I love the fall season for a lot of reasons, but one of my main reasons is that it’s marching band season again. Being a former band geek myself, it’s really fun to watch the progress of Sticks’ school marching band move from being a ragtag group of kids to a precise marching machine in the span of a couple of months. It has been 57 days from the beginning of band camp to their first competition, and they were splendid.
Field show competitions are some of the most interesting events I’ve ever attended. They weren’t around when I was in band — we just marched parades, put on a little show at halftime for our football team and hung up everything at the end of the season, moving on to the “real” purpose for band — concert season.
Anyway, today’s field show competitions are a splendid combination of rockin’ drums and percussion, extreme marching precision, and a story, told in 7-11 minutes — no more, no less.
In addition to the entertainment value, the experience of watching 60 or so teenagers put the group ahead of themselves and really push themselves toward excellence is terrific. Most of our band kids are honor students and student leaders in addition to the 15-20 extra hours per week they spend in band.
It’s wonderful to see their efforts rewarded! Our kids won first place in their division yesterday on their first time out with the new show. 57 days. 1st place. Applause for them!
Even cooler than that was the football game on Friday night. When they marched out to the field, we heard a chant coming from the players and cheerleaders. Listening more carefully, we heard “We love our band!” rising louder and louder as they came closer….
Our team won, and as they headed out for the night one of the players told me that they hate away games because the band can’t always come (budget restrictions…). Football players are very superstitious — they’ve won all of the home games and lost their away games, and so are convinced that the band is their good luck charm. Hats off to a school that fosters comraderie instead of competition between the groups!
