North Bergen High School takes a lot of pride in its music program – and rightfully so. After all, the school’s jazz ensemble has been one of the most recognized and honored high school music groups in Hudson County for the past decade and has performed numerous times throughout the state.
The school’s vocal chorus is also a proud organization, although it hasn’t been as renowned as the school’s jazz musicians.
However, both groups have plenty of reasons to be proud now, because both the jazz group and the vocal chorus came away with top honors at the recent Hudson County Teen Arts competition, held May 15 at New Jersey City University.
Of the 15 different awards presented that day, North Bergen’s students came away with six of the awards. The jazz band won for large instrumental group, while the percussion ensemble captured first prize in the small group bracket. Senior John Sequeira won first place for solo trombone artist.
The school’s Advanced Chorus won for large vocal group, while seniors Yisell Parilla and Ciara Gutierrez won for small vocal group. Senior Elkys Gonzalez also earned a first place award in dance.
When the jazz group won first prize, it was of no surprise. After all, music teacher and acting music supervisor George Haviland has guided the group to first place finishes every year since 1992.
But it marked the first time that North Bergen’s chorus won the top prize in over a decade.
So it was a clean sweep of momentous proportions.
However, Haviland insisted that winning is not the object.
“It’s not about the competition,” Haviland said. “It’s all about the performing experience. I think we always go there to look forward to hearing all the talented students perform from all the schools. I’m happy for the kids. They worked very hard. I thought we would do well, but I didn’t think we’d dominate. For that, I’m a little surprised.”
Because of their success at the Hudson County Teen Arts competition, the students were able to also perform at the statewide Teen Arts Festival at The College of New Jersey May 22, but there was no competition at that event.
Haviland said that both groups – Jennifer Penton is the first-year choral director – have been practicing at length since November.
“We always want to push it to the next level,” Haviland said. “It’s just like athletics. We might have bad practices and good practices, but we have to be ready when the time comes for the game. When you get results like this, it’s all worth it.”
Penton said that she was “in shock” when she heard North Bergen’s name called as the top choral group.
“The chorus worked so hard,” Penton said. “The kids kept saying that they had to go to Teen Arts, so we put something together at the last minute to get it done. I’m just so pleased. It’s a great boost for the program and it’s great for the kids.”
The kids performed an interesting set of three very diverse songs, one baroque, one jazz and one Gospel.
“The baroque song was ‘Cantate Domino,’ which is performed in Latin,” Penton explained. “The jazz song was ‘Blue Skies,’ by Irving Berlin. The Gospel song was ‘Joyful, Joyful,’ which is an upbeat version of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy.’ We had to do the three songs in a 12-minute set. I wanted to show the diversity, with songs from different eras.”
Needless to say, the judges were impressed with the wide range of music, which pleased Penton, who was once a music student, taught by Haviland, when she attended North Bergen High School (Class of 1991).
“That was the biggest comment we got, that the songs were blended together so well,” Penton said. “It’s just a great feeling. I think we’ve proven that North Bergen has a lot of talented students.”
Parilla agreed with her choral director.
“It’s very rewarding to do the variety of songs that we did,” said Parilla, who also sings with the choir at the Pentecostal Love of Jesus Church in West New York. “I noticed how great the other students were, so I thought we were in trouble. But it’s great that we won.”
Senior Monica Guerrero, a member of the vocal chorus, was elated.
“When we didn’t get a chance to go last year, it was very disappointing,” Guerrero said. “We just wanted a chance. Performing was amazing, because it was the best room to sing in. I mean, the music filled the room. It was overwhelming. Just being there was great, but when we won, I couldn’t believe it. It’s such a great accomplishment.”
Senior Alex Rodriguez, who is a trumpet player, displayed the same pride.
“Just being able to compete there is a huge rush, but winning makes it a great, great feeling,” he said. “We never take it for granted that we’re going to win, but we want to make sure that we maintain winning championships. It’s a good feeling knowing all that sweat and all that work was worth the while.”
While music has been a major part of their lives for the last four years, both Parilla and Rodriguez will move on in another direction in college. Parilla plans on studying physical therapy at Bergen County Community College, while Rodriguez is headed to New Jersey City University to study psychology, while also learning how to become a pilot at the Teterboro Flight Training School.
“But music will always be a part of my life,” Parilla said.
Thanks to the efforts of teachers like Haviland and Penton.
“I think this shows that there’s a real consistency throughout the school system,” Haviland said. “We have 17 music teachers that are in the district, working with the kids in elementary school and our summer music program. My hat is off to all those teachers for getting these kids ready. We always stress that music is always fun, but it does take diligence and perseverance to reach your goals.”
“I never expected this in the first year,” Penton said. “I don’t even know how to describe the feeling.”