Marching band alumni?

[rhatheway]

I live in Texas, where Friday night football is king. And going hand-in-hand with that is the marching band, the drum lines, the flag squads, the cheer leaders, the drill team, etc. In other words, football games are a big deal down here and we all grow up with them, look forward to them, and participate in them in some form or another. I also lived up in New England for a few years and noticed that football and marching bands and everything else is not as big a deal up there as it is in the south (at least not in high school, in college it's a bit more, but still not as big as in the south). Soccer, hockey, basketball, yes, but not football.

So my question is, how many of us here on TH are marching band alumni in the south and know the joys of marching practice on asphalt fields in the depths of summer when it's 100 degrees outside, memorizing and marching a show, playing music, trying to stay in tune while marching, trying to hear the other band members to stay in sync, trying to remember when and where to march, when and where to stop, and all the other things that go along with putting together and marching a show?
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Richard H
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Working on getting my chops back...

“Without music, life would be a mistake” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

1958 Conn Director 14A
1968 Getzen Eterna Severinsen
1977 Reynolds Medalist CR-58

[kehaulani]

I was in the Univ. of N. Texas (UNT) marching band and hated it. I'm glad you enjoyed it. What I really didn't like in Texas was that you couldn't audition and qualify for Concert Band unless you had marched. These were educational institutions and couldn't understand how this extortion was compatible with that. Whatever.

I transferred to UNT from the University of Hawai`i (UH). At that time, in Hawai`i, the only schools that had marching bands were the schools who's concert program couldn't stand on it's own. I now reasise how much comradery, leadership qualities, etc. came to many who participated in marching band so, I'm glad it was available to those kids who got a lot out of it. But for me, I resented this "marching band or no concert band" mentality. Seemed contrary to an academic environment.

I should add that the UH now has a vigorous Marching Band program, as well as sports bands which support volleyball, basketball and other sports. Times change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxwtfc71mqk&ab_channel=UniversityofHawaiiBands
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird
"I wouldn't play like Wynton Marsalis even if I could play like Wynton Marsalis." Attributed to Chet

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
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[rhatheway]

[kehaulani]

[JayKosta]

Ya, did marching band in HS - mid 60's, Cleveland Ohio area.
I enjoyed it.
Summer 'Band camp', bus trips, parades, football games, etc.
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Most Important Note ? - the next one !
KNOW (see) what the next note is BEFORE you have to play it.
PLAY the next note 'on time' and 'in rhythm'.
Oh ya, watch the conductor - they set what is 'on time'.

[Mark Leccese]

I played in marching bands in high school and college up here in New England and know the joys of freezing cold mouthpieces, marching and playing while wearing four layers of clothing and sitting (and sitting, and sitting) in the stands in 20 degree weather waiting to play "charge" or the school's fight song.

When I went to Big State School I signed up for marching band to meet girls. (It worked and I have fond and gauzy memories of a flute player).

I showed up the first day and when I got to the head of the line they asked me what instrument I played.

"How many trumpet players do you have?" I asked.

"Thirty-five."

I thought for a second and said, "I play baritone horn."

"You do? That's great! We need baritone players!"

"Well I play baritone." Pause. "Um, do you have a baritone horn I could borrow?"

They did, and I played baritone in the marching band, the basketball pep band, and the concert band. It was great fun.
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-- Mark L. from Boston
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[mafields627]

Four years in high school, four years in college (two years at Samford in Birmingham and two year at Alabama), and next fall will be year 19 as a marching band director. I almost did a summer of drum corps, but backed out. I have a love-hate relationship with marching band.
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--Matt--

No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!

[huntman10]

Marched in Texas panhandle, 100 + degree summer workouts, cold blustery late season games. Hated every minute. I hate football because I was the fat kid in PE and was physically beaten by a football coach with a paddle every day for 2 years in view of the entire school in PE because he thought somehow my bad knees would magically be able to run faster if my butt was bruised. Was a different time!

Anyway, marching kept me out of PE after that. I was good enough at it and had plenty of friends there as well. Was a Music Ed major in college, got out of PE there,too, and marched. Never paid any attention to the games. Still dont.
_________________
huntman10
Collector/Player of Fine (and not so fine) Brass Instruments including
Various Strads, Yammies, Al Hirt Courtois, Schilkes,
Selmer 25, Getzen Eternas, Kanstuls (920 Pic, CG)
Martin Custom Large Bore, Lots Olds!, Conns, etc.

[david johnson]

I've done the marching band - freeze/melt!! Military marching style (6 to 5 stride) was much better for me than other methods. I used it in my groups when I taught. I was visiting with Seymour Rosenfeld, after a Philadelphia Orchestra concert, and he pulled his mouthpiece from his pocket to show it to me. He used a screw-rim model with a rubberized rim. Told me his students in Philadelphia used that model when plying out in the winter for marching events.

[mm55]

In my late sixties, retired, and looking for playing opportunities, last year I unexpectedly found myself in an Italian American marching band in the northeast. We did processions and parades at Roman Catholic feasts as well as civic parades on national, state, and even local holidays.

I had no idea what to expect. The feasts were an eye-opener. In the northeast, the feasts of saints carry on Roman Catholic traditions, mostly from Sicily. As a non-Catholic non-Italian, I was suprised at how much fun it was. During the six-hour procession of the saint (statue, banner, relic, effigy, whatever) through the old Italian neighborhood, each band had plenty of break time, where the local saint's "assocation" would provide food and wine. Plenty of food and wine. Excellent Italian food and wine.

Having marched for four years in high school, and one year at U, it all came back effortlessly after more than four decades. Keep in step, guide right, take the cue from the rolloff; it was all there in memory. But some things were new.

No rehearsals, and many of the pieces were Sicilian marches that I had never heard. Sight-reading on the street was new to me. The other new thing was getting paid to march. I had no idea! No big bucks, but definitely enough to cover travel expenses, uniform clothes, and meals.

Unfortunely, the band's manager retired the band after the first event this year. Many decades of tradition came to an end. Band members spoke of other similar bands that had folded in recent years, including what may have been the last remaining Sons of Italy marching band. The traditions are fading.

It was a fun year. I met many musicians; ages from teens to seventies. I played a bunch of brand-new music I never would have been exposed to otherwise. I had a lot of arancini and Chianti. I got some good exercise. And I would have entirely missed this experience if I hadn't marched in high school, back in the neolithic. I'm now looking to find another band to join.

Viva San'Alfio!

[iiipopes]

Well, if you count Missouri as "southern," part of the SEC now, formerly part of the Big 8, then yes, I marched sousaphone (because they had too many trumpets) with Marching Mizzou in the fall of 1983 & 1984 and had a grand time. 1983 was the last year we got to sit in temporary bleachers between the end zone and the track before being relegated to the stands. I even caught a field goal!

This is after 4 years of marching sousaphone in high school field & street in southwest Missouri, playing trumpet in concert band.
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King Super 20 Trumpet; Sov 921 Cornet
Bach cornet modded to be a 181L clone
Couesnon Flugelhorn and C trumpet

[cbtj51]

In Southeast Louisiana, especially in High School during the 60s, the band was much like a fraternity on a campus of other equally separate cliques and clubs. Band was the non-sports sport! Most of my friends were "in the band" and our relationships expanded into other interests as well!

Then at 14, life started to really evolve. I auditioned and got a Solo Soprano position in the very rare at the time in the South, local Drum and Bugle Corps! Many of my friends from the High School band were in Drum Corps as well and we grew even closer in an even more devoted activity. Junior Drum Corps (top age of 21) became a really exclusive club of mostly High Schoolers from all over the city with similar and diverse experiences added to mix. We grew up together... a lot! Tuesday night horn and drum rehearsals, Thursday night full corps marching and maneuvering (drill) rehearsal, marching Mardi Gras parades, performing at festivals all over the state, traveling to the Drum Corps dominant Mid-West and East Coast for competitions and to South Florida for competition with our nearest Drum Corps every summer; these were the things that dominated my teen years as a musician! My closest friends were like me, Drum Corps fanatics and we spent our leisure time together as well. Summer Girl friends (a mutually agreed upon temporary steady, well for a few months anyway, semi-serious relationship), were in the Corps as well. Several of my Drum Corps friends also served in the Army Band with me and a few of us have close relationships even today, many decades later! Life was truly very good!!!

There has always been a social (very) aspect to music from my point of view. Life IS truly very good!

Life is Short, find the Joy in it!

Mike
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'71 LA Benge 5X Bb
'72 LA Benge D/Eb
'76 Bach CL 229/25A C
‘92 Bach 37 Bb
'98 Getzen 895S Flugelhorn
'00 Bach 184 Cornet
'02 Yamaha 8335RGS
'16 Bach NY 7
'16 XO 1700RS Piccolo
Reeves 41 Rimmed Mouthpieces

[kehaulani]

[huntman10]

Accidentally repeated.
_________________
huntman10
Collector/Player of Fine (and not so fine) Brass Instruments including
Various Strads, Yammies, Al Hirt Courtois, Schilkes,
Selmer 25, Getzen Eternas, Kanstuls (920 Pic, CG)
Martin Custom Large Bore, Lots Olds!, Conns, etc.

[huntman10]

[chef8489]

I marched in West Texas in the early 90s. District 4 with a 5a school back then it was a huge marching band of well over 300 members. We had over 30 trumpets typically.
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Current horns
2023 Bach 19072G/43 pipe with 1st trigger
1966 H.N. White King Silver Flair
1965 H.N. White King Super 20 Sllversonic Symphony 1st trigger

[LittleRusty]

My high school in Nebraska was overcrowded. As such school extracurriculars were able to select “the best of the best”. Our football was a perennial top contender in the state and our marching band, also a top contender, was very competitive to get into.

In addition to marching on the hot asphalt on 100° days we also got to enjoy the freezing wet and snowy conditions. Texas weather is a piece of cake compared to that.

I loved it all.

My kids’ high school in Silicon Valley had a pathetic band program including the marching band. They thoroughly enjoyed it however. The social aspects, like getting to meet all four years of students before the freshman year at summer band camp were a big plus.

My son who became Drum Major in high school and basically ran the concert band due to staffing reassignments triggered by budget cuts ended up joining Silicon Valley Vanguard cadets. (The concert band director only wanted to do jazz and allowed my son to rehearse the non-jazz numbers)

Talk about regimented. The vanguard practiced thirteen hours a day seven days a week. Every couple of weeks they would get a day or two off. We housed up to five kids each year since we had a large home and my son had/has a big heart.

I would have a full meal ready when they got to the house at ten or ten-thirty and they would devour two to three times the food I would normally serve.

[nieuwguyski]