NORTH BRUNSWICK – The North Brunswick Township High School Raider Marching Band has been hitting all the high notes this season.
According to Band Director Danielle Nudelman, the band’s show “Don’t Stop Me Now: The Music of Queen,” scored highly with audiences and judges, in a statement provided by Jamie Egan, supervisor of Music K-12 for the township school district.
The band was led by student Drum Majors Elizabeth Sun and Kylie Knight, who directed and conducted the band at a record-high seven competitions this season. The band competed at Piscataway, Hamilton West, Monroe, states at Rutgers University, East Brunswick, Old Bridge, as well as its own 32nd annual Raider Marching Band Festival.
The Color Guard, led by captains Eureka Vertus and Nicole Jimenez, placed second at states and won Best Guard at two competitions, according to Nudelman. The percussion, led by Carl Almazan and Mary Mehalick, took Best Percussion at three different competitions and finished seventh at states.
Overall, the awards received were: Piscataway High School: Best Music, Best Percussion; Hamilton West: Best Visual; home competition: Best Percussion; states at Rutgers: second place Color Guard, seventh place Percussion, 10th place overall; East Brunswick: Best Color Guard; Old Bridge: First Place Group 4A, Best Visual, Best Overall Effect, Best Music, Best Percussion and Best Color Guard.
The band is assistant directed by Stephen Komar. Jeffrey Smith, Christopher English and Elizabeth Fackelman assist with marching and music techniques. Lyndsay Werner and Angela Peletier are the color guard instructors, and Paul Bongiovi is the percussion instructor.
The band also owes a lot of its success to the Band Parents, led by president Barbara Williams, Nudelman said.