Kinda a first person narration of highschool marching band, but kinda more from my veiw...
~starlyrical
It all starts with an 8th grade night at a football game. The 8th graders warm up with the band, march into the stadium behind them, watch as they play the anthem and the fight song before both groups march off the field into the band's area of the stadium, where they play pep tunes with the current members and goof off with them until halftime. (And maybe be the only 8th grader who wore shorts and flip flops and end up losing one of said flip flops.) And see them perform their show and decide in that very moment, that that is what you want to do.
Next are the spring practices- where you join the band in relearning basics, like forward marching and backwards marching, and you watch as some of the members reunite with their friends. The second spring practice you hear about what the band will do, and maybe even get to hear the show's title. And if your future band does this- you get to see their spring run-through- a hilarious attempt at their previous show that normally ends with everyone laughing, and maybe one or two members having tripped. Then come the summer practices- where you may get a snippet of the show tunes and you relearn all the basics and maybe sideways marching. The summer seems to fly by and soon it's your first day of band camp.
The first day normally starts with stretches with the entire band- yes guard and pit included, then the guard and percussion leave and the marchers go through either dance exercises with the guard instructor, or you start learning basics and other warm-ups, after making it to almost noon, the band director leaves you to go get lunch, which for my band at least was spent in a hallway. Then you go to sectionals, where normally some form of hilarity ensues, you still get some work done though. Next is a break, a snack and maybe mandatory fun-time, where the band is coerced into playing a game or doing something to learn people's names. Next you go back to sectional or even into woodwinds or brass ensemble. Then is dinner, which if you're social- you normally meet some of your soon to be closest friends. Then you go outside again and either do more basic work, or start learning exercises.
The rest of band camp seems to pass by quickly, excitedly, and you've learned your first set and how to read drill, and you've put it all to music, probably with half the show on the field, you perform for your family, and your friends' family. After all the sweat and blisters of band camp is over, it is your freshman year of high school, and you've learned how to march, you've got your uniform, and you've become part of something a lot bigger than you. It is scary, but trust me, its way worth it.
The first few weeks of school will seem to fly by and soon your first competition will start, it'll be off and running from there, every Saturday except maybe one, will have a competition, and you'll soon know just about everyone in the bands name's, or at least when you're at school, you'll be able to put instrument to faces.
After three whole months of practice, the only time that will matter is that last eleven minutes in Indianapolis, Illinois, at the Boa Grand Nationals, or whatever your last competition is. Those eleven minutes when we stand as a 180-member band on the field ready to start. And when the first beat we will be ready; ready to put our all into those eleven short minutes. And it will be our best show of the year. And we will go through it as if it is the story of our live, living, breathing, and playing our story and its background music. And it will be glorious, and it will be triumphant. We'll stand there after the last note is echoing through the stadium, breathing. And then it'll be over, done. Another season finished. Gone with our show, snippets heard through our own instruments and some fading hums until the spring run-trough, where we will horribly fail at attempting the same effect as the last show.
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