TAMPA, Fla. — ‘Music is life’ for the 20-piece Middleton High School drumline.
“Everybody wants to play snare and not everybody can do it,” Jordan Lenair said. “It requires some serious hard work and dedication and the chops necessary.
Those chops need to be fierce.
Middleton is hosting the “Rumble in the Jungle” drumline competition on Saturday, March 15, from 1-6 p.m. This will be the first-ever high school drumline battle in Tampa.
"I am big on percussion. I love percussion,” drumline instructor Rashied Apata said. “Last year I decided to try to spice up the opportunity with a little percussion battle. They don’t really know too much about drum line in Tampa. I decided to make our first drum line battle something we can do every year, bring the community out and expose what percussion really is.”
The event will feature eight talented drumline teams.
“We have some teams coming from Daytona, we have teams coming from all over Tampa, we have one coming from Atlanta, which was the big shocker because they’re coming all the way here just to compete with us,” drumline instructor Quori Lighon added. “It’s beautiful.”
This competition is more than just a showcase of skill—it’s a chance to highlight how music can serve as a gateway to higher education.
“That’s the ultimate goal to make sure all of our kids have an opportunity at a higher education through music. Music is life,” Apata said. “We want them to know you can do this outside of high school. You can make this a career. But you have to have an opportunity first.”
“Playing the drums, playing an instrument, and band scholarships are vital to a lot of people in order to pursue higher learning,” Patil added. “We’re able to enable that and show the world how you can really make money and do what you love.”
And have a little friendly competition along the way.
“This is our house,” Lenair said. “We definitely making sure we’re going to hold it down. Nobody is going to be able to take us.”
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