The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Marching Band performed its show at the New Jersey Marching Band Directors’ Association competition held at Union High School on Saturday, October 25.
The marching band’s 2025 show, titled “Spice”, features songs such as “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 marching band is expected to be seen next at the upcoming State Championships, which are being held at The College of New Jersey on Sunday, November 2, in Ewing.
This will be the last competition of the season.
The marching band’s show takes listeners on a journey of a variety of spices, with “Salt and Pepper” being their first two spices of the show. It is a cheerful movement to represent how they’re used to flavor foods. The band transitions to a jazzy vibe, representing cinnamon, to show the cozy feeling of it.
The band goes into a rapid, exciting movement for cayenne, representing the spiciness of the red pepper, with it having a percussion feature. Lastly, they end with a calm sentiment, representing mint, which is usually used at the end of meals because of its refreshing and cool taste.
The call time for students was around 11:30 a.m. They all immediately got to work to prepare for the schedule ahead of them, keeping a positive attitude throughout the rehearsal.
The determination and perseverance of the students paid off in their competition, as they placed second in their division, Class AAA, with a score of 90.7. Three other bands also performed in their division.
The band also won other awards at the competition, such as the division award, where it won Best Percussion. They also received this same honor for the overall competition, in which 18 other bands performed. This was an extremely proud moment for the band, especially for the percussion section, as it reflected on their performance and all the hours of dedication they put into the show.
It led to an eventful evening, with students enjoying concession food with their peers and a memorable bus ride home.
Vivian Nguyen, a senior flutist and fourth-year member of the band, shared her thoughts on the experience.
“I was looking forward to the second-to-last competition of the season! I came out of the show feeling confident and light, knowing that many of my friends felt the same. I was proud to be a senior representative for the band on retreat that night and was thrilled to hear that we received Overall Best Percussion and a score breaking 90.0,” she said.
“Our strength as a band has exceeded our goals, and I am looking forward to our final competition together at TCNJ. Many of the members have pushed themselves to learn new things when they once believed they could not do it. These past few years with new and old members have been my most cherished memories at BRHS,” she concluded.
The band looks to continue this success at the upcoming State Championships on November 2.
