The Bridgewater Raritan High School Marching Band won the championship at the New Jersey Marching Band Directors’ Association (NJMBDA) competition held at Monroe Township High School on Saturday, October 11.
Bridgewater-Raritan performed its show titled “Spice,” featuring songs “Little Fugue in G minor” by J.S. Bach; “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” by Benjamin Britten; and “Spices, Perfumes, Toxins” by Avner Dorman.
The band is expected to appear next at the NJMBDA competition held at East Brunswick High School on Saturday, October 18.
Nine other bands performed with Bridgewater-Raritan in Class AAA.
“Salt and Pepper”, being their first two spices of the show, is an energetic movement to represent how they’re used to flavor foods. The band transitions to a jazzy vibe, representing cinnamon, to show the warm feeling of the spice.
The band goes into a fast-paced, aggressive movement for cayenne, representing the spiciness of the red pepper. Lastly, they end with a cool and calm sentiment, representing mint, which is usually used at the end of meals because of its refreshing taste.
Call time for students was around 11:30 a.m., and with an eventful, fun night the day before, students were excited to perform. The meals provided were Italian-themed, energizing them for the rest of the day.
Through the hours of hard work, determination, effort and practice the students did for their show, it paid off in this week’s competition, with the band winning first place along with Best Musical Effect in its division. Bridgewater-Raritan’s score was 84.8, a four-point increase from its last performance.
The band also won various other awards, eventually receiving the grand champion award at the event. Students felt a variety of mixed emotions, with seniors of the band extremely overjoyed at the result of one of their last competitions. It led to a positive, light-hearted and fun bus ride home, with students enjoying the company of their peers.
Agastya Shahane, a senior and the drum major for the band, shared his thoughts on the experience.
“It was amazing to see our band take the first place position at this competition. I believe it was a testament to the hard work we have put. Still, there is room for improvement, and the band will continue to work hard to grow,” he said.
