When the current members of the North Bergen High School marching band first convened for practice in the summer, no one felt that it was anything special.
“I didn’t see it coming together,” said senior Manny Osoria, who is the leader of the percussion section in the band and a student of the Manhattan Preparatory School of Music. “There wasn’t much dedication. No one was willing to do anything. It wasn’t a good scene.”
“When we went to band camp in August, it seemed as if it was going to be just an ordinary normal year,” said junior Chris Camizzi, who is a drum major. “It started out slow, but then things started to click.”
But George Haviland, the band’s co-director and music teacher, didn’t want to rule out any improvement.
“We were really weak when we started the year, but I could see the promise,” Haviland said. “Once the kids became dedicated, they worked very hard to get better. I could see the improvement, week after week. That’s all we wanted. Every week, we looked to get better.”
Haviland said that he spent hours with the students to decide upon a routine and a theme to work with.
“We started listening to music back in February,” Haviland said. “My co-band director, Brian Bonacci, and drill design director Bob Cardaneo listened to different CDs, and the theme of the show changed several times.”
By April, one of the students recommended the music from the Swing era of the 1940s.
“So we brought in a Swing CD and let them hear it,” Haviland said. “When I saw their faces light up and saw that the music was really getting them going and excited, I knew that was it.”
So the students decided to do “Swing, Swing, Swing,” and “Birdland,” songs that were definite symbols of the Swing era.
“It was challenging music, but fun jazz music,” Haviland said. “I really felt like the kids would get into it.”
After simply listening to the music for about two months, the students were ready to give it a try.
“Something happened once they started playing together,” Haviland said. “It’s the most challenging and most unique show we’ve ever done.”
They also decided to go all-out, including military uniforms and clothes of the era. They dedicated their performance to the United States Armed Forces.
Haviland didn’t want to stop there. He wanted to include sets, which is really ingenious for a high school marching band. There isn’t much chance to erect decorative sets, especially when the majority of your performances have to fit within the structure of halftime of a high school football game.
“I told them that we needed scenery,” Haviland said. “So I asked Bob Bonacci if he can build a set that we could use.”
Sure enough, Bonacci and the kids put together a makeshift set, complete with walls that featured the Birdland Night Club, as well as sayings and slogans that were popular in the ’40s. There are boxes where some musicians stand on to draw attention. Once the music begins, the kids pop out from behind the walls and begin their routine.
“We need a stage crew of about 25 kids just to move the sets and set them up in about a minute and a half,” Haviland said. “That takes a ton of energy. Without those kids to move those sets, we don’t have anything.”
“It’s incredible,” Osoria said. “It’s an upbeat show. With the scenery and the dancing, it really is a fun show. We had a lot of fun.”
Competitions
Well, the fun led to improved performances and the energy definitely showed, because the Bruins marching band put on a show at every halftime they performed, as well as several different competitions.
They finished first at the Hillsborough Raider Marching Band Festival on Oct. 18, sponsored by the United States Scholastic Band Association (USSBA), sweeping the competition in best music, best marching, best percussion and best color guard.
A week later, they competed in the Hackensack Invitational, finishing second.
Last week, they competed in the New Jersey State Championships at Delaware Valley in Frenchtown and took ninth place overall among all New Jersey bands, scoring a season-high 84.6.
“The school record is 86.7, so we’re real close,” Haviland said. “Here we are, a school from Hudson County, totally outgunned in terms of instruments and equipment and we’re right there with the big boys. Other bands pull up to competitions in an 18-wheeler and we have a rented truck. I’m ecstatic. I’m actually overwhelmed, considering how far we’ve come. The kids worked very hard, every day after school, working behind the high school or at 64th Street [Stan Newman Field].”
Added Haviland, “I think we’ve always represented North Bergen well, but this is a great bunch to work with. It’s probably the best band because they all work together so well. We also have only five seniors, so the future is definitely bright as well.”
Needless to say, the students were thrilled with their recent performances.
“It’s pretty impressive, because when we started, I didn’t think we would go anywhere,” Osoria said. “To improve this much in the matter of months is amazing. It’s a shock to the system. I didn’t think it was possible. Everyone is pretty psyched about it. Now, we’re all working hard to break the school record.”
“We’ve worked so hard to get where we are,” Camizzi said. “We’re staying late after school, sometimes until 7 or 8 o’clock to get better. It’s paying off in the end because we’re so close to the school record. We started off the season in our first competition in Saddle Brook and scored a 69. So look how far we’ve come.”
The North Bergen marching band will have only a few more chances to perform. After playing at halftime of Saturday’s game against Hoboken, the band will have a busy day on Nov. 15.
At 1 p.m., the Bruins’ football team will more than likely face Randolph in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV state playoffs in Randolph.
“As soon as the game is over, we’re on the bus and heading to Allentown [Pa.] for the All-States competition that night,” Haviland said. “That’s where we’ll try to break the school record. That’s the goal.”
“Right now, that’s all we’re thinking about,” said Osoria, who plans on majoring in music in college and aspires to become a music teacher in the future. “I never saw this coming, but we’ve come a very long way.”