Valencia High drumline leads Unity Walk

At the request of the city of Santa Clarita, the Valencia High School Marching Band drumline led off the second annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Unity Walk. The drumline, which was made up of 14 students playing five different instruments, entertained the crowd before the speeches began, and then started the Jan. 16 Unity Walk with a rousing drum cadence.

“The drumline wants to thank the city for the opportunity to participate in this important event,” Kelvin Flores, director of instrumental music at

Valencia High School, said in a prepared statement. “It was also a wonderful chance to showcase their music in front of younger students, who may never have seen a live drumline performance. It was good to see the joy it brought to the onlookers and have them equate that music brings happiness.”

Valencia’s drumline, the largest team in school history, consists of 37 students who will perform at competitions across Southern California. Many of them play multiple instruments in an effort to be more versatile and expand their musical ability. Almost half of this spring’s team played a wind instrument or a brass instrument in the fall.

“As we saw today at the Unity Walk, music has the power to help bring communities together,” Flores said. “But it also helps individual students to grow and thrive. We’re grateful to the city for helping us to spread joy. We are hopeful that they will continue to make a commitment to support musical education in the future.”

To learn more about the Valencia High School Marching Band and Color Guard, visit prideofthevikings.org.