On October 4th, the 103 member Pride and Class of the New Providence High School Marching Band kicked off their competitive season at the 33rd Annual Pequannock Township High School Marching Band Competition. The event featured 18 bands from across North Jersey. New Providence finished first in the 5 Open Class division with a score of 82.300 and swept the caption awards for Best Music, Best Visual, Best Overall Effect, Best Color Guard, and Best Percussion. The band also scored highest overall of all Open Class bands at the event, outscoring schools like Ridgewood and Wayne Valley.
Junior drum major Owen Ettinger said: “For our first competition of the year, I think that it was a pretty good success. We got the experience of being adjudicated by professionals for the first time, and although we didn’t perform our whole show, it was great to really display our abilities to a community that would fully appreciate it.”
Following the competition, Ettinger reflected that “in the rehearsals after the competitions, we were able to get the full show on the field, which… gave us all some more inspiration to improve.”
Looking forward, assistant director Brittany Spina said: “Our goals for the remainder of this marching season would be to solidify tempo and transitions and feel confident with the full show performance, to have every student feel a sense of accomplishment every time they leave the field and to create lasting memories with the ensemble. Our time together is intense and yet fleeting. Doing our very best and having fun doing it is always the goal!”
The marching band season spans from August to November, with the band performing at all home varsity football games and performing competitively in the USBands circuit, as well as attending all away games. They’re also a part of the annual Holiday and Memorial Parades, and will be traveling to Walt Disney World in Spring of 2027. The band’s next competition will be at 10:50 PM at the USBands Ludwig Musser Classic at MetLife Stadium on October 18th, a regional event featuring 60 bands from five different states.