There is an old adage about a life lived well following your passion, that thing that makes you tick. At 16 years old, in his junior year at Brother Martin, Jake Murillo is certain he’s found that thing: His drums.
He speaks about them in drummer lingo, (“they are tenor drums” and he writes “diddles”) follows great drummers on YouTube and spends his summers, as one might expect, drumming with the Brother Martin Marching Crusader Band and traveling to competitions with the Louisiana Stars Drum and Bugle Corps.
“Playing is something I just love,” said Murillo, who admitted he wanted to follow someone else’s passion at first. “My grandfather played the sax. I wanted to play the sax too, but I just could not get used to it. But then in 6th grade I picked up a pair of sticks and decided to shift to drums; something just clicked. I loved it.”
Murillo plays the tenor drums with the Crusaders’ drumline. Jake made Louisiana Music Educators A Senior High District Honor Band and LMEA All-State Honor Band last school year. He came to Brother Martin in the tenth grade and immediately joined the Crusader Band.
This summer, Murillo tested his skills, on a little bit of a lark, against nationally-ranked tenor drummers. He took second place nationally in the solo division of the DCI Tour and World Championships, an event that hosts friendly competition between band organizations with students ages 14-22.
“I didn’t expect to do well, maybe place 5th or 6th,” Murillo said. “I just wanted to try.”
The solo competition requires participants to write their own piece and perform it. Murillo wrote “Bourbon Street Diddles” on the back of a bus traveling to competitions. “I just formulated it in my head as much as possible on that bus.”
He was the last of about a half-dozen “more experienced” tenor drummers to play, he said. More than half of these participants were veterans in the world of drum corps, being from 19 to 21 years old. Two of these participants had also competed in the solo competition the previous year, meaning that they knew how it worked.
“I was nervous and thought, ‘I probably don’t stand much of a chance,’” Murillo said. “I was surprised to learn that I’d won second. I couldn’t believe it.”
“Jake is young compared to the other drummers in the DCI solo competition, but that doesn’t matter,” said Christopher Bailey, assistant band director and one of Murillo’s mentors. “Jake is serious about percussion and practices as though he were an athlete training for the Olympics. He doesn’t just go through the motions of practicing. He is deliberate and intense with short and long term goals driving his development.”
The Louisiana Stars took 6th place overall in the open class division of the DCI Tour and World Championships this summer, and placed 5th in percussion. Murillo is not the only Crusader to play with them. Sophomore Jackson Barousse also participated in competitions with the Louisiana Stars on drum set.
Check out Murillo’s performance of “Bourbon Street Diddles:”
