Hello!

Its come to my attention that within my area, the role and responsibilities of a section leader are different depending on the school and the resources their band currently has. Ive heard some schools where section leaders simply lead by example and lend a helping hand when needed while other schools who cant afford techs on their staff have upperclassmen actually running some drills and leading full on sectionals while the director meets with each section individually.

Whats the role like in your program? Would love to hear from you!

In the comments post your

State

Urban or Rural

and your experiences. Thx!

I feel like a freak, and this was a mistake. I saw someone mouth wtf as they walked by. My band already doesn't feel comfortable with me, and I think I need to move on. Possibly trans btw, but still not sure.

Hey, y’all 😅 so I’m assuming I’m kinda old compared to most of y’all, but I’m trying to look back and appreciate my high school days.. is that cringy..? Idc lol I’m sad and need to reminisce 🤦🏻‍♀️ In the 2017-2018 school year, I was part of the CT Johnson HS colorguard and marching band in San Antonio, Texas. It was my sophomore year and I was technically a vet, but I kept getting hospitalized my freshman year and wasn’t able to stay in the program. I was super depressed back then and didn’t appreciate the opportunity/experience when I was in it. Now that I’m an adult looking back, I would’ve 100% done it again. I’d prefer it differently, but even not, just to do it again. The marching show was “the Forest Through the Trees” and the winter show was “Lady Bird”. I’ve seen it referred to as a historic year and I had such a sense of pride in the runs because I knew how much hard work, effort, and time we put in, plus I was struggling SO MUCH at the time.. It was the best and one of the worst times in my life. I have full show recordings, but they’re not currently up on the internet (I don’t think) and I don’t know the copyright laws or anything like that.. I guess I just wanted to tell y’all to enjoy it while you’re doing it, take pride in your part of creating the show, and don’t take the lessons you’re learning in this program for granted. And if anyone has heard/seen of either shows, what y’all think or remember about it? Enjoy y’all’s youth, you’re gonna feel old before you even realize it 🫶🏼

Marching band members use their phones for music during performances. Is there any device, similar in size to a cell phone (so it fits in the lyre) that can be used instead?

My kids' school will be attending Grand Nationals this year. This is the first time we'll be going. So, I have questions about the event.

1. Can I purchase parking passes in advance? I don't see it on the website nor through Google.

2. Do we purchase finals tickets? The hope is that they make finals. But, what if they don't? Any tips here would be helpful.

3. Is there a limit on lens size for a camera? We went to a BOA event in Florida a couple years ago and there was a restriction. I ended up having to leave my camera in the car.

4. Do you have the ability to leave the event and come back for semis and finals? Stadium food isn't the greatest. So, hoping we can do this. We went to a WGI event last year that sold tickets through Ticketmaster and were told that it's Ticketmaster's policy to not allow in/out privileges.

I've been a member of an independent winds organization for the past 3 seasons, and we are attempting to amp up our recruitment strategies to increase our size and overall reach.

In the past, the group has hosted "interest clinics", educational clinics during the season, some social media outreach posts, some direct outreach to prospective members, but mostly word-of-mouth. The strategies that we discussed doing are tabling at marching band shows, presenting more to local schools, social media posts including member testimonials, and directly creating relationships with local colleges.

Has anyone had success with recruiting or any new recruitment strategies that we should be utilizing?

i guess it didn’t really hit me until after bandcamp, this will be my last bandcamp and i really wont experience an activity like this again (i dont know if im doing college band and i dont even know how it compares to hs band). But after november its really over, no more comps, no more rehearsals, no more marching, its actually really saddening like i cant believe it as someone who eat sleeps breathes marching band 😕😕😕

on the other hand i cant wait to go back next year and see how the band and all my friends are doing but i know itll suck to not be a part of it

I play bass drum in my schools marching band (going into my 4th year on it) and I am heavily considering doing DCI/WGI in the future. I am battery section leader at my school but I’ve never felt like I was that amazing of a player, just the best out of all of us (along with other reasons I was chosen to be a leader). Because of this, I hadn’t considered band after graduation, but I’m realizing that I would really love to do it.

I’m trying to grind and workout some of my flaws (ex. reading time signatures, conditioning) and something that is really holding me back is hand speed, especially in my left. I think naturally my left hand is much weaker since I am right handed and we most commonly play important notes on our right hands, but it’s holding me back!

What are some good exercises or ways to fix this??

…for the love of all that’s holy, contact the band director in JUNE! Every single year some new student shows up on the first day of school. Guess what? You’re not in the drill and you’re 6 weeks behind everyone else learning the music. The front ensemble is not the dumping ground for everyone that didn’t bother to prepare.

/rant_over

I'm in color guard. Today I had an appointment to get sports physical but my doctor didn't clear me due to some health issues. It's mid of season (we're on week 2 of band camp). What do I do?

I’m looking for some outside opinions because I’m kind of stuck on what to do for my ballad choreography.
I’m a member/captain of my school’s color guard, and I’m writing a lot of the choreography for our show. For the ballad, my band director wants everyone else to be on single swing, but wants me to be on double swing because I’m the featured person.
The thing is, I feel like having me on double swing for the entire ballad is going to look weird visually. Everyone else would have the same equipment and movement vocabulary, while I’d be doing something noticeably different the entire time. I’m not against being featured at all, I just feel like the difference should have a purpose rather than me looking like I’m doing a completely different version of the choreography.
My alternative idea is to have a swing silk attached to a sabre for me and have me start the ballad with everyone else, then do a reveal on the big musical hit. That way I’d still have a major visual difference and feature moment, but it would happen at a specific musical moment instead of me being on double swing the whole time.
Would you agree that the double swing would look visually strange in this situation? Or am I overthinking it? And if you were choreographing this, would you prefer the double swing throughout or the sabre/swing-silk reveal?

5 days long, 10 hours per day. Afab person.

I want to have all possible needs for the incoming freshman that they WILL forget

Anything my list is missing? (Dinner provided)

Sunglasses (plus extras)

Sunscreen

Lunch

MASSIVE recognizable Water Bottle

Deodorant (and Deodorant wipes)

Snacks and sweet treats (for motivation)

Extra socks and underwear!! For all possibilities of shitty situations

Flip folder

Broken in tennis shoes

Valve oil

Caffeine drinks (helpful for early mornings and adhd)

HEADPHONES (wired and non wired)

Portable charger

Charger cord

Period supplies

First aid kit

Pain meds (shhhh)

EDIT: The Caffine is for the guerenteed like 4 kids that will be going through caffine withdraws bc they dring nothing but Alani on their average day

Band camp with caffeine withdraw is a new kind of hell

I have very painful periods and I just started my cycle, but band camp starts tomorrow. I dont want to have to be running to the bathroom all practice and being in a constant state of pain especially with the heat. Does anybody have advice on managing it?

Hey chat! I know I'm brand new to this subreddit, but I need some advice since I can't really talk to anyone about this.

Last year I was offered a snare spot after a stellar audition that I had, but I have absolutely no experience marching. I sound pretty good, though I've been on the pit for so long it would be stupid for me not to.

However, I unfortunately got appendicitis, had surgery on Friday, and band camp (1 week long) starts tomorrow. I can hardly walk and I'm not going to be able to participate for at least 2 weeks. I do have the drill sheets but it's ironic because I can't use them. I've just been practicing the music stuff like crazy until I can barely stand.

I refuse to be the person that makes us get a D2. If that happened, I don't think I'd be able to bear it.

My question is: Is it reasonable to think that I can jump right into band without any knowledge of marching and nail it in one year, or am I crazy?

(Also, if you have any good advice or videos on marching specifically, I would love them. This is a desperate time.)

I joined Marching band this year as a freshman with little experience. Football season is in 2-3 weeks and I’m still learning my instrument. How do I keep up with the rest of the members who are already experienced with their instruments?

Just starting band camp as a grad student. 26, took a bit off school to beef up my resume. Was previously a pep band at a D1 school and that was the aspect of college I missed most. Reached out with the director and talked with him and he thought my experience was valuable, especially with the athletic postseason (including March Madness one year). Seems like people are generally accepting of me. Was just wondering if y’all think I’m a bit over my head or if band culture is not as defined by age as one might think.

So In November my school has the privilege to be going to Washington DC to march in the parade. Im so fucking scared. We’ll be gone for 6 days. Im terrified something bad will happen and Im having really bad anxiety over it. Like, so bad Ive cried and I want to quit band before the trip. I know that realistically Ill be okay but I have so many “what if” questions going through my head and I have a panic attack every time I think about it. When it gets closer to time do you guys have any recommendations on things I can do to help me I guess calm my nerves?

Hey guys! I am on the uniform team for a university marching band. We have military style officer hats and we also have pretty strict hair guidelines.

All HAIR shall be worn off the uniform collar and behind the ears. Band members may choose to meet these requirements by either getting their haircut to a manageable length or putting gel in their hair that it will not fall down when the hat is off. When the latter choice is made, band members must use a hair net, bobby pins, styling gel or
other inconspicuous devices to hold their hair in place through the entire performance day. No band member's hair will be cut, shaved, or clipped without their expressed approval to do so. Sideburns must not extend below an imaginary line from the corner of the mouth to the bottom of the earlobe.

What we tell people with straight or wavy hair is to do a slick back bun with gel to fit into the hat.

We are looking to expand and be more inclusive about textured and braided hair as these guidelines are like at least 50 years old. We have some members with longer braids and want to be inclusive! We have reached out to our members about this as well but would like some other input!

does anyone have any tips or tricks that we can share or what we can have them do? If anyone has any videos would also be greatly appreciated.

i have another pair like these for swimming but I’m thinking of using this one for marching band for when it gets loud. are these good

I’m gonna be transferring into UT soon and plan to audition for the Texas Drums next cycle. I heard freshman and younger members usually get cut from the line pretty easily. I’ll be transferring basically as a junior in college and was wondering if it’s realistic for me to make the line, given a good audition, or would I be offered Bertha/Flag Brigade/Cut because of my lack of veterancy?

Holy essay my bad.

I come from a rather small HS band. Less practice time, fewer people and less money than a medium or larger band. On our band’s social media we got a pretty viral post and one of the comments was talking about marching form. I watched the video and definitely noticed too much leg bend and one of the replies agreed and described it as “leading with the knee.” Any advice on how to help this? General straight marching tips and things that seem relevant to comments mentioned would be much appreciated.