The Pride and Class of New Providence High School’s season ended Saturday, November 4 after a jam-packed 5 months of intense work and preparation. Over those 5 months, the marching band has faced many challenges, but one loomed larger than the rest: being moved up from Group V (5) A to Group V Open.
Last year, the NPHS Marching Band placed first at every competition and won both State and National Championships, a feat accomplished by very few bands. As a result of the band’s dominance and success, USBands honorarily moved them up to Group V Open.
Competing through USBands, each ensemble is placed in a group based on two factors: size and skill level. Based on an ensemble’s size, they are placed in a group on a scale of I (1) to VI (6). Based on an ensemble’s skill level, they are placed in either Group A or Group Open. USBands defines A Class bands as: “Ensembles who demonstrate a fundamental to intermediate skill set (may be building/rebuilding their program) and are adjudicated on a scale representing fundamental to intermediate skills,” whereas Open Class bands are defined as: “Seasoned ensembles that demonstrate expanded skill sets and are adjudicated on a scale supporting intermediate to advanced skills.”
However, bands that succeed in Group A do not necessarily succeed in Group Open. Group Open is a harder, more competitive category than Group A, judged on a rubric tougher than Group A. Additionally, Group Open bands run a stricter system, starting rehearsal in the spring and barring members from participating in other extracurricular activities while in season. Group Open bands also have a steady flow of money from their school systems to buy new uniforms, equipment, and props. Nearly every aspect of a traditional Group Open band is different from those of the NPHS Marching Band.
Riya Mallya, a senior and front ensemble member, explained the drastic differences in budget between traditional Open Class bands and the NPHS Marching Band: “They have more resources. They have more money to spend on things. They pay to get more instructors, and more instructors obviously makes them better. They have props and more elaborate costumes than we do because their schools actually pay for stuff.”
Mallya also described Open Class bands as a “different beast” due to their increased rehearsal time: “They’re so much more together, time wise and music wise. They also blend instruments, no one really sticks out.”
However, Mallya noted that the preparation for this marching band season at NP was not different from previous years: “We did the same stuff. We rehearsed the same, we competed the same, we kept the same mindset.”
Mallya joked that the only thing the band changed was adding a prop: a small, wooden box for the soloists to stand on.
The mindset Mallya referenced has been instilled by the marching band’s director, Mr. Niedziejko, over the past 30 years: compete to grow and improve as an ensemble, not to beat other bands.
Throughout his tenure with the NPHS Marching Band, Niedziejko has never valued placing first or above other bands: “We do not measure ourselves against other bands as adversaries, but rather against our own level of excellence and improvement over the season.”
Despite the band’s success on the podium, Niedziejko believes the notion of “beating” other bands is “as silly as the assertion”: “If [our] band has 1st place finishes, we like to say we placed first, not we won. I have said and will continue to say (in jest of course) that the only way we ‘beat’ other bands is if we were to pick up a stick and start beating them with that stick.”
While the marching band did not place first at any competitions this season, they accomplished more than a trophy could portray: they grew as an ensemble.
“[We progressed] slowly and steadily. Through consistent, student and program-centered instruction, each member knew what to expect, and those expectations were and are set at a high level. The students worked at an extremely focused and efficient level all season. I think the production improved to the point of having meaning for the students, staff, and audiences by the end of the season,” Niedziejko said.
The NPHS Marching Band scored a 73.600 at their first competition but finished the season strong with a score of 89.900, an increase of 16.3 in just 4 weeks. While this was not the season many expected, the marching band made lemonade out of lemons and found success within themselves.