Being apart of the band

I participated in marching band for all four years of high school. For those who do not fully understand what marching band is, it is a time intensive sport. Yes, a sport; try jazz running with a Tuba.  I only played tenor drum, but still my arms would ache after holding it up, wind instrument players lips would feel dead, just useless flaps of skin, and I would just feel drained all over after drilling basics and roll-stepping for hours on end. Playing an instrument, roll stepping to keep tone, hitting your dot, and keeping the formation at the same time, is a lot of hard work. Marching band has impacted my life in so many ways. Marching band really becomes your life. You get up at five in the morning so you can be ready and on the field at six o’clock ready to practice. Whether it rained, snowed, or was blazing hot; we marched until school started, but we had band for first period anyways so we stayed out on the field. I remember wearing ski bibs, boots, a thick coat, and gloves, marching in the early morning with six inches of snow and more coming. We would keep our hands inside our pockets and occasionally warm our hands on the warm skin inside our coats, so our fingers would still function enough to press the keys or grip our mallets. Marching band was hard, and if all it included was just marching, no one would ever join, we stayed for the people and the good times. Special bonds are formed under the wan moonlight at six in the morning, empathizing with each other’s complaints and glaring covertly at the band director for telling the famous lie “One more time.” We even had “penguin huddles” where we would all huddle together when it was freezing outside and take turns being in the middle. To tell the truth most mornings were miserable but band trips were always a blast. Band competitions where the best, the first month after school started, there seemed to be one every week. Sometimes the competitions were during school, which was a fun day away from classes where we would spend time crammed onto a bus playing games and eating food. The actual competition was always nerve-wracking, but as soon as it was over we all breathed a sigh of relief, unless you REALLY messed up. Band trips were always the greatest, where the funniest things happened, and you got to spend at least five hours hanging out with friends.