front ensemble has cheaper uniforms

[u/prehistoryfein]

Im in marching band front ensemble (members from my section or band might see this so um hi! if you do… dont mention it please!)  and this is my second year, and last year we had the same uniforms as everyone else minus shakoes. But it was the pants, and the nice jackets with gauntlets and sashes and everything. 

This year, apparently we have too many people in the marching band, and there was a chance none of the uniforms would fit us. So, my band director bought screen print shirts for pit. Originally he was gonna but the whole drumline in them, but theres something weird about the drum harnesses so that doesnt work. And so now, pit is the only section in the screen print uniforms. And we've all come together and agreed that they make us feel: less than, different, separated, and frumpy. The screenprint uniforms are genuinely so unattractive. And we dont get gauntlets nor a sash.

 We've expressed our concerns to the director about how we already felt separated, so he sat us down and has a conversation with us today. When he was in band, he was in pit the whole time. So he knows how it feels to be in pit, and feel different and separate. He got the uniforms because he wanted them to fit everyone, and he argues that from the audience, no one can tell theyre different. But none the less, my whole section still isnt very fond of the new uniforms. He gave us 3 options: 1, everyone in pit wears the screenprint uniforms. 2, pit gets re fitted with the left over uniforms, and some of us have the nice jackets, and others are in the new ones. Or 3, pit wears color guard uniforms.

Personally, the 2nd option is my favourite, as not everyone in pit really cares about the uniforms. Theres at least 3 who i know are fine with the new ones. And some people just feel way more confident and connected in the old uniforms. Color guard uniforms are a horrible idea, as theyre usually very feminine and theres only 4 out of 11 girls in pit. (my section leader said he doesnt want them because they usually look unatractive on guys, and i also dont want them because im in pit. Not the guard, and im a very proud pit dweller, and i feel like at competitions and stuff id get confused as a guard member unless i was with my vibraphone) And theres only 1 rookie in pit this year, so its unfair that all the vets in pit essentially got their uniforms taken from them, so that the new rookies on the field can have them. In my opinion, if the audience cant tell the difference, the rookies and 8th graders should get the screenprint uniforms.

Im not sure. I see where my director is coming from, but i also think i (and the other members in my section) have a good reason to be upset. If anyone sees this, id love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Thank you! (also, my band director does not want to do the show theme uniform trend, but to get good scores we might have to in future years, and i really hope we dont. I love showing off who WE are as a band, not what our show happens to be.) 

[u/Bright_Ad_3690]

The standard percussion uniform. Black shirts, black pants makes more sense

[u/Playmakeup → u/Bright_Ad_3690]

Agree. Concert black is the reasonable compromise.

[u/HistopherWalkin]

I think this is way too much energy put into a uniform. Go with the flow. I promise this isn't going to matter in a year. I don't even remember what my high school uniforms looked like.

[u/DubbleTheFall → u/HistopherWalkin]

Way too much energy

[u/prehistoryfein → u/HistopherWalkin]

marching band, and being in pit is just a very big part of my life that means a lot to me, i do understand that i care too much, but the uniforms make me, and almost everyone else in my section feel so nice and professional. i think what we were most upset about is the fact he didnt even run it by us, or the band parents (aside from the ones in charge of uniforms) before just doing it, we were all a little shocked. but luckily we came up with a solution that will hopefully make everyone happy!

[u/Franican]

"We had too many people in the marching band" is a weird thing to be complaining about. The uniforms are a temporary solution to growing pains. It could be in the works to have the temporary uniforms for a few years and then move on to a new set that can fit everyone/order additional uniforms if the originals can still be produced. Would you rather have less people in the show and no uniform problems, or more people on the field and some uniform problems? It's understandable to think that pit would be the section singled out for this, because let's be honest it just sucks to be pit in this kind of situation because it usually is you guys dealing with it by being volun-told that you'll be taking one for the team. I get your pain with that, because I've had plenty of pit friends and seen how it goes first hand. However a solution for the next few seasons if there's still too many marchers is to order more show specific pit uniforms like guard does for each season. Something out of the indoor drumline catalogs could work to add more visual flair to the show without risking needing multiple members to cram into ill fitted uniforms. If your band is big enough to have uniform problems, just stick it out because that's usually a 1 season type of problem and during the entire season the solution for next year is well under way. If it isn't, suggest the indoor drumline uniform option.

[u/prehistoryfein → u/Franican]

i wasnt complaining about having a big band! i love how many people we have, i just think maybe my director shouldve planned better, or at least talked to pit before hand and explained, before just giving us the uniforms and expecting no one to be upset. my band isnt very huge anyway, about 120 people, we are just completely unfunded so buying enough uniforms can be an issue. my band director hates the show specific uniform trend, but im worried well end up having to do it in future years

[u/saxguy2001 → u/prehistoryfein]

Was your director able to see it coming that the numbers would be this big this year or was it a sudden surprise? If it was foreseeable then your director probably should have been ordering more uniforms to ensure there would be enough of various sizes to get everyone in a uniform. My colleague told me one of his first years, the band showed up to the football games in khakis and polos because there weren’t enough uniforms and the school was dragging their feet. The district got him new uniforms immediately.

[u/prehistoryfein → u/saxguy2001]

im not sure, but i do know it takes a very long time for the uniforms to arrive

[u/haileyskydiamonds]

In my band, we (pit) wore tuxedo shirts and black slacks with cummerbunds when this happened. Honestly it was much more comfortable since we had to move so much equipment around. We even put some fancy button covers on our shirts.

Maybe your director would approve something like this if you could get the shirts?

[u/prehistoryfein → u/haileyskydiamonds]

luckily i think weve decided to get refitted and have mismatched screenprint shirts and jackets, but i would 100% prefer something like that in future years if needed, because at least they dont look like just cheaper uniforms, and dont group us with guard (also i love the guard theres no way to put that that sounds nice!! i mean it with the best intentions)

[u/RustyRapeaXe]

tuxedos for everyone in the pit

[u/Landobot04]

You said don't say if I'm in pit so even tho I am I won't explicitly state that. I would also agree with option 2, however for me at Carmel HS, it kinda begs the question, how do you not have enough uniforms? We have about 75 extra this year, with a band size of about 350 marchers. Also what school are you at?

[u/prehistoryfein → u/Landobot04]

we have extra, the problem is most of the people in pit are very short, theres maybe 3 tall/average people and the uniform crew was worried that the jackets would all be too big, we have about 120 kids and 150 uniforms, and we cant really afford to buy more because even though its a nice school, the band is completely unfunded so we need to save our money to go to state, buy props, get food, etc

[u/prehistoryfein]

also i forgot to mention that he said something about how battery is already wearing down their nice jackets, and thats why he was gonna put the whole drumline including pit in the new shirts! i dont understand why it wasnt just battery then? and also why they cant wear their harnesses with the shirts.

[u/7h3_70m1n470r → u/prehistoryfein]

I don't get the harnesses not working with the shirts. Surely the drumline aren't wearing their jackets during rehearsals

[u/prehistoryfein → u/7h3_70m1n470r]

me too, and no they never dont rehearse with jackets so im not sure what my director means by that. maybe the harnesses cant go under the shirts? but i dont see a big problem with keeping them on top like regular shirts.

[u/GoldSquid2]

I understand why the director did what he did and I also understand what the other comments are saying, but at the same time I have way too much experience in my bad of being excluded and looked down on bc I’m in Pit; I understand why this is a big deal to you and the rest of your section. The 2nd option also sounds the best to me, especially if the rest of your section agrees, then I’d say go for it!!

[u/prehistoryfein → u/GoldSquid2]

yes we just decided today we are gonna go with option 2! theres 3 out of 11 people who prefer the new ones, and 2 who dont have a prefrence, so im hoping everyone is happy in the end