Marching band has been the most time-consuming and enjoyable extracurricular I have participated in throughout some of middle school and all of high school. I marched alto saxophone when I was in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades and I have been drum major (also known as field commander) since my sophomore year of high school. Having this job has been a huge responsibility, but it has also given me invaluable learning and leadership experience. There are very few positions in high school, or even as a teenager in general, that can offer such excellent leadership experience as serving as drum major. The role of a drum major is to conduct a marching band, essentially serving as a metronome to set the tempo for the group. While this is my
So unfortunately, due to transportation problems, I was not able to attend the Queen City Battle of the Bands last weekend. However, I was able to see the whole showcase via YouTube and here are my thoughts on each Marching Band’s field show. I will be creating a separate post for the Stand Battles that were also held at the event.
At half time the sound of cheering fans is drowned out by the sound of thunderous drums. Knees high, the Falcon Marching Band begins marching down the field. While the band plays on, white flags decorate the field as color guard decorates the field. According to flagline member Ashely Clark, she loves the adrenaline of performing, “It feels like an adrenaline rush to march onto the field because you are so excited about the show. While performing my mind goes blank through and I just do everything on autopilot.”
It was a misty day on the way to contest. What seemed like an average day for the Davis Marching band would turn into a spoopy tragedy. Almost all quiet, upon the band bus that early morning. Not an instrument was tuning, not even Issac was listening to music. (As he usually was) Meanwhile, those in the back laughed and chatted all the way to the Marching contest at ECU, while others kept to themselves with music or low conversations. Then all of a sudden on their ride, the bus was filled with screams of the name “MATT!” in the of a Broken Bow bus; which had the memorable Matt inside. Though all the other Broken Bowians were in confusion, Matt was in utter joy while smiling at Ben.
One of the reasons I am going for Drum Major this year is because of the growth that I have seen from the current DM’s throughout their high school careers. I met Emma, Madeline, and Tabby as a freshman and seeing how much they would mature to become strong, independent leaders is something I never initially expected. The personal growth that one gains from leadership is one of the reasons why I believe everyone should experience a leader position at least once in their lifetime. From my year as Drill Instructor, I was able to learn quite an impressive amount, however I believe that I still have quite a ways to go before I am satisfied with my skills as a leader. One of my aspirations is to become a Doctor and have the opportunity to help those
Marching band is hands down one of the biggest influences in my life. It has only impacted me in a positive way. From friendships that I know will last a lifetime to experiences i could never forget. My junior year in band I was baritone section leader and my senior year I was low brass section leader and brass horn sergeant. Having to be the leader of 60+ people has really
I don’t know how many notes I repeated. I don’t know how many hours I practiced. I can’t quantify how much I stressed. All I know is that it did not feel worth it.
Click Click Click Click Click goes the metronome for the band to keep in tempo with the beat. Electives, such as Business math, Marketing, Band and Instrumental music, are important to students. An elective some students would like to add into school is a low brass marching band. Adding a low brass marching band into the school will give students the opportunity to show creativity, have more time to work on tone quality and more time to work on choreography.
My junior year of high school I auditioned and became a drum major. This means that I am one of the leaders of the band, and my voice is one of the ones that needs to be heard. My voice, however, cannot overpower the others involved in the band. Marching band has taught me leadership skills in which that I can now have
The end of junior year in high school I ran for band president against 6 other people; I ended up winning. I was the 2016 band president for Midwest city high school, I was very nervous for this new adventure. It was time for summer band, the first day of summer band was for freshman and band parents, I had to speak in front of 200 people. The next day was full band, it was time to start summer band officially. Practicing in the heat is the worst part of being in marching band, its long and hot and people always get sunburnt. Through the long hot days and playing good music and making new memories is the best part of marching band. My senior year I became a very good musician, I spent more time in the practice room and preceded my speaking
You can tell a lot about a school by their marching band. At the beginning of my freshman year, I had the privilege of attending a Wisconsin Badger game at Camp Randall and it was an awesome experience. I have long forgotten the logistics of the game itself, but I still remember the marching band. With their high knees perfectly in step, their tight spins perfectly in time, and their shining silver instruments perfectly in position, the excitement they brought to the crowd was undeniable. I easily envisioned myself playing “On Wisconsin” on the field, hyping up fans with my music. After I learned flutes were not a part of Madison’s traditional style marching band, I decided to pick up playing the trumpet because I knew that one day, if I ever
All of this contributed to me joining the marching band, beginning in eighth grade, which has taken over my life now, in the best way possible and given me a defined place. It’s nice to be a part of something like
Marching band was one of the most difficult/challenging activity systems that I have ever done in my life. But at the same time it was an inspirational and motivating aspect of my life. The very first thing it taught me was the definition of hard work. This was because I spent hundreds of hours to my dedication and devotion to band marching around the field in the hot sun every day. Even though there were times when I wanted to quit; one such instance was when we were out performed by another school, other times it was becuase of the teacher being a little too hard on me when I first started. Despite setbacks such as these, I had an ardent attraction to marching band, mainly because in middle school I was a part of concert band, which made me love music. The biggest, reason why I chose to do marching band, aside from my enjoyment of music, was because towards the end of my eighth grade year my middle school band director told us about a huge opportunity that we had coming up to become a part of the high school across the street marching band. They were called the Titan Regiment. She told us the difference between concert and
I spend so much of my time balancing my band and school life, I feel it would be impossible to ignore my legacy within my bands. My legacy would have to include what I’ve spent most of my time in, and what I loved doing. In my case, I’m lucky enough to have both of these be the same thing. I spend about nineteen hours a week working in marching band, and I have loved doing this the whole time. I am currently the senior drum major and if I was to look back at the legacy I have left behind, I would have to include this. Not only has it given me a chance to lead the band I love to be in, it has allowed me to teach and inspire passion within the younger members of my band to continue music.
12. Skateboarding and marching band might not seem very similar with alike characteristics, but you would be surprised how I train for both of them very similarly. When I go to the skatepark I always am there for over three hours at a time. This means that I have good breath control. If a random person tried skating for three hours they would be passed out on the ground because they would run out of breath. That is the same thing for marching band. In marching band I will be running across the field while playing blasting into my tuba. In order to be able to do something longer, such as skate for a longer period of time, you must do a warm up. This means that I can’t just go to the skatepark and start shredding. I first should do basic tricks before advancing into harder tricks.
Marching band directors are masterful musicians who are well trained in music theory, history, musicianship, and artistry. Being an accomplished musician isn’t enough. It is also good to be an excellent teacher. To be effective you must balance musical artistry. Being proficient is great. A thoughtful attention to artistry, quality of music, and movement is a good thing to have. A creative show design is needed. Once a marching band season is over, high school band directors should be prepared to switch to concert band (Want to Become a Marching Band Director).