The NHS marching band can be traced back to the 1940’s. The band was given the name “The Pride of Newark” in 1981 by their director, while performing at the College Football Hall of Fame Contest. It was the first time the NHS band had ever done a prelims/finals contest...and made the finals. The band adopted that name and it is now recognized throughout the state and in many parts of the nation.
The marching band begins rehearsals in early August. A week of camp is held at NHS, followed by several days at an away band camp. For the past several years this camp has been held at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio.
Once school begins the marching band practices are held on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and on Tuesday nights for a total of about 7 hours of after school rehearsal time per week.
The Pride of Newark’s performance schedule (see our calendar for specific dates) usually includes about 20 performances per season. The band will perform at 10 NHS footballs games and marches annually in the United Way Parade. The primary performance aspect of our marching season is participating in various competitions and festivals sanctioned by OMEA (the Ohio Music Education Association). The band competes on the class AA (large school) level.
We are very proud that the Pride of Newark, since 1980, has been rated superior in 120 of 135 OMEA competitions and has been named the GRAND CHAMPION band 32 times. We are also very proud to be one of only two Ohio bands (the other being Grove City), in the large school division, to have been to the State Finals every year since they began in 1980! The Pride has performed in 19 states and has performed five times in Washington, D.C. and Canada. In April of 2000, the band performed at Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida as part of the Walt Disney Millennium Celebration. In April of 2001, the band performed in the National Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington. In 2004 the band returned to Orlando to perform in the Spectro-Magic Parade at the Magic Kingdom. The band returned to Washington, DC in April of 2005 for their second appearance in the NCBP in front of 250,000 spectators and seen on ABC-TV.
While competitions are indeed an important part of our fall schedule, our success is not determined by how many awards we might win or by what bands we may be ranked above. The staff of the Pride of Newark goes to great lengths to stress to band members (and their parents) that while we may be involved in competition we are NOT A SPORT! Our goal is always to present the best performance we are capable of and to hopefully improve our performance level at each show. Our goal is never based on “beating” another band. A SUPERIOR RATED performance takes priority over a 1st place performance.