Marching Band Stepping Ahead [VIDEO]

It's a wet and rainy night at Watchung Hills Regional's Tozier Field, and after a sloppy half-game of football between the school's team and visiting Westfield, the game is tied at 0-0.

The small crowd huddles under umbrellas, until a steady drum beat booms through the field and from the opposite side of the turf, the Watchung Hills Regional Marching Band and Colorguard march in formation. Once in place, the band and Colorguard begin performing and the crowd perks up—even in a drizzle, the band members march with precision, stepping this way and that, while performing their musical selections.

It just goes to show: even on such a night, the sound and energy of the groups raises spirits. And to do that takes countless hours of practice, both at school starting at band camp in the summer, and at home, honing one's musical abilities.

But the band's members, who claimed first place at the Sept. 24 Hunterdon Central Marching Band Competition for the second year in a row, say it's worth it. They say the band's espirit de corps is a big attraction—as is the excitement of the band competitions. 

"It's always exciting to win, which I enjoy, but the best part is marching onto the field with the fellow leadership of the band and hearing everyone in the crowd yelling and cheering," Ryan Stetz, a four-year member of the band, said. He said likes the Huterdon competition best and enjoyed "being able to walk back to the band holding an award and being able to present that award to everyone."

Ryan, and many others, join marching band when they are new to the school, using it as a tool to get integrated into the school's social life. Band membership is instant "cred" for a student no one knows—like Jane Burnett when she arrived at Watchung Hills after attending a Westfield Catholic for elementary school.

"By chance, I was in the main office picking up school forms the summer before my freshman year—that's when I met my future band director, Mr. David Udell, for the first time," she said. She added hhe suggetsed she audition for the band, and after being accepted, made her first Watchung Hills friends at band camp. "Today, I'm still friends with people I met on my first day of band camp." 

Band camp...sweltering August heat, complex choreography...and music by Mancini (this year). Imagine holding a piece of brass in the 90-degree sun all day while trying to learn a new dance—that's band camp. At the end of the camp, the band is expected to know the routines well enough to be prepared to perform—after all, it was only two weeks after school started that the band hit Hunterdon Central's fields to perform their trio of Mancini favorites ("Pink Panther," "Moon River" and the theme from "Peter Gunn").

Drum Major Michael Griffin noted the extra challenged posed this year by Hurricane Irene, which canceled a day of camp.

"The band was great, though, and showed a lot of determination when just about everybody was able to get to practice the next day whether or not they had power, water,
Internet or flooding," he said. "It was great to see how important it was to everyone to be here."

He said the challenge of the camp is to get everyone to know the "drill," the sequence of steps made during the performance. It's assumed everyone knows the music by the time they get to camp, and once the drills are down pat, they'll start adding "some pizazz" to the show, Michael added.

He also noted "marching band courtesy" at the games: they don't play during the third quarter, they don't play when the cheerleaders are cheering (unless the cheer is intended to be performed with a song), and they don't play when the football action in on their side of the field. One other rule: they don't play when the other school's band is playing. "If the other band is playing, we have to be courteous and wait for them to finish," Michael said.

And when the band performs at halftime during home games, they're accompanied by the Colorguard, who are synchronized with the band for the performance. THe members of the Colorguard use flags, wooden rifles and other items to make their moves pop for the crowd. Second-year Colorguard captain Juliana Engler said she's really excietd about the new elements the group is bringing into the shows. She admits she didn't even know what Colorguard was before her freshman year, but when some of her friends joined, she decided to try as well. 

"I am so happy I decided to join—now I spin all the time," she said. "This year has been amazing. It is my second year as captain and a lot has changed. We added a bunch of new ideas to the show like rifles and dance, which I think is a great addition to our show."

On Saturday, the band will perform in its second competition of the year, at South Plainfield. They are also planning to participate in the Oct. 29 competition at Ridge High School, and the students also said they're excited about a spring performance at Disney World. Until then, they'll be practicing three days each week, honing and fine-tuning their show because once they enter the field, they know all eyes are on them.