The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Marching Band took home second place for the school in class AAA on September 28 at John P. Stevens High School in Edison.
Despite environmental conditions, the band put on a strong performance and won awards for the school. They competed against three other bands: Edison High School, Scotch-Plains Fanwood High School and East Brunswick High School.
The band earned a score of 77.1, which improved upon their previous score at the competition at Scotch-Plains Fanwood High School on September 21. Time and preparation went in during the week to improve upon the prior performance using the comments judges gave.
This competition, however, was different from the one that took place the week prior.
During the Scotch-Plains competition, many people were in attendance during the sunny, warm day. The band members had to perform well while also performing against elements. Throughout the day, there was a consistent rain which grew stronger when the band arrived at the performance venue. This meant that the color guard had to perform with wet flags and uniforms, the wind instruments had to keep their instruments safe from the rain, the front ensemble had to keep their instruments covered before the performance and directly after and the battery had to make sure their drums remained covered when possible.
When the band entered the stadium to perform, the electronics the band needed to support their performance had issues. After ten minutes, the band started without them. Despite these issues, the band kept at their performance and pushed through to the end, and improved their score in the process. The band has been working on maintaining a positive outlook throughout the season, which helped them persevere during the inclement weather.
Looking ahead, the band will be hitting the road to perform at Bands of America (BOA) in Newark, Delaware, on Saturday, October 19, and Sunday, October 20.
Bands of America is a different competitive circuit compared to the competitions thus far, which are part of New Jersey Marching Band Directors Association (NJMBDA).
Bands of America places the BRHS Marching Band in Division AAAA, where the band competes with ensembles such as John P. Stevens and Westfield High School. Last year, Bridgewater-Raritan advanced to finals at BOA Rutgers for the first time in six years.
Lily Singer, senior and color guard captain, shared her experience on the competition. “Color guard is an activity where it’s hard to remember what you are working for. I wish I could say that it was easy and that we had fun every step of the way, but we didn’t. It was hard, but I mean it when I say there was no where else I would have wanted to be,” she said.
Harjas Saini, also a senior and woodwind section leader, added her input on the band’s performance thus far and what she looks forward to in the coming weeks. “Despite the difficult circumstances put before us, we were determined to march on and have as much fun as possible performing for not only our audience but ourselves,” she said.
Using the judges’ tapes from the band’s competitions at Scotch Plains-Fanwood and John P. Stevens,, the band will continue to improve their show in preparation for the rest of the competitive season, putting in all of their effort to do so during the band’s Monday, Wednesday and Saturday rehearsals.
