NL marching band wins tournament for 5th time

Just call them the five-time champs.

That’s the level of excellence the Northern Lehigh High School Marching Band has attained after it won the Tournament of Bands Region 2 Championships held recently at Northampton Area High School.

Northern Lehigh finished first with a score of 91.55, besting Blue Mountain (89.55); Lake Lehman (86.3); Pen Argyl (86.7); Schuylkill Haven (81.26); Northampton (90.38); North Schuylkill (87.615); Williams Valley (87.575); and Emmaus (87.525).

The band also finished as the highest-scoring band in the entire show, and in the process, the band won awards for best music, best visual, and best color guard.

The win marks the fifth time in school history that Northern Lehigh has won this particular championship, its first since 2009, according to band director David Carroll.

They then went on the following week to Hershey Park Stadium to compete in the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Championships, where the band finished in fifth place in the Group 1 Open with a score of 93.15.

That marked the third year in a row that Northern Lehigh has finished in the top 5, and the fifth time in the past seven years, Carroll said.

“The marching band program at Northern Lehigh is an applied arts educational program and a dynamic learning environment,” Carroll said. “We approach our ‘outdoor program’ like any other academic experience.”

Carroll added, “It’s kind of like music and movement combined as a dramatic production, sports team, and community activity. Our primary program goal is to teach our students through the creation, development, and performance of great art. The real measure for us is in the quality of the art we produce.”

“Competition is the yard stick we use to test ourselves,” he said. “I am very proud of what my students are able to achieve.”

Carroll added, “It was a superior season.”

“I am very thankful for all of the support our program continues to receive from our parent organization, the school district, and the community,” he said. “The Northern Lehigh Band Boosters does a tremendous job every year of creating an environment that nurtures the success of our students.”

Carroll said that regions is like districts in athletic competition, while the Atlantic Coast Championship is like a state championship tournament in athletics.

The band is under the direction of Drum Majors Samantha Papay and Kira Rex.

The Tournament of Bands encompasses member bands from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia and Virginia, the seven states are divvied into regional subdivisions which used to be called Chapters.

Chapter 2 is the greater Lehigh Valley Region that extends west to Reading and Northern into the Poconos. Each team competes against bands of the same approximate size. The school’s student population is not a factor in determining a bands Group size.

For more information on the Tournament of Bands, contact www. njatob.org.