Pride of Pearland Pearland High School Band

Pearland Percussion

Heartbeat
of the Pride

Thirty-five to forty students, year round. Battery and front ensemble in the fall, indoor percussion in the spring, concert and chamber work in between.

Indoor percussion

Every contest, every stage

The percussion section regularly brings home best-in-class percussion, overall percussion, and best drumline awards during marching season. Pearland percussionists place in region and area bands every year and earn superior ratings at UIL solo and ensemble.

In 2016 the program was gold medalist and state champion at the Texas Color Guard Circuit championships and has been a consistent WGI finalist. Graduates have gone on to march WGI and DCI programs and to study music in college on scholarship.

Every member performs in every part of the band program, from the marching field to concert band, fall through spring.

Battery performing at UIL Area in the Avalon uniform

The sections

Four ways to hit it

Snare drummer mid-show

Battery

Snares, tenors, bass drums, and cymbals. The part of the percussion section that marches. The glue that holds the band together on the field.

Front ensemble

Also called the pit. The section that does not march but sets up in front of the band: marimbas, vibraphones, xylophones, timpani, bells, chimes, and electronics.

Front ensemble on the sideline at UIL Area
Cymbal player in the Avalon uniform

Cymbal line

Back after several years away. Built almost entirely from double reed players, the cymbal line has grown into a section that carries real weight in the show.

Indoor percussion

A spring ensemble of front ensemble, drumline, and visual performers. Indoor percussion is a high-intensity athletic and musical show that tells a story on a gym floor instead of a field. Pearland competes in the Texas Color Guard Circuit.

Contest dates
Indoor percussion ensemble seen from above on a gym floor
Portrait of Michael Royer

Director of percussion

Michael Royer

Mike Royer is a Houston native with more than fifteen years of teaching and performing experience. He was previously Director of Percussion at Klein Oak High School. He earned a Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Arizona in 2016 and a Bachelor of Music Education from McNeese State University in 2014, where he also taught percussion at Sam Houston, Sulphur, and A. M. Barbe High Schools in the Lake Charles area.

He performed with the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps from 2008 to 2010, earning Rookie of the Year in 2008, and with the Cavaliers in 2011 and 2012, where the corps won the Fred Sanford award for high percussion in 2011. He was on the percussion staff at Legends Drum and Bugle Corps from 2014 to 2019, which earned the High Percussion award in 2019.

Mike has been a guest artist with Cedar Creek Summer Drumming, McNeese State Percussion Camp, Yamaha Sounds of Summer, Imperio Marching of Medellín, and Drum Corps International. He is drum captain for the Houston Texans Deep Steel Thunder Drumline and a performing artist for D’Addario. He lives in downtown Houston with his wife Ashleigh and their Great Dane, Drew.

Questions about the program? Email Mr. Royer.

royerm@pearlandisd.org