Fair Lawn Marching Band Takes Fifth at Nationals, Wins Best Percussion [VIDEO]

The Fair Lawn High School Marching Band placed fifth overall in Group IV Open Class and won Best Percussion Saturday at this year’s U.S. Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) Nationals Competition in Annapolis, Md.  

It's the second consecutive year the band has won Best Percussion at Nationals. 

"This was a great climax for a great season," band director Paul Kafer said. "Fifth place is outstanding, and top percussion for a second consecutive year is truly a remarkable accomplishment.”

At Saturday's competition, the Cutters were matched up against 20 of the best high school bands in the country.  

“Ensembles came from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Tennessee, Connecticut, North Carolina and New York, and they represented the best of the best," Kafer said.

"For the first time we outscored past national champions Absegami and Cheshire and we were very close to Nazareth, King Phillip, and North Penn – all excellent programs."

The previous week, the marching band finished a close second to Absegami High School in the State Championships in Old Bridge, while taking home caption awards for Best Visual Performance, Best Overall Effect and Best Percussion.

The Cutters band finished their regular season with four first place finishes, including a sweep at the ; five all-classes caption awards for best music and percussion; and all Group IV caption awards in four of its six events. The Cutters' percussion took six captions and best overall in two competitions, including the , which featured 21 ensembles.

Since the USSBA National Championships format was introduced in 2006, Fair Lawn has been the only school to represent Bergen County as an Open Class band at the Nationals.

Last year, the band ranked eighth overall nationally in the USSBA circuit and was the Group IV Open class national champion in percussion, which includes the drum line and front ensemble.

Click here to see a video of the band and color guard's Nationals performance of this year’s show, ‘Bound,’ which was written in three movements and symbolized the themes of physical, emotional and common bonds.