Marching Band honored by mayor, Board of Education

Photo by Sheila McAnulty

 As reported on Tap Into Scotch Plains-Fanwood:

Mayor Kevin Glover and Board of Education President Trip Whitehouse presented proclamations to the national champion Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School marching band following their undefeated season in competitions on Nov. 20 at Evergreen School's multipurpose room.

A major announcement of the evening was that the head of the YEA! (Youth Education in the Arts), the U.S. Marching Bands organization, has moved the SPFHS band from Division 6A to the even more competitive 6 Open category of competition for 2015. The change was a result of the marching band's outstanding performances this year.

Pictured above are Band Director Durand Thomas, Assistant Band Director Charlie Jackson, instructor Chris DiCarlo, Color Guard Director Jackie Tumolo, Assistant Band Director John Gillick and Schools Superintendent Dr. Margaret Hayes.  

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SPFHS Wins USBands National Championship

Completing a sweep of the season's major awards on the USBands competition circuit, the SPFHS Raiders Marching Band took first place for Group 6-A at the National Championships in Allentown, Pa., on Saturday, Nov. 8.

The band and color guard achieved a score of 92.875 and took all caption awards: Best Color Guard, Best Percussion, Best Music, Best Visual and Best Overall Effect.

In addition, the Raiders received the U.S. Army Award of Excellence.



Band parent Dev Anjaria has posted an extensive album of photographs of the band's preparation and performance, plus the award presentation. Click here to go to the album.

Warming up in Allentown

Congratulations to all involved on a terrific season!

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New albums - More photos from States and Yamaha Cup

October 25 was a long, satisfying day for the SPF Raiders Marching Band that finished with a winning performance in the USBands NJ State Championship competition at Rutgers University.



Band parent Dev Anjaria took photos throughout the day. Click here to see his images of the early practice; Music Boosters volunteers providing food to fuel the performance; warm-ups at Rutgers; the show and the award presentation.

See our previous coverage with more photos here.

The following Saturday began with senior recognition day and ended with the Yamaha Cup competition at MetLife Stadium.



Dev has added another extensive album from the band's first-place performance. Click here to see.

Reacting to the award

See our previous coverage with more photos here.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Marching Band wins Yamaha Cup first-place trophy

Updated 11/3 with more photos

Photo by Dev Anjaria

 One week after winning the US Bands NJ State Championship for its category, the SPFHS Marching Band took first place at the 2014 Yamaha Cup competition, held Nov. 1 at MetLife Stadium.

Photo by Dan Murphy

The tournament went on all day and featured scores of bands from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and as far away as North Carolina. Thousands of student musicians soldiered on through rainy, blustery weather.

Photo by Dev Anjaria

In the Group 6A category, SPFHS competed against Tottenville High School of Staten Island and New Providence, Jackson Memorial and Hunterdon Central Regional High Schools of New Jersey. In addition to the first-place trophy, SPFHS was given the caption awards for Best Visual, Best Music and Best Overall Effect.

Photo by Dev Anjaria

Here are some photos of the show as seen from one corner of the field, taken from the sideline by pit crew member Dan Murphy, plus some of the award presentation. UPDATE: More photos of the award presentation from Stacy McAnulty (added 11/8).



Dan also took these "backstage" photos as the band prepared for the show.



The band will wrap up its season of Group 6A competition at a US Bands National Championship show on Nov. 8 in Allentown, Pa.

Photo by Dev Anjaria

We'll be collecting more photos from the Yamaha Cup event, so check back!

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Senior Recognition Day 2014: Photos

Umbrellas and raincoats were the order of the day at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School football field on Senior Recognition Day, Nov. 1. The cold, rainy weather did not prevent the acknowledgement of the contributions of the seniors and their families to the SPF Raiders Marching Band.

Click here to see an album of photos of the seniors and their family members, taken by Dev Anjaria.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Drone's-eye view of marching band rehearsal

One difficulty that a marching band faces is getting a good view of its formations on the field. Raiders band member Ashwin Kishen decided to do something about it.

He built a drone.



"I built the system over the summer with the idea of using it to record marching band," Ashwin writes. "I have always been bothered by the lack of quality overhead footage we have access to. At the end of the season there is some decent footage from Metlife Stadium and Rutgers -- but by that point it is essentially useless. The drone was the ideal way for me to be able to record our forms the way they are meant to be seen: from above."

Ashwin put together a "quadcopter" drone equipped with a GoPro camera. "The system primarily relies on a compass, GPS, barometer and camera gimbal to hold the GoPro camera steady in the air," Ashwin explains. "It weighs about 7 pounds and will stay in the sky for 8 minutes."

Over the summer, Ashwin gradually added features to the drone. "I started with a simple setup with limited capabilities and then, little by little, added better on-board computers, legs, the gimbal, GPS and many other functionalities. With everything I changed, I would run into all kinds of issues, and troubleshooting them was not easy. I wanted to make sure I built everything safely and correctly because I knew it would eventually be flown near other people and I couldn't risk causing any injuries."

The result was an overhead view of rehearsal that allowed the band to review its formations in time to make improvements before competitions. Here's a drone's-eye video of the band at an October practice.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Marching Band Wins 2014 State Championship (Updated 10/27)

The SPFHS Marching Band and Color Guard are state champions for a second consecutive year.

The final note of the winning performance

The students put on a terrific performance to take the Group 6A title at the US Bands NJ State Championship, held Saturday at Rutgers University.



Here's an album of photos taken from the grandstand by Dan Murphy.



The photos of the award presentation were taken by Dev Anjaria.
(Click on one to see more.)

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Another great show for Marching Band, 10/18/14

The SPFHS Marching Band continues to refine and improve its "Il Cuore Di Romano" show, and put on a top-notch performance in competition at Monroe High School on Oct. 18.
Here are some photos taken by pit crew member Dan Murphy, starting with warmups and continuing through the show.



We expect more photos soon, so be sure to check back.

Next stop: The US Bands NJ State Championship competition on Oct. 25 at Rutgers University.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Marching Band at Homecoming Halftime, Oct. 18, 2014 (Video, Photos)

Before a large Homecoming crowd, the SPFHS Marching Band performed at halftime of the Raiders football game on Oct. 18. Here's a video of the full show, taken by handheld camera atop the press box.



We also have another great set of photos from band parent Dev Anjaria. Click here or on the image below to go to the album.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Competition double-header for Marching Band (Photos)

The SPFHS Marching Band participated in two U.S. Bands competitions on Saturday, Oct. 11, performing at Somerville High School in the afternoon and at Hillsborough High School in the evening.



The long day began with a home football game, followed by the trip to Somerville. Because of limited space at the host school, the band warmed up at nearby Immaculata High School, which meant some extra marching and equipment-rolling through about a half-mile of local streets between the campuses.



The band’s 2014 show, “Il Cuore Di Romano: The Heart of the Roman Empire, is performed on a field decorated with mock-ups of Roman columns. The students have been getting consistently strong scores from the U.S. Bands judges. The Somerville show pitted SPFHS against two Group 6-A rivals, and the Raider band took first place.



We have multiple photo albums from this busy day. First, band parent Dev Anjaria provides these shots from the stands at the Somerville show.

Click to go to the album

Pit crew member Dan Murphy took these photos from field level at Somerville.



Here's another fine album by Dev from the stands at Hillsborough as the band performed under the lights.

Click to go to the album

Again, some field-level views by Dan.



Dan also took some behind-the-scenes photos as the musicians warmed up and trekked to the playing fields.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Marching Band in competition Oct. 5, 2014

The SPFHS Marching Band continued its competition season with a performance at J.P. Stevens High School in Edison on Sunday, Oct. 5. Click here or on one of these images to see Dev Anjaria's album of photos.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

SPF Home Show 2014 is a big success (Photos, Video)

Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School held its annual "home show" on Sept. 20, playing host to marching bands from 15 other schools in US Bands competition. Thanks to the tireless efforts of many Music Boosters volunteers, the show was a great success.



Click any of these images to see a photo album that captures the highlights of the evening. The photos, by band parent Dev Anjaria, include guest bands, volunteers, the large crowd of spectators and, of course, the Raiders band playing in the exhibition to close the show.

Many more photos! Click to see album

This video clip of the SPFHS band's finale was posted by the Tap into Scotch Plains-Fanwood local news site.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Marching Band performing at half-time, 9/20/14

Here's an album of photos taken from the sidelines as the SPFHS Marching Band performed at halftime of the football Raiders' home game on Sept. 20.

Click on any of these images to go to the full album.

Thanks again to band parent Dev Anjaria for his photo work.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.

Marching Band makes 2014 Competition Debut

The SPFHS Marching Band and Color Guard performed in its first competition of the 2014 season on Sept. 13 at Edison High School.



Band parent Dev Anjaria has put together an excellent album of photos - and when viewed as a slideshow, it's accompanied by audio of the performance. Click here or on the images above to go to the album, and look for the Slideshow button at top right.

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Click here to see our photo collection. Click here for videos. To submit photos or videos, click here to e-mail Dan.