GLEN RIDGE, NJ — The last time the Glen Ridge High School marching band won a national championship, none of its current members had even been born yet. Now, 20 years later, the Ridgers can claim the title. They placed first in Group 1 Open and won the Best Music caption at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 6, ending the season on a high note. Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced high school bands to compete virtually last year, it was the first time GRHS had been on the stadium field in a couple of years.
“There weren’t as many bands participating (last year),” director Darren Gage said in a phone interview with The Glen Ridge Paper on Nov. 15. “We did well in the video competition and it was really cool, but didn’t feel the same. It definitely didn’t feel like being in a stadium.”
MetLife Stadium, the NFL stadium in East Rutherford that is home to the New York Giants and Jets, has a seating capacity of 82,566. It’s a massive difference from Glen Ridge’s home of Hurrell Field and the other high school fields the marching band performs on throughout the season. Gage and the GRHS staff prepare the band members for the space leading up to the competition, which has the biggest audience of the whole year.
“We want to make sure they aren’t surprised by it, because that’s not always a positive thing,” Gage said. “We tell them we’re going to warm up outside and then wait in the tunnel, which is small. It’s important when you walk out of the tunnel to be prepared, because the stadium is big and bright.”
The field itself is the same as any other football field, except where the hash marks are located: professionals, colleges and high schools all have different reference points. For a high school competition, the marks are temporarily painted onto the field, and band members have to adjust to the color coding that is used.
“We hope they don’t get overwhelmed there,” Gage said. “It worked this year. They certainly didn’t play like they were scared.”
In a stadium as big as MetLife, the crowd looks much smaller than it is. So even though it was the most eyes GRHS had had on them all season, the scale of the stands made it look much different because not every seat was filled. The sounds are also different from what they’re used to.
“The sound bounces off the front wall and it echoes,” Gage said. “That’s not something we’re used to. We talked about it a little bit, but I hoped their musical instincts would kick in and they wouldn’t react to it.”
They didn’t. Gage said he could tell when the show started it would be good by how well the 32-member band filled up the giant space.
“I think even a small band, if they play well, can still have an effect,” he said. “It didn’t feel like they were being swallowed up. They filled it as much as they could, and you could hear it ringing, which is exactly what you want. So I knew they were having a special performance from how it was reverberating, even with a little band.”
A sense of joy followed the Ridgers as they performed this year, slowly inching toward something resembling normalcy from what has been a tough couple of years for students.
“I think it was a positive thing to be out making music together,” Gage said. “Maybe there was more appreciation this year as opposed to another year. I felt a sense of joy, and definitely the students were very excited about the win. That made me happy. I’m biased because it’s my band, but I felt like they worked hard and deserved it.”
The week leading up to nationals was a stressful one: It was the end of a marking period, which brought due the last tests and papers of the grading cycle. For seniors getting ready to graduate, college applications were due. But band members didn’t let that get in the way of their last show of the year.
“They worked hard and got really good at playing the show, and got rewarded for it,” Gage said. “That’s great, because you can’t always guarantee that at the end of a season. I hope that energy keeps going throughout the rest of the year.”
Photos Courtesy of Julie Stolte
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