The Tenafly Marching Tigers scored a first-place win on Saturday with their masterpiece, “Wanted,” at the USBands New Jersey State Championships at Old Bridge High School, becoming New Jersey’s best marching band within group IV-A with a whopping score of a perfect 90.000! This is the second year in a row that the on-field performers captured a state title. Here’s how it happened:
Despite thinking they have retired their lassos since the USBands IV-A division Ludwig-Musser Classic at MetLife Stadium on October 7, a loud and familiar rumble is heard from a huge distance, and sand builds up along with the tension that dominates the scene.
The sun sets low and the shadows of around 70 cowboys and cowgirls create an ominous feel, no mercy to be had as sweat beads along the temples of their opponents, cowering as all eyes are directed at the black and red fighters.
A glint of metal and brass comes from their holsters, and everyone knows they’re bound to win. They stand like statues until their four sheriffs, the drum majors, give them the cue to fire, the silence broken by the piercing roar of the Tenafly Marching Tigers. The musical trigger is pulled in a flash of light and all other bands fall without a fight.
The cowboys chase their dreams of riches out west under the direction of Mr. Jacobetz and drum majors Julian Ahn (’24), Helen Hui (’24), Jun Lee (’24), and Jake Pleva (’24). However, the team of cowboys includes a little “behind-the-cacti” facilitation from ensemble coordinator Mr. Minesh Shah, woodwinds technician and field director Mr. John Fugaban, composer, battery instructor, and musical and visual design staff Mr. Aaron Alcine, and front ensemble instructor Ms. Marley Alcine.
A simple strum of the fiddle within the Wild West becomes much more abstract and complex under the expertise of Mr. Aaron Alcine, writing a full composition with each dynamic element like brushstrokes on canvases, painting vivid images of the Wild West to the mind’s eye. Including many world-renowned pieces such as “Wanted Dead or Alive” by Bon Jovi, “La Vie En Rose” by Edith Piaf, “747” by Ludwig Goransson from the film Tenet, “I will Always Love You” by Mac Davis, and “Home” by Phillip Phillips, every note rings loudly like the freedom of the open range, carrying the audience away to a place where the fierce and untamed Wild West can be felt in every moment.
With the accompaniment of the color guard under the guidance of Mrs. Jill Rothstein and Ms. Kiera Shepard, their flags whipping throughout the air like tumbleweeds complementing the synchronized uniformity of the marching band, Billy the Kid returns for his second-to-last performance this season, finishing the showdown once and for all in his early industrial America comic book universe.
Fear not, as the Tigers still have one more big showdown before their annual Thanksgiving performance at the Turkey Bowl on November 23! Come see the Marching Tigers showcase their skills on November 5 at the USBands National Championships in Allentown, Pennsylvania! The saloon will be full of cowboys from Tenafly showing their true Tiger Pride.
So, like I said last time, be sure to grab your popcorn, bring some of your own fellow cowboys, and come enjoy the show, where the marching band will turn a modern-day football game into an old-timey wild west rodeo!
