The Cinnaminson marching band is having a rousing success this year. The marching band won all five competitions that it entered and were undefeated headed into the regional Calvacade of Bands championships on November 11, 2017 at J. Birney Crum Stadium multi-purpose stadium in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

When asked about the success of the team headed into the competition on November 11, junior April Schultz answered “I’m personally happy about how we are doing this season, we are completely undefeated and have the highest score in the division,” April bragged.

The marching band was heading into another competition against the best of the best last week and Cody thoughts on it were clear.

“(During the October 14 competition) we were up against six bands and we beat those six bands, and this week were pushing to keep up the streak and were definitely going to try our best,” he said.

Mrs. Knisely, the Cinnaminson High School Band conductor and head of marching was asked on how she felt with success of the marching band as well.

Mrs. Knisely stated, “Every band in our group is bigger than us and it’s really satisfying that as a small band we can still overcome people that have ten to twelve more kids in their group.”

Mrs. Knisely also talked about the close bonds that she has with her band students.

“It’s just amazing, where most teachers don’t get the opportunity to teach a student for four straight years it’s a rarity, while some of these kids I have taught since 8th grade band. And it’s really nice to seem them grow as people,” Mrs. Knisely said.

Cinnaminson belongs to the Calvacade of Bands group, which, according to its Wikipedia page, is a “is one of many competitive band organizations in the United States and is one of several major circuits in the mid-Atlantic states.”  The page goes on to say that “the organization currently has over 145 member schools and it provides a large array of competitive performance opportunities including marching band, indoor guard, percussion, dance teams, and jazz ensemble. Cavalcade sanctions approximately 42 field band events.”

Currently, because of the size of our band, we compete in the Independence class where bands have between 1-39 members in the entire band.  Other South Jersey High Schools whom we compete against are Palmyra, Glassboro, Bridgeton, Buena among others.

Cinnaminson participated in five different Calvacade of Bands competitions on Saturdays this fall, on top of their performances at the football games on Friday nights.  Cinnaminson won all five of those events, starting with the Ridley (PA) High School event on September 23, when it racked up a score of 74.7 overall, defeating four other New Jersey high schools in the competition and everyone in their category.

Cinnaminson continued its winning on the September 30 show at Downingtown High School in Downingtown, PA when it won its category with a score of 70.05.  The following week at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in Plymouth Meeting, PA saw an improvement in scoring with a final, season-high score of 77.75, winning its third straight competition.

Competing for the fourth consecutive weekend on October 14, the marching band traveled to Whitehall High School in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley region, where it took on six PA high schools that it might see in championships and outdistanced them all with a score of 85.45, a season high to that point, to sneak by second-place Pittston, with a score of 85.00.

Looking to finish undefeated, the band strolled into Vineland, NJ on November 4 and rolled their New Jersey opponents with an outstanding score of 91.70, more than five points higher than any other opponent for that night.  It was also the highest seed of any Indepedence team and put the team as the favorite in the Open category at the Calvacade of Bands Championship heading into the championship on November 11.  According to Wikipedia, “during championship week, bands are divided once more within their class based on their average score throughout the season. Bands with the higher scores are placed into the “Open” division and bands with the lower scores are placed into the “A” division.

Cinnaminson’s 91.70 was higher than any other team in their Independence “Open” division, with East Stroudsburg North holding the second seed at 89.75.  It looked like the path to victory was set, which would be the second-ever championship for Cinnaminson, which last won in 2004..

However, Cinnaminson lost a soloist for undisclosed reasons for the Cavalcade of Bands championship, and it really hurt the Pirates to not have their complete show.  Cinnaminson scored a season-high score of 92.05, but three teams that had lost to Cinnaminson earlier this season came back to beat them with a fourth team sneaking in to nudge the Pirates to fifth overall, but the highest place-winner from New Jersey.  Cinnaminson also took awards home for most improved band and “High Auxiliary,” which awards the best color guard as well.

Overall, Cinnaminson finished its regular season 5-0 and had the best regular season scores and still placed as the best NJ school in its category and the championships – wonderful titles that cannot be taken away from an incredible season.