Mr. Raúl Liendo is an assistant band director at Harlingen High School South, specializing in percussion. He is a native of Laredo, Texas and has a degree in Music Education from Texas A&M University - Kingsville where he was an active percussionist/drummer in all their jazz bands, receiving a “Large Jazz Ensemble, Outstanding Performance” award at 33rd Annual DownBeat Student Music Awards with the Texas A&M University - Kingsville Jazz Band 1 Ensemble.

While in Kingsville, Raúl was able to perform with artists: Claudio Roditi, Wayne Bergeron, Paquito D’Rivera, Bill Reichenbach, and Jeff Hamilton. As a member of the percussion studio, Raúl was able to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association four times (TAMUK Wind Symphony ’06, Percussion Ensemble ’08, Jazz Ensemble ’09, Wind Symphony ’10). After Kingsville, Raúl pursued Graduate studies at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. There, he was a member of Salsa Del Rio, the top student Salsa ensemble at the university. Raúl has studied under: Randy Fluman (TAMUK), Ron Schermerhorn (TAMUK), Dr. Jason Kihle (TAMUK), Robert Lopez (Texas State), and John Lopez (Texas State). Raúl is the director/founder of Ritmo Gavilán – Harlingen High School South's first Salsa Group (2016 – present). Currently, Raúl is the drummer for the Rio Grande Valley Jazz Orchestra (2018 – present) and performed with them at the 2018 Midwest Clinic in Chicago, IL. The RGVJO has had the distinct pleasure of performing with artists, Terell Stafford. In 2019, The RGVJO was the opening act for The Count Basie Orchestra on their tour stop in Harlingen, Texas. The RGVJO was invited to perform at the Texas Band Master’s Association in the Summer of 2021 where they performed with guest artist Andre Heyward. Raúl is also an active Latin Percussionist, having performed with the following artists: Poncho Sanchez, Lalo Davila, Georgie Padilla, and Henry Brun.

He currently plays timbales with the group Son Montuno, based in Brownsville, TX (2016 – present). When Raúl is not working with students, he is playing drums as the Worship Leader at Valley Praise, FUMC in Harlingen Texas.