Hey everybody! This is my first fanfic but I have about 5 other poems on fictionpress. I went to this site, saw 'marching band' as a topic, and freaked out! Where else can us band geeks congregate to exchange our creativity? Other than after football games, of course. Some of the verses are kind of personalized to the NIGHTHAWK VANGUARD (Yay!) but for the most part its pretty general to all you bands out there. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it!
How I Got Hooked On Band
When I was just a wee young kid just fresh out of eighth grade,
My summer had been pretty good, I'd swam and I had played.
When, you see, one day my mommy said so sweet to me:
"They have a thing called marching band where you are soon to be.
I used to be in colorguard; I had a bunch of fun.
And now that it's all over I am sad that it is done."
"Colorguard!" I asked my mom, "I've never heard the phrase.
And what's this have to do with all my coming summer days?"
"My goodness!" my mom said to me, "Just wait and I'll tell you!
The colorguard, part of the band, is what I used to do."
"Yes, mother, we've established that, but what I want to know
Is what you did in colorguard and why you loved it so."
"In colorguard," my mom replied, "I spun flags on a field."
"But why are you telling me this!" I pleaded as I kneeled.
Then my mom said, "I thought you'd like to join the guard this year.
They have a class in late and early June, it says so here."
"Oh fine, I'll check it out," I said. "But can I do one thing?
I want to call up one dear friend that I can maybe bring."
"Of course! Of course! Go call your friend, I bet she'll like it too.
That way you will not be the only one that is brand new."
So, you see, I called my friend, and waited for the day
That I'd find out that colorguard'd be in my life to stay.
Eventually, that day came up, and I walked in the door
Of the band room, which would be my home for four years, maybe more.
The guard girls there were friendly, they all asked me for my name.
So I told them excitedly then asked them all the same.
The first thing that we did was stretched, and me not very far.
The other girls were flexible, and so I felt bizarre.
Then after we were all stretched out, time for across the floors.
I had a bunch of trouble and I almost hit the door.
Finally, I saw the flags, but they were hard to spin.
I tried to spin the longest, but guess what? I didn't win.
Next up came the tosses, which were frightening to me.
So far this whole big guard thing hadn't given me much glee.
But I got better at it, and next clinic I was glad.
This spinning flags and tossing them was the most fun I had had.
And then one day that changed my life came with a sudden blow.
I found out about Band Camp and that I was gonna go.
"But what the heck is Band Camp? Isn't that the place for geeks!"
I asked my mom as she sat down and started just to speak.
"No, no, you've got it wrong, my dear," she said with so much thrill.
"Band Camp is where you go to have some fun and learn the drill."
"Okay, I'll go," I told my mom, though I didn't quite know
If I'd have fun at Band Camp, if I'd even want to go.
But soon the day crept up on me, and I got in the car.
(At 8 o clock it started! Now that's just going too far!)
My other guard friends got in too and we drove to the school.
But we were new and didn't know the most important rule.
Yes, we were late, and had to run. What a great start for us!
My poor friend got a blister and it filled right up with pus.
The gym is where we started out, we learned the way to march.
The air-conditioning was great, but still we all were parched.
While inside we met the awesome people who would lead
This great big band to victory! Great, that's just what we need!
The students who would be able to boss us all around
Were called drum majors, and all three of them were sitting on the ground.
The first one was named Anthony, I think so, anyways,
And Jen and then Alicia helped us through our Band Camp days.
The one who would instruct the guard to be the best they could
Was named Jen, too, and she said that she'd help us to be good.
But where's a band without all its support and yelling at?
Hodge would be our director, and he made sure of that.
One more person that I met would make a huge difference.
Her name was Jackie and she helped the band at great expense.
So we met all of these people and they asked us for our names.
After that we thought we'd stay inside and play some awesome games.
But, darn, we had to go outside and this is what we did:
Grid and grid and grid and grid and guess what! Still more grid.
Finally, we went to lunch, (an hour long, whoopee!)
I felt that I would die if I were anymore hungry.
Then after lunch we had this thing called 'Band Camp bonding time'.
We did stuff like a relay and we weren't allowed to whine.
After that we went outside (we would do that a lot)
We learned our drill and went through it real slow, just spot by spot.
We only had three water breaks in those three hours and,
It didn't help the quality we were then as a band.
But Hodge, he pushed us, till we thought that we'd drop down and die.
Then time for dinner: (Yes! Whoopee!) spaghetti and some pie.
We ate and ate and ate and ate and ate like we were pigs.
Then time for way more practicing! Though our stomachs were big.
Finally it had cooled off, the weather was just great!
We practiced drill until the watch on Hodge's wrist said 8.
The week flew by, even though we just did the same darn thing.
We soon put music and work into all our practicing.
And day by day the band, it seemed, got better at the show.
For that whole week we ate, slept, even breathed Band Camp, you know.
And soon it all was over and we showed all of our folks
What we did for that whole week, it wasn't good, and that's no joke.
The guard, for one, was one big mess. We weren't at all like one.
But still, we got out on the field and had oh so much fun.
But Band Camp was now over and that only meant one thing:
We had to juggle Band with boyfriends and with studying.
So soon school started and we had to practice a darn lot.
Three days and nights a week, guess where we were? At our house! NOT!
We first had learned the opener (And Tommy was our show)
We practiced the 'IR' in it till Hodge said we could go.
Next Pinball came, with rifle work and awesome box drill sets,
Us guard girls had to do a somersault and we got wet.
After we learned the first two songs, the drumbreak was our task.
The whole band danced and everybody had a great big blast.
The closer was put on the field last (DUH!) and then, you see,
We had our whole show on the field and Hodge was filled with glee.
Throughout the time we learned our show some stuff happened to us.
We performed at a pep assembly, and made a fuss.
We also got to know a bunch of people from the band.
We made a bunch of friends while at attention we would stand.
My two best friends in guard and I were also dubbed a name:
One, Two, Three, the Band would call us, and Crystal is to blame.
Soon Hodge told us that we would be at the football games.
He said we'd be performing, the other schools would do the same.
The football games were every Friday; we went out and we marched.
We played and spun and marched in step until we all were parched.
The football games were so much fun! We played stuff in the stands.
We usually stayed to meet the other marching bands.
At first, we were so nervous, we had said, "Hodge, we just won't!
There's people in the stands, dear Hodge! Don't make us play, Hodge, don't!"
But we went out there anyways and we did our best.
At least, most of the time, I'm not quite sure about the rest.
After a while, the games were more like practice to all us.
We weren't really nervous and we didn't make a fuss.
Towards competition season Hodge's nerves were getting frayed.
You'd have to run if there was a wrong note that you had played.
Then soon we got to miss a day of boring, dreary school.
We got ready for the invitational, and it was cool!
The whole band was so darn pumped up! We were to go on last.
We all performed our hearts out and it was a massive blast!
And even though our score could not be said to everyone,
We wound up getting first (an excellent!) when it was done.
The rest of competition season went by in a blur.
But at the end of it we got a great Superior!
Everyone was sad that band had now come to an end.
We all would miss our seniors so darn much! They were our friends.
We all remembered the so many great times we had had.
The bus rides and how they were fun, the good things and the bad.
We had such a great season in so many awesome ways.
We spent so darn much time with the whole Band, so many days!
I'm gonna miss the seniors as they leave our Band for good,
But they will be remembered, as every Band kid should.
I'm looking so much forward to my coming three years here.
I'll always be in Band, I will NEVER be in cheer.
The season was so fun to me, and not as I had planned,
But this I'll always think of as how I got hooked on band.
ps. I hope you got the rhythm of it. Seeing as you're a band geek like me, though, (right?) you should have gotten it. Thanks for reading my poem!
Darla