My band director has shared some wild stories such as the fact he has been present for 3 plane crashes. I was wondering what some wild stories other people’s band directors shared.

I have a rather long parade Saturday and it's gonna be cold how does one stay cold I know gloves work but I don't think we are allowed to wear them I have to ask but other than that is there anyway to stay somewhat warm?

Hi! I'm a first year student in high school band. I've been in band since I was in 4th grade and I had the same coach in high school (she half-forced me to join)

Anyways, I find it quite hard to get along with the seniors there. Among all the 100 students, the only one I feel safe around is my best friend. The seniors are friendly, don't get me wrong, but their 'vibes' don't really mstch mine and it's hard to get along with them. There's one senior in particular who always tease me at any chance she gets and I really hate her but I can't say that because she's my section leader.

High school band is way more difficult than middle school's casual band. There's so many new rules, and we have to discipline ourself. We're getting punished for every mistake someone else does, even if we didn't do it. Our seniors will not talk about what we do good and instead go straight to scolding us.

Apparently due to a lack of people, I had to become a commitee member in my first year of band. It was stressful for me, because I didn't know what I'm supposed to do. If it wasnt for this, I think I would've quit band by now. But since i have responsibilities to do, I'm technically stuck and cannot leave. If I really want to, I need to wait until the new batch of commitee members are selected and pray that I'm not one.

I have some extra dance classes next year(that i enjoy) and that will make me unable to go to a huge chunk of practice. I'm thinking if I should quit band altogether to focus on dancing, sincd I enjoy dancing more than band. There'll be a concert next year betwern March-April, and if I really want to quit I'll quit after the concert. My position has two members, and I think my partner can handle 5 months alone until the new batch is selected.

can you guys give some advice? thanks for reading this btw

Edit: my mom is telling mw to stay if i can because band gives lot of curricular pointa which are useful for my future

This isn't just for marching band I have a piece of music in which I play Euphonium however my sextet leader or whatever you consider them says that the piece is tuned to Eb if it is how do I tune le Euphonium to Eb my Euphonium is a Yamaha with the 4 valves set up so where the pinky finger plays it besides the other valves

For years our marching band has wanted an Ohio state drum major ( the guy with the baton and the tall hat). We had one in the past in 2012-13 under our former director. Our current director is former phantom regiment field commander and has denyed the past attempts to bring it back, however I talked to the people who tried last time and they said that we have information that they didn't have when they tried. We also have 2 people willing to do the training for it. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas to increase the chances?

first post woo (again bc i had a typo and my post got deleted)

Hey peeps. I'm trying out for Drum Major in the spring and I'm looking for a few pointers. This past season, I was the Uniform Crew Captain, and I helped a lot with other things like Field Crew and Loading Crew. I've shown a lot of initiative on the leadership team this past season. Me and most of my bandmates have a solid relationship, and I've spoken to collegiate drum majors before. I also have a solid relationship with my band director. I'll also be trying out for Band Captain, Secretary/Librarian, Uniform Crew Captain, and Loading Crew Captain.

There's a few reasons why I actually want to try out for Drum Major. Primarily, though, It's due to the chaos in leadership. This past season, there was a lot of toxicity in leadership and it seemed like everyone was against eachother. There would be lots of arguments in the groupchat, and sometimes when the drum majors wouldn't do anything about it, I took it into my own hands and tried to mediate. I did this quite a few times and it seemed to work but there was no permanent solution. I'm hoping I can try to make leadership fun and enjoyable as opposed to just a group of people in charge. It's definitely stressful but I got positive feedback from our band captain, he said I was the most underrated leadership member 😎

Anyways, I'm really just looking for some pointers on how I can maximize my chance of getting drum major. Obviously I can't guarantee it unless literally nobody else tries out but I want to have as best of a shot as I can have.

As far as conducting, I can conduct in common patterns like 4/4, 2/4, 3/4, and cut time. I have the hand independence down, my ictus is typically clear, and the past drum major said I have good natural rebound. My band director has 2 days of drum major help sessions and I will be attending those.

tl;dr: trying out for drum major, need advice on how to maximize my chances

• How can I prepare myself for my audition and interview prior to the actual audition and interview?

• What are some resources to get better at conducting? (besides YouTube if there is anything)

• What are some general tips to maximize my chances at becoming drum major?

Thanks in advance, I'll post an update in the spring if I make it!

I wanna see if I can add a marimba/xylo part or something to it.

Basically for our winter parade I homemade antlers on the sousaphones which I’ve done in the past, but the issue was that the packing tape we used would tend to not stick to the sousaphone metal. I need something that will stay, but isn’t too sticky. Also if anyone has any ideas, I need to make 5 more so if you know a good DIY antler design similar to this, it would be appreciated

Y'all can read my previous posts for more context. But my freshman year I was sexually harassed and bullied by my section leader. I finally said something after two years. And he told me how proud of me he was for saying something, and he admired my bravery and me wanting to make sure it never happened again. I finally feel like I have some support after my entire family telling me how stupid I was for sending the email, saying it wasn't that big of a deal, telling me to get over it, and that nobody would care anymore. Thank you guys for supporting me and telling me exactly how fucked up the situation was. :)

I'm a freshman and as my marching band season is ending looking into getting a used bass trombone that won't kill my bank account but is also in decent condition, does anyone have any ideas for where I should look?

First off, probably my favorite thing I ever played in wind ensemble. There was a high school not too long ago that put this on the field, but I can’t remember who- possibly Marian Catholic? Anyone else?

Is it only my band or does other bands have to return band uniforms once marching season is over with . For me I have to give mine back before Christmas break.

So, it's my first year doing guard. Anyways, I was wondering if your team had any traditions you do before a comp or game, if you're willing to share?

Anyone think it would be nice to see a marching band with a uniform of a Napoleonic regiment? i.e. Garde Imperiale.

hey y'all, i've been arranging/composing for pep bands for a few years now, and i've always tried writing corp style field shows, but I never end up finishing them.

the thing that's always stumped me is finding songs to arrange for certain shows though. I find songs for openers and ballads (somewhat) easy, but I especially find second movements and closers the hardest. lately, ive just been looking at past DCI/marching band shows that loosely fit my theme, but that feels kinda lazy and sometimes I can't find any lol

on another note, I'm currently writing a show based off the movie "I Saw The TV Glow", so if you guys have any suggestions I would love to hear those too!

Contra V Sousa, What do you march and what is better? Pros and Cons?

This is my first year in highschool band. I play the snare drum. I really enjoy it and want to pursue it later in college, I’m just physically scared because I don’t know if I’ll be good enough. Just seeing some of the music they play is crazy. Not to say I can’t do it, I know I can get to that level eventually. However, my highschool band is pretty simple. We’re not learning anything too difficult because to say it straight up, we as a whole aren’t the best of bands. We’re tiny and not everyone has the same motivation to get better which is sad. I guess all I’m really asking is, if anyone in college band could give me some advice on what I should try to learn and work on myself to prepare for the future, that would be nice.

Edit: thank you guys for the advice! Also just to clarify I’m a sophomore

Hello! Before you answer this question, let me hit you with some lore and the situation. (Sorry, lots of text)

Exhibit A: There's this freshman in the section who was very talkative during marching szn, and would often procrastinate pass offs. He's crazy talented, he can hit a C above staff, but the work ethic just ain't there! He's also not the greatest at following the rules Me, along with 5 other trumpet section leaders have gotten onto him for his antics, but he either- A: talks back / yells, B: Tries to bribe us?? (thankfully he stopped doing that) C: just completely avoid, or D: Break down (I'll get into that later)

There was this one time he got so frustrated with us not passing him off and telling him to stop talking during sets, he completely blew up at us. He called the section leaders two faced (he insulted one, so we just told him to not to talk to them like that), along with some other adjectives.. If I remember correctly this happened in our Trumpet Group Chat. He left the chat room after, and the section leaders all texted him. I'll say I'm the more empathetic out of the 5 of us, I always try to make everyone happy, and see the other side. He didn't want to hear us out and didn't even bat an eye to us for about 2 weeks (kept talking during reps btw) The other section leaders were pretty furious and grew to dislike him a bit, which is understandable. He did eventually apologize and came to his senses. For now.. but there would be short moments where he'd get fussy and mutter some words under his breath (which usually included profanity)

Exhibit B: Break downs.. I'm not giving up on this kid because he's only a freshman, I understand the difficulty. But as a Junior, I've never seen any other Freshmen act like this. There is a pretty rough core to why he acts like this. His parents are going through a rough patch right now, and I feel really bad because I've also experienced that, but at a younger age so I got used to it. Every time he would blow up at us, he would cry to one of the section leaders saying why he doesn't know he gets so agitated and that his parents are in a rough spot. Except he's said this more than once, and we've all gotten a bit tired of hearing that over and over. I feel really bad, but he can't use his personal issues as an excuse. I can't relate on his level, because I had years to get over it so I still feel really bad. He also has an older brother who graduated my freshman year. Absolutely love him, so we were all confused on why he was so great, but this kid isn't the same. Which is another thing on his plate. He feels as if everyone thinks he'll be like his brother, but he wants to be his own person.

Exhibit C: Relationships. Boy oh boy, the entire band knows his name, he's not on good terms with a lot of the almost all of the trumpets. He's never said much to them directly but just the way he acts makes them dislike him. He often makes pretty rude jokes that shouldn't be said in a gc, and we've gotten onto him for it. For example something just happened tonight which is why I'm writing this. Long story short, one rude joke too many with another member caused them to argue, so I stepped in and told them to stop. The person he was saying these things to said alright, but this kid kept going saying things about his weight and that he shouldn't start things he can't finish. The kid he was arguing with already told me he's insecure about his body, so I gave everyone one last warning and to close chat for the night (it was 11pm). Low and behold he didn't, so I told him I'm temporarily removing him from the chat and will add him back tomorrow, because it just wouldn't stop..

Now whenever he gets the consequences of his actions he blows up again, but this time I was the only target. The other section leaders completely gave up. He said he's sorry it was a joke and I told him attacking someone's weight isn't a joke. First of all, the whole reason the argument started didn't even concern him. Someone made a joke towards someone, and the other person said to not joke like that, and the came to an understanding, they solved it themselves. But this kid made it worse. By re-lighting a put out fire.

He said he was just standing up for his friend (he barely talks to this kid) I said he stood up for himself, then he goes on like "you're letting him get away with this.. I'm in the right.. add me back" but this time I was standing my ground, I'm less rough than everyone else, but I'm not gonna let him use that against me. He sounded like a broken record, going back and counting he said "you're letting him get away" 10 times. Then all of a sudden he says to not add him back to the chat. He gets sarcastic with me and says "Section Leader of the year, Bravo", I got a bit tired of him because he blew my phone up for 5 minutes, so I said "Thank you! Shout out to my friends and family!" Which was probably an unprofessional thing to do, but I got irritated after being easy with him the entire year. He simply said "F.U." and that was it. I reminded him it was just a temporary time out for the night but now he's deadset on staying out of the chat, and said "Don't add me I swear, crap will pop off of you add me back" I just stopped engaging with him because he kept texting. I told him I care about him but he's gotta respect boundaries before signing off.

Anyways! Final Verdict: This kid was genuinely fun to be around but stuff went downhill and hit the fan, bit other freshmen said that that's how he acts. He's not a great listener, doesn't respect people's boundaries, and his reputationisnt doing great. The story about his parents is 100% real, his older brother who graduated band told us, because we've notified him. We've tried everything. The directors already know of his antics as well, and they told us to notify them if anything serious went off. I'm just gonna let this simmer over and notify the section leaders (they don't check the chat often anymore)

Now that all the yap is gone, how would you go along with this? Also, should I ignore his words and add him back to the chat tomorrow? Because we're having a Christmas get-together over xmas break, and I genuinely him to come. Even if no one else does It's really hard keeping everything together because my co-section leaders kind of have a nonchalant attitude. The two seniors even admitted that I'm the best section leader out of them all.

How would you personally deal with this, how should I? It's only my first year as a section leader and I'm feeling a bit stuck.

It was around 20 degrees (or lower, I didn't check at the end), everybody's instruments had ice in some form, no one was even a little warm, I'm glad nobody got frostbite because it was BAD

But we're going to state finals next week 😅 yay?

Our director was explaining the game, and to me it was entirely redundant information. I'm also glad that my HS is actually good at football.

I always mess up when marching but my playing is pretty solid. (Lmk if you want an audio recording.)

What ways can I continue in the marching arts after high school?

For us, we usually do a senior skit senior night, where you get a sash and a rose, and you walk across and an announcer tells your college plans and who is escorting you. Also, you get first dibs on adopting rookies and just more reverence and expectations from the band itself and also they call out seniors during each milestone, such as last band camp

Do your instruments still play fine after drying them from the rain? My fairly new Yamaha 62 Tenor Sax has some damaged pads that would compare to 10 years of aging on the pads ☹️

40F and rainy was not fun with no jacket on. we had jackets on for the general parade but took them off for herald square and never got them back, immediately followed by a 15 minute walk to the busses. was still a good time but my god i think i can speak for my whole band when i say that i was shivering for a good hour

Our last game was the first of the month and we're going to be performing our show for the last time at a concert next month. It's also my senior year so marching band won't be a thing for me until college and the occasional parade. I think we have one next month. Anyways, marching band took up a lot of my time and it was kind of like having a built-in friend group, but now that the season is over, I barely see a lot of those people because we literally share nothing together except the band so now the band is done the only place I might see them is like in the hallway or maybe coincidentally outside of school. That basically means that I'm in a period of boredom and loneliness. I'm currently doing one band practice after school every week. Maybe 2 to 4 concerts per month and my religious formation but apart from that that's almost the whole entire week free excluding homework which at this point they don't really give much homework and at the end of next month all the college stuff is out of the question I would've finished SATs and it's my last month to apply to college so it's basically just scholarship search. I was thinking of getting a job or joining something else, maybe theater. What do you think is something I can use to replace the hole the band has left in my heart and my time. What do you do to do with your intermission between seasons? Band was basically my whole life before and now I feel stripped.

Now that my senior season is over it's too painful to see marching band posts in my feed