BMHS band wins tourney, sets record
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Correspondent
Brick Memorial's band had a little more bounce to its strut on Thanksgiving when it performed before the football game at Brick Township.

And with good reason.

The band under conductor Andrew Penrod recently finished first in the Group II division of the Atlantic Coast Championships of the Tournament of Bands with a school record 97.45 points. Williamstown High School was second, trailing by 1 1/2 points. The band's previous best finish was sixth place in 2004.

In 2001, it won the U.S. Scholastic Band Association Championships in Atlantic City, a smaller version of this competition.

"It doesn't get much better than that," said Penrod, who has been involved with the band since 2000. Edward Prybolsky is the drum major and junior Jennifer Meyer is junior drum major.

The band will perform on Saturday night prior to the NJSIAA Group IV Central Jersey championship game between Brick Memorial and Sayreville at Rutgers Stadium. It also will have a standstill holiday performance at the school auditorium on Dec. 10.

The competition included 100 bands in all of the groups, including 25 qualifiers in Group II that has a limit of 50 band members and 50 color guards. Brick Memorial has 50 band members — 16 percussion and 34 wind players — and 34 wind instrument players. It has 12 color guard members under the direction over the past three years by John "Jack" Cosgrove.

The competition draws from 13 states, including Connecticut, Pennsylvania,Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.

The eight-minute performance was entitled "Knight's Pledge," a three-movement piece adapted to a marching band with the subtitles "Commencement," "Adversity" and "Triumph."

"We took emotions a medieval knight would experience — honor, strength, courage — and tied musical elements into visual design of show to portray that type of feeling, music that would bring forth those emotions to tell the story," said Penrod.

"We used different costuming and equipment and used props on the field, including pulling a stone out of a sword like Excalibur. Music is the best way to tell a story. And all the judges afterward said we had something special."

Penrod said it was a challenging task that met some resistance in the beginning.

"I selected the theme. At first, my staff didn't buy into it but I have drill designers and music arrangers and I quarterback all of it and the way I tied it all together, everybody (eventually) bought into it," said Penrod enthusiastically. "Good music was the thing ultimately. The way it sounds, the way it feels and everything else you can do."

But it took hours of practice and performances at Brick Memorial football games before the band got the routine down.

"Somebody calculated that each performer is required to perfect 2,000 moves and physical responsibilities in eight minutes," said Penrod. "That's quite a lot for 14- and 15 year-old students to perfect."

The conductor also hailed the parents who not only provided moral support to practices that stretch over hours for six days a week and helped move equipment but also spent hours over the summer making the props.

"We couldn't have done this show without the band parents," said Penrod. "They helped us every time we had a problem."

Actually, Brick Memorial was scheduled to perform this year under a different band circuit but its competition was canceled and it instead went back to the Tournament of Bands event in Matawan and got a first place score. They went on to compete in that circuit in shows at Governor Livingston High School and at West Essex High School hosting the North Jersey championships and swept top honors in those as well.

"We felt we had a legitimate shot at winning this one if we keep going," said Penrod.

And the band had a groundswell of support from the Brick Memorial community. It's what drew him back to Brick Memorial after he spent a year away in 2005 at Old Bridge High School and the job reopened.

"Absolutely. One of the reasons why I decided to come back to Brick is the respect band has. I'm a Brick Memorial alumnus and my heart is really here. This is my community. We've gotten a ton of support from the (district) Board (of Education) and my administration. We're looking to increase numbers and, with the coordination with the board, we'd love to work together to give more students the opportunity to experience what we have by perhaps moving up to Group IV, which allows 85 musicians and above.

"This says a lot for the student population here at Brick Memorial," said Penrod. "Kids like to work hard.