They have their own summer camp with 10-hour days. They practice nights and weekends. They even have their own road crew.

Forty high schools from 7 states—22 from New Jersey—will be competing tomorrow  at the Northern States Championships (www.meadowlands.com/eventDetail.asp?EVENTID=3159)  at Giants Stadium.

There will be intricately choreographed “shows” performed by high school students who put in more than 30 hours a week, learning up to 75 musical movements and formations covering an entire football field. In front of thousands of people. And judges, who critique their every move and sound in eight categories including “Musical Effect” and “Visual Performance.”   

New Jersey’s top bands include Absegami, Hillsborough, Haddon Heights, Immaculata and Passaic. Fair Lawn, the defending national bronze medalists, has six consecutive national top-5 finishes, their percussion has won three straight national titles and their color guard (those are the nice girls with the colorful flags) finished fourth at the U.S. Championships. They have even led the parade at Disney World three times in the past five years.

“One of the really unique things about marching band is that everybody is equal, from freshmen to seniors,” says Fair Lawn High School band director Paul Kafer, noting that there are no substitutions during the band’s non-stop nine-minute show. “Each of our 88 kids is a starter, no one is a sub. Each member of our color guard is a soloist. For us, it’s about giving these students the opportunity to perform.”
 
So head to the Meadowlands Saturday between 12:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. to take in the pageantry and the music. Tickets are $15 at the stadium box office (201-935-3900).

And what will these kids do for an encore?

Next week they’ll play on an even bigger stage at the U.S. National Marching Band Championships at M&T Bank Stadium on Nov. 17 in Baltimore,  Fifteen of the 50 schools invited are from New Jersey.