Watch Naugatuck High School Percussion Ensemble’s Stellar Cover Of Phish’s “Guyute”

The Naugatuck High School Percussion Ensemble first captured the hearts of Phish fans everywhere with their rendition of “Divided Sky”, which went viral last April after Trey Anastasio himself shared their cover on social media. As reported by JamBase, over the weekend, the Connecticut youth percussion ensemble finished their competitive season in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, snagging first place with a stellar cover of Phish’s “Guyute” during a performance that was attended by Phish lyricist Tom Marshall.

EXCLUSIVE: How The Viral High School Cover Of Phish’s “Divided Sky” Came To Be

Today, videographer mk devo shared a pro-shot video of the Naugatuck High School Percussion Ensemble performing their competition-winning rendition of Phish’s “Guyute”. This new video serves as a follow up to mk devo’s video last year of “Divided Sky”, which launched the high school percussion group into the public eye. The high schoolers’ take on “Guyute” was shot at Naugatuck High School on March 27th, 2018 and is based on the orchestral version arranged by Troy Peters and Don Hart. Dave Dion adapted the arrangement of the Tom Marshall and Trey Anastasio-penned tune for percussion.

Naugatuck High School Percussion Ensemble – “Guyute”

[Video: mk devo]

As Don Binette, the percussion instructor for Naugatuck High School, shared with Live For Live Music during an interview last year,

It’s a real dedicated group of kids. … Some of them are doing school sports now too. They’re going to school, doing their sports activity, and heading here straight from that. I get tingles listening to them, when they hit the times and tempos right. It’s a dream come true to mix those two worlds together and to have it come out as well as it is right now.

In the same interview, Binette shared the backstory of how the Phish organization first gave their blessing to the high school percussion ensemble years before the band first started working on “Divided Sky”. In 2009, Binette was put in touch with Trey Anastasio’s string arranger, Don Hart, who approved of the ideas. Years later in 2016, Dave Pelaggi had taken over the ensemble and reached out to former teachers about performance ideas, which served as a catalyst for last year’s “Divided Sky”.

[H/T JamBase]