Saturday, November 1st 2014

The weather: 30 degrees… not Celsius.  Fahrenheit.   Time: 1:30 AM (in reality, it was 2:30 AM.

Thanks Daylight Savings).  The 138 members of the New Providence Pride and Class were heading back to the high school after competing in the Yamaha Cup at MetLife Stadium when I interviewed them for comments.

“I can’t believe that was my last performance at MetLife stadium,” Claire Heffernan, a Magnet school student, reflects sadly.  The other seniors share her sentiment.  The underclassmen and the juniors, on the other hand, were buzzing from their performance, albeit also freezing.

“I can’t feel my fingers,” says clarinet player Alan Wang.

About six hours ago, I was sitting on the trumpet, clarinet, and mellophone bus. Right before we left for Giants Stadium, I hear Kevin Urness shout: “Trumpets! Get your happy drinks ready!”

Happy drinks are an ancient trumpet tradition. Before important competitions, all 14 members of the section down a sweet sugary drink from the supermarket. The selection is eclectic.  Students have a choice between grape, lemon, blueberry, and “red”. The band has a variety of friendly traditions that help create bonds between members:  student leaders constantly distribute hand­made cookies, allergen free snacks, and other little gifts and handwarmers in goodybags, which are covered with heartfelt messages of encouragement.  The buses were filled with energy and excitement.  Another special aspect of this activity is the large proportion of the student body that participates in it; more than a fifth of the school is in the band, which makes it the largest activity of the district.  Now, even hours later and deep into the night, I still felt the leftover excitement and energy.

Even though the conditions were less that optimal and the weather didn’t allow us to have rehearsal on Wednesday, the band pulled through.  Nothing beats seeing the face of the rookies as they walk into such a prestigious stadium for the first time.

This weekend, the band will travel to Allentown, PA for Nationals in group 6A.  The Pride and Class competes against schools such as Scotch Plains Fanwood, Hunterdon Central, and Jackson Memorial, all of which have students bodies of over one thousand.  Although there is a huge gap between student populations, the NPMB is on par with effort and performance.

“Good luck to the band!” former member David Hua exclaimed in school the next Monday.   “Like Mr. N says, ‘Exemplify excellence!’?”