SPF's annual Day of Percussion coming soon

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Public Schools music department will be hosting its annual Day of Percussion on March 7. This year's event will be at Terrill Middle School, running from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will feature professional musicians putting on instructional clinics, performances by percussion ensembles from SPF and other New Jersey schools, plus refreshments and vendors selling and demonstrating musical merchandise.

Click here to see all the details on the SPF Music Booster's site.

To get you in the mood, here's an album of photos from Day of Percussion 2014, held at SPF High School.

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

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

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.