VIDEO: Marching Band wins regional honors; on to states and nationals

By Jackie Arteaga, Staff Reporter|October 22, 2021

The Passaic Marching Band recently won their latest regional competition, held Oct. 2 at MetLife Stadium. With the hard work of the band director, Mr. Christopher Rusca, and his students, the band was able to obtain the title despite not having played together for nearly two years due to Covid.

Mr. Rusca has directed the Passaic Marching Band for 20 years, in which time they have won four regional championships, four state championships and one national championship.

Mr. Rusca took the time to talk about the experience, emphasizing that all instruments are equally important when competing.

“You want to have a good balance, so for instance flutes, clarinets, saxophones, the woodwind instruments, and we have the brass, also the trumpets, and the low brass,” he said. “We always want more low brass. It seems like young kids tend to play the lighter instruments, so the brass is usually a little heavier and needs more air. No other instrument is more important than the other; you just want a nice balance.”

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Doing all this hard work means a lot. It just shows us that now every other competition we have, we need to add more hard work each day.

— Prep soph Nelsie Abreu

The award-winning Marching Band includes students in grades 6-12 from all over the Passaic Public School District, including the three high schools, Etta Gero School No. 9, School No. 11 and the School No. 8 Annex.

Nelsie Abreu, a sophomore saxophone player from Passaic Prep, told The Boulevard Online: “Doing all this hard work means a lot. It just shows us that now every other competition we have, we need to add more hard work each day.”

The band’s next competition will be Saturday, Oct. 30 in the state championships and then Saturday, Nov. 6 at the national championships at MetLife Stadium.

PREP STUDENTS IN MARCHING BAND: