Percussion and Color Guard Clean Up at Home Invitational

Fair Lawn's Varsity Indoor Percussion and Color Guard ensembles both earned first place honors Saturday in front of an enthusiastic home crowd in the high school's B Gym.

Ten talented units from across the tri-state area competed in the event, which marked the second straight year Fair Lawn has hosted a USBands Indoor Invitational.

"It’s really fun for the kids to host other kids and host other groups," percussion director Jamie Szeinberg said. "They go to shows all the time, but to have people come in their place, it’s a sense of pride."

In addition to getting to see Fair Lawn's  take home first place trophies, Saturday's attendees also witnessed the premiere performance of the newly-formed junior varsity percussion ensemble, which finished second to Woodbridge High School in the Scholastic A division.

"They did a great job in their first outing so we’re really happy that that was able to get started this year," Szeinberg said. "It’s a big thing for us."

The JV, which is made up of a mix of underclassmen and middle school students, was formed this year to provide a training ground for future classes of varsity percussionists.

"We wanted to give them a chance to get some experience so that way they’re experienced members by the time they’re in the varsity group, like they would be in any sport," Szeinberg said, noting that many of the upper echelon marching band programs across the country utilize junior varsity programs to develop their young talent.

Over the course of their high school playing careers, marching band members are expected to progress through an increasingly challenging array of instruments, and having a JV squad allows the performers to take on tougher instruments at an earlier age.

"When they do JV, they can do a little bit more of an advanced instrument to get training for the future for them to make that instrument in the varsity group," Szeinberg said. "We wanted to get started to get a better training ground for the kids coming in, so that they’re not coming in and for the first time playing this specific instrument in our top level competing group."

To round out the remainder of the winter season, the percussion ensemble will travel to Old Bridge High School for a performance  on March 31, followed by the Championship Finals on April 14 at Sun National Bank Arena in Trenton.