newtown Junior Varsity in the Musical Arts Conference (MAC) circuit.

On Saturday, February 28, the NHS Winter Percussion heads to Trumbull High School for a regional competition, the NHS Varsity Winter Guard heads to New Brunswick, N.J., for its Winter Guard International (WGI) regional competition, and the junior varsity and juniors heading to Brookfield for a MAC competition.

All NHS guard divisions, as well as  Winter Percussion, are busy preparing for their March 7 Home Show, which will honor graduating seniors. Doors open at noon for the event, with the show starting at 1 pm. Admission is $10 for adults and $7 for seniors and students.

This story has been updated to reflect a start time change for the March 7 Home Show.