A combination of nerves and excitement pulsed throughout Max Goldberg (’27) of the marching band as he entered Metlife Stadium. Lights from above flashed into his eyes, and he looked around to see himself fully surrounded by a vivid green field. With awe and exhilaration, he took in the surroundings, feeling like a professional. As Goldberg riled himself up to intensely compete with other talented schools, he breathed in the cool, fresh air outside. He was about to experience one of the biggest moments of his life, one for which he had practiced all year: the marching band Nationals competition.

Goldberg is a trombone player for the Tenafly marching band. Every year, the marching band members perform in the Nationals competition, but this year in particular was different, because the marching band had moved up a division, meaning they would face better competition. It would be a formidable challenge, and from the morning he woke up for the big day, he had been up and running with the marching band.

I think we can all agree that having to wake up early on a Saturday is not the greatest of experiences.

“I felt pretty tired, since I had to arrive at 8:30,” Goldberg said. I mean, what high schooler wouldn’t be? It didn’t take long for his drowsiness to march away, though, and after a few rehearsals, he was charged up and ready to go.

After his morning rehearsals, he boarded the bus with his marching band companions. Soon enough, the bus was moving. The wheels bounced up and down as the bus traveled along the bumpy road. He could sense the aura in the bus: a combination of nerves, excitement and anxiety. It was one of the most important bus rides of Goldberg’s life.On the way, he “listened to music and …didn’t think much about the competition,” but as they inched closer and closer to Metlife, Goldberg sat on the bus in incredulity and had a big realization.

“I almost couldn’t believe we were so close to having our final performance,” he said.

His emotions took a turn when he and his peers arrived at Metlife after about 40-45 minutes, and his disbelief and shock turned into sharp concentration.

“When we got off the bus and went to begin warming up, I increased my focus,” he said.

Like a flash, he was standing anxiously in the halls of Metlife, distracted by the sheer size of the field, and the flashing lights peeking at him through the hall. He couldn’t let these distractions sidetrack him; he had a big moment coming up and he didn’t want to jeopardize it.

“I remember trying to make sure I was fully focused just before we went onto the field,” Goldberg recalled. “I tried not to think too much, but I was pretty nervous before we went on. Before we went into the tunnel, however, our band director gave us encouragement and hyped us up a little which gave us confidence.”

As they walked out on the field to perform, Goldberg’s mind was racing.

“I was quite nervous because it was the final performance,” he said.

He also couldn’t stop thinking about his duet he was going to perform.

“I remember thinking about my duet and really hoping that I didn’t mess up on the microphone,” he said. “Especially considering that I was performing in a massive stadium in front of many different people.”

As he looked around at the other schools preparing, he felt intimidated. In fact, a lot of his doubt came from “other bands being amazing rather than [Tenafly’s] not being good.”

Despite all these nerves and doubts, there was still a based sense of assurance and confidence in his mind giving him some light. They had practiced for months for this moment.

“After over two months of grueling practices and immense effort from everyone, I was pretty confident that we would be able to give a great performance,” he said. “I think that I can also speak for most of the band in saying that we felt pretty well-prepared for the performance of our show, especially considering we had drastically improved from the previous week from the NJ All State competition.”

Eventually, it was their turn to perform. The moment “felt surreal and amazing.”

“During our performance we all felt together with all the same energy throughout the whole performance, and it felt like there was a huge positive energy and togetherness of our actions, which helped us start strong and finish strong,” he said. “We had performed so many times that the parts we did felt natural.

They made some inevitable errors but “they passed quickly” and the marching band “did very well at staying smooth by not letting any mistakes stop the momentum” of their performance.

And in “a blink of an eye,” he had performed and completed his duet. Their performance was over. As he calmed himself down and his adrenaline from the performance wore off, he felt a sense of victory like never before.

“I felt very good about it and I did feel accomplished,” Goldberg said. “I thought that it was our best-ever run through, and after speaking to other members of the band, many shared the positive feelings.”

Now it was time to relax and watch the other schools perform. Most people at this time would probably get bored and go on their phones and chat with their friends, but for Goldberg, it was the exact opposite.

“Watching the other bands after our performance when we were sitting in the stadium seats was actually my favorite part of the experience, because I had never seen bands like that before, and some of them blew me away,” he said. “Some of my favorites included New Milford, who performed a ‘Dia de los Muertos’ theme, and the Musselman marching band from West Virginia, who performed a unique and hilariously executed Italian-themed performance.”

Hours later, everyone had performed and they had gotten their results. They didn’t win, but they’d performed well for their first time in this very competitive division, placing 10th. According to Goldberg, they got a score of 90.0. The “National Championship competition is judged at a higher level” and he claims the marching band’s “score was better than it appeared.”

“Getting a 90.0 score at Nationals meant that we were a box 5 band (the highest level of band that you can achieve at the high school level), which means that Tenafly is really beginning to establish [itself] among the very best bands,” he argued.

Now, Goldberg and the marching band look forward to their next Nationals competition which will be next year. He’s optimistic and believes that they will do better “even with the loss of some incredible senior musicians.”

“This was our first year in the Open Class division after being promoted last year when we won Nationals for A class,” he said. “The level of competition was substantially higher this year than any other competition we had ever previously been a part of. Although it may not be clear, over the course of this season, we have improved drastically as a band overall. I think we will keep improving and have even better performances in the years to come.”