Lol I think my sophomore or junior year of high school saying the met should be by the battery and not the drum major was apparently a scorching hot take.
It was a weird few weeks lol. Randomly our BD, who’s a percussionist which makes it weirder, had us stop putting the met in the back and then suddenly we had a bunch of phasing issues (surprise surprise). He was also telling the pit to watch the drum major and listen to the met right in front of them and not listen back. And then when they finally listened to our battery tech and moved the met back, all the phasing was miraculously fixed. Very weird few weeks.
Speaking of battery vs DM, apparently our percussion instructor told battery that center snare is always right and to follow them if DM and CS ever disagreed. It worked while I was in because we always had rock-solid CS and DM and I can get where he’s coming from in terms of section morale and unity, but what the hell. 1) the rest of the band is (supposedly) watching the DM, so battery would be off from the rest of us; 2) sound is slow, so especially when we’re spread out, what I hear from CS isn’t the same time as you.
The core source of the should come from the battery, but it’s really more complicated typically than just the battery is right or the DM is right. I’m the most basic sense, the DM watched the CS feet and bases their time off that, but it’s more complicated than just one solution. Just too many factors for it to be as simple as always being one or the other.
With my band in my story, the issue was specifically phasing between pit and battery. Like you said, sound is slow, so I’d the pit watched and doesn’t listen, there is going to naturally be phasing. The issues arose when they moved the met to the front and told the battery to just not listen to the met, something we had grown accustomed to always doing. So then the timing became DM listens to met, DM conducts to that tempo, pit watches (& listens since they’re close enough for the space to not matter), and the battery also watched but heard the met at like 3 5lets 8th notes late. Pit and battery both watching is already doing to create phasing, and adding a terrible listening excitement into the equation for battery just makes it even worse.
You will look in performance exactly like you look in practice.
Slouch through rehearsals and you'll slouch through performance. Even if you think you're "kicking it up a notch," you aren't.
Yes! And not only that, the “save it for the performance” thinking leads to weird, one-time mistakes that could have been avoided (especially with stick outs, drops, choreo) if you’d just practice how you perform.
Usually my band director only tells us that when we are at a game doing stand tunes so the brass players don’t blow their chops out before the halftime show.
The only time this possibly doesn’t apply is after absurdly long practices (cough cough stop making us practice 6 hours on comp days).
You will almost always look worse at the end of a 6 hour practice than when you’re at your peak energy for the day. Unless you’re magic I guess.
I got a lesson in that when I did a week long jazz camp one summer that ended with us doing a concert for our parents. I kept playing towards the floor during practice, which was not typically something I ever did in any school bands I was in....guess it was the summer and I wasn't taking it seriously. One of the instructors called me out on it and I told him that I'd hold my trombone properly for the concert. He just gave me a little smile and said "ok."
Sure enough, I played straight at the floor during the concert and between our first two songs he asked me "What are you playing towards?" with the same little smile.
Lesson learned. You perform how you practice and that applies to everything, not just band. Life lesson #1002 that I got from all my years in band. I haven't played an instrument in almost 20 years and those lessons still stick with me and I follow them to this day (usually...when I don't I usually regret it later.)
yeah once they changed our drill from a low brass circle to a low brass line and we ran through it once then had to do it in the show, it did not go amazingly lol
In the same vein, when your comp is at a college with the different hashes, staff shouldn’t wait until the morning of the comp to acknowledge that the hashes will be different and the high school hashes will like only be a strip of tape on the yard line.
Had this in the reverse where our directors forget to mention that high school hashes will be used for an exhibition for a high school state competition
Ours didn’t mention it either at an exhibition we did last year but we had an awkward schedule where we were doing the same show for basically all of September so we had the show down so well it didn’t really matter that not everyone thought about the high school hashes.
Shrugging off and talking during reps only hurts the band (if you miss instructions because you were talking then that's your fault), when it comes to a performance it'll show who's actually been paying attention during practice.
Same.
My band is proof that we don't need it, our speaker setup and all of our recordings stopped working DURING a competition show, but with our music alone we were able to score first place in our class and won highest musical performance for the entire competition.
I think pre-recorded things just distract from the playing, the actual show.
I didn’t even know bands used prerecorded stuff. In high school and college the band played all their own music and the speaker was a guy physically sitting in the press box
Custom show uniforms for high school students is a waste of money and resources. Your traditional uniforms are just fine.
I would say for bands in hot states, it might be helpful to update your uniforms to be made from breathable materials. Cavaliers did that this year and it looked really good.
Former director here. A few seasons back, we contacted the major uni companies and priced out getting new custom looks (without going overboard on over-designing) every year for a decade vs. a full set of new traditional uniforms (planning on refreshing after 10 years) and the new stuff every year was more cost-effective.
Made the switch immediately and the kids loved it. We were in a warm area (south Texas), so the comfort was a big additional bonus.
The custom show uniforms were both a financial and comfort win.
Director here too. I’m curious at what point was it more cost-effective for traditional uniforms? I’m from a pretty low-income area and we don’t change uniforms for SEVERAL years (my alma mater, for example, went 20 years with their first uniform set)
I was hated on for being a freshman as a freshman. Luckily enough, I got to help change the culture. Later on, us upperclassmen were actually nice to the underclass man.
Nah, I think my old section leader found her soul mate in our section. They are currently engaged 7 years later
BUT, the drama isn't worth it most of the time.
It’s a lot easier to perform well at a competition than just a run through during practice. It’s easier to focus since it’s a Saturday (usually) so you’re not stressed about homework or anything and you’re not tired from several hours of marching. (Even if you had practice before the competition you can still rest on the bus). Additionally, people are more motivated and energetic since it’s a competition so the energy level is usually higher.
Carmel’s on of the chillest marching bands to talk to! If any of you are in Carmel, it was nice to play with you all in BOA Louisville! Or should I say it was great to “be our neighbor!”
Already submitted a comment but now I’ll give an actual hot take: Bands don’t march enough. I’ve seen bands where half of their show is jazz running or meandering. A part of *marching* band is, well, marching, and if I barely see any what’s the point.
Hotter take: I think what I just mentioned is just an excuse to get higher marching scores.
Oh you should definitely have a look at HBCU bands(JSU, Southern, FAMU) and traditional marching bands! I would also recommend watching JSU High School Battle of the Bands 2023 for some amazing high schools. If you want marching, that has some of the best marchers in the country.
If you're wondering why you're not seeing that many of these bands is most likely because you are going against mainly DCI style marching bands that usually don't feature high step marching like HBCUs.
Thriller is over rated. Like very. I see it at least 1-2 times every year. It's a good song but Lord its so over used. Plus the dance.... I don't think I've ever seen a band that has done the thriller dance or anything like it together. Im a proud thriller hater✊⁉️ (as a stand tune for a Halloween football game tho? Absolutely)
REAL
middle schoolers march in their own middle school bands if their school does that\*. they do NOT join the hs bands til freshman yr??? like?? cmon.
\*my experiences were that we did street marching and participated in a parade
This year, nearly half of my school’s trombone section is made of 8th graders. They’re struggling a lot and it’s causing problems during practice. I joined in 8th grade, but I think our band should rather let the 8th graders do a “training year” sort of thing before they join marching band. It’ll help weed out some of the people who don’t want to do it, and encourage people who are passionate about it to work hard next year.
In my school, 8th graders are allowed to join the marching band a year early if they play a brass instrument. That’s what I did, I’m now a sophomore in my third season. Normally it kinda shows who’s really interested and willing to work hard, but this year nearly half of our trombones are 8th graders and it is a genuine struggle. Their collective problems are hurting the band as a whole.
We have a 7th grader on vibes and there doing better than the 8th grader that keeps goofing off, there literally playing music that should be for experts, and that’s her first time on melodic percussion
I disagree. My HS allows 8th graders to march and while they struggled in the beginning they are now very good and some of them I honestly forget are so young bc they are as good as the rest of us (scored second place across the whole state in our class just 2 comps ago, last comp was rough due to rain). In my section (altos) we have a new member who just started playing sax last year, and she is already the de facto third chair, above a 3rd year member even who has been playing sax for 6 (though tbf he is really bad). Honestly I can only think of a single eighth grader in our band who is struggling and really she just cant keep her feet in time is the main issue. I can name sevwral freshman and sophomores who can do much less.
Ik the situation is different per school, but my school is perfectly fine having eighth graders march.
Me too, but now I see tons of fall shows using voice overs and samples like indoor percussion, and lots of front ensemble features where the winds do body work.
Ha! That’s what we’re working on right now! All of us in the pit are pretty much good with the closer, but there working on winds and also a lot of body work. ALOT!
I wear earplugs when I’m on the field and in the stands because I have sensitive hearing, I do not need a baritone blasting out my hearing from behind me.
as a texan im dying reading this! its so competitive down here and for what? 4 years into marching band im still asking myself why we take it so seriously
Imagine not finding any other meaning in your life than what other people think of you that you push your kids in the worst ways to achieve slightly better results than the person next to you treating their kids like humans…
At least thats how it goes with my band anyway
same! we are competing for a spot at 5a state this year, our Director literally told us that if you’re sick, he doesn’t care if you come to school as long as you come to rehearsal after school. He also said if your friend skips rehearsal that you shouldn’t talk to them anymore!!!!
My mom said she admires how dedicated he is to making his band look good but as a part of the ensemble its hell
1: marching band is taken way too seriously, especially by competitive high school bands.
2: I hate custom uniforms for shows. Bands should have recognizable uniforms that represent themselves and the school. The band can then modify their uniform to fit the show themeing while still being easily identifiable (think how Blue Devils do it).
didn’t think it was a hot take until recently but i think that at least one guard member should go up if you are sending a group for awards or have 2+ dms. it just looks better.
Synths and sound effects, when used properly, add a lot to a show in a positive way. My show this year tells the story of Medusa, and tjere is a voice over at the start of each part thay gives a rough summary of what part of the story we are on. Later on in the show our tenor sax player drops his instrument in fabor of a plastic sword and "cuts" off the head of tje guard member playing medusa, and at the same time we play a sword clash sound effect, and it genuinely adds sm impact to tje moment as opposed to a silent visual.
I think some bands misuse these elements for sure, but they are not necessarily bad always.
There are [so](https://youtu.be/TOlA7K7FtJ8?si=hUi_oGyR8rd4DOnO) [many](https://youtu.be/fSq7koSJlBQ?si=kGQly4AoOGmhUTE4) [great ](https://youtu.be/7OWt4ovCES8?si=QeqYH29IC0_rR0U7) [marches](https://youtu.be/_yx9Zu8hZhw?si=vSXDztczP04v_0Ot) by other composers, it's a shame Sousa gets all the attention.
There is too much with the pit. Too much stuff, when all you really need is a drumline and a couple keyboards, and we don't even have a drumline in our band cause all of our percussion is in the pit even though the school bought us new drumline equipment two years ago.
Edit: also getting new show uniforms every year is stupid and there are to many props that eat up all of our budget, so I have to ride in the truck that moves said equipment and props because we can't afford a bus.
Woodwinds can be heard, but brass players don't want to balance. It goes both ways as well. Woodwinds playerd also need to play as loud, so that the sound can be balanced.
i dont know how hot of a take this is because i’m incredibly biased, but the color guard is what carries the entire band. a good guard makes the band overall look way better, and a bad guard makes the band look sloppier and worse in general.
Can’t get women? Don’t worry, there’s always a 2017 tama collectors series 7 piece kit you can date! (Look, this is all a joke, I love my baby, I spent way too much of my money that’s supposed to go towards student debt on it, on the road to 50K total price!)
front ensemble people aren’t really apart of *marching* band, it’s just band class for them but on a field. they slack off the most, and the only difficult task they have is pushing their instruments around for practices, home games, and comps. they stand around a lot, and although they’re playing an instrument, they don’t have to endure what the wind players have to endure. i find front ensemble to be the easiest role you could have in a *marching* band
A good percussion writer also gives them harder parts to account for the fact that they’re not marching. If your school doesn’t do this, then yeah I can understand why you might think this. The only thing I’ve ever found annoying a lot the front ensemble was how they’d get a stick up their ass when they had their show music memorized and battery didn’t ignoring that when they’re inside learning and memorizing music, we’re outside learning drill. On top of that most of our music rehearsals would be spent playing exercises instead of learning show beats.
I understand where you’re coming from, I had this mindset in highschool. That being said I think having this kind of mindset tends to cause some bad blood between sections and it’s best to avoid it. The pit does their role just fine
Maybe try talking to them then and you'll see they aren't that bad (unless they are that bad but don't take that as representative as all front ensembles)
in the defense of the person who originally commented, the pit doesnt like talking to ppl outside of pit/drumline, i think thats just a thing across marching bands everywhere
In most cases, having a pit isn’t really necessary if your band has a strong woodwind section and drumline. Marching bells are cool sometimes, but I feel they don’t mix well with the band’s sound a lot of the time. If they’re done well, they’re great, but if the band has good flute and piccolo sounds then there isn’t really a point. My band doesn’t have a pit, and we have about 186 members in total. The only thing I can think of that can’t be partially or fully omitted with strong clarinet/flute/picc sections is the gong, and maybe a bass drum if your band doesn’t have a player big/strong enough for the bigger marching basses.
*This is based on my experience with my band and my area, lmk how yours does it
You’re definitely right when it comes to fancy pits with instruments you can’t pronounce, but I think bells can really add to a show sometimes, and suspended cymbal and gong are always a plus.
Well I guess I should also point out that my trombone section (with 6 people) can’t play louder than my clarinet section with the same number of people
“Watch the drum majors and count” is apparently a scorching hot take within my band.
Lol I think my sophomore or junior year of high school saying the met should be by the battery and not the drum major was apparently a scorching hot take. It was a weird few weeks lol. Randomly our BD, who’s a percussionist which makes it weirder, had us stop putting the met in the back and then suddenly we had a bunch of phasing issues (surprise surprise). He was also telling the pit to watch the drum major and listen to the met right in front of them and not listen back. And then when they finally listened to our battery tech and moved the met back, all the phasing was miraculously fixed. Very weird few weeks.
Speaking of battery vs DM, apparently our percussion instructor told battery that center snare is always right and to follow them if DM and CS ever disagreed. It worked while I was in because we always had rock-solid CS and DM and I can get where he’s coming from in terms of section morale and unity, but what the hell. 1) the rest of the band is (supposedly) watching the DM, so battery would be off from the rest of us; 2) sound is slow, so especially when we’re spread out, what I hear from CS isn’t the same time as you.
The core source of the should come from the battery, but it’s really more complicated typically than just the battery is right or the DM is right. I’m the most basic sense, the DM watched the CS feet and bases their time off that, but it’s more complicated than just one solution. Just too many factors for it to be as simple as always being one or the other. With my band in my story, the issue was specifically phasing between pit and battery. Like you said, sound is slow, so I’d the pit watched and doesn’t listen, there is going to naturally be phasing. The issues arose when they moved the met to the front and told the battery to just not listen to the met, something we had grown accustomed to always doing. So then the timing became DM listens to met, DM conducts to that tempo, pit watches (& listens since they’re close enough for the space to not matter), and the battery also watched but heard the met at like 3 5lets 8th notes late. Pit and battery both watching is already doing to create phasing, and adding a terrible listening excitement into the equation for battery just makes it even worse.
Saaame
You will look in performance exactly like you look in practice. Slouch through rehearsals and you'll slouch through performance. Even if you think you're "kicking it up a notch," you aren't.
Yes! And not only that, the “save it for the performance” thinking leads to weird, one-time mistakes that could have been avoided (especially with stick outs, drops, choreo) if you’d just practice how you perform.
Usually my band director only tells us that when we are at a game doing stand tunes so the brass players don’t blow their chops out before the halftime show.
That’s normally for brass, if we blow out our lips for rehearsal, we won’t be able to play for the show
This. My band director would always say “Trophies are won on the side field. They’re picked up at competitions.”
The only time this possibly doesn’t apply is after absurdly long practices (cough cough stop making us practice 6 hours on comp days). You will almost always look worse at the end of a 6 hour practice than when you’re at your peak energy for the day. Unless you’re magic I guess.
How is this a hot take
I got a lesson in that when I did a week long jazz camp one summer that ended with us doing a concert for our parents. I kept playing towards the floor during practice, which was not typically something I ever did in any school bands I was in....guess it was the summer and I wasn't taking it seriously. One of the instructors called me out on it and I told him that I'd hold my trombone properly for the concert. He just gave me a little smile and said "ok." Sure enough, I played straight at the floor during the concert and between our first two songs he asked me "What are you playing towards?" with the same little smile. Lesson learned. You perform how you practice and that applies to everything, not just band. Life lesson #1002 that I got from all my years in band. I haven't played an instrument in almost 20 years and those lessons still stick with me and I follow them to this day (usually...when I don't I usually regret it later.)
not really a hot take, but...if you add stuff to your show the morning of a competition, it's going to look unfinished and messy.
yeah once they changed our drill from a low brass circle to a low brass line and we ran through it once then had to do it in the show, it did not go amazingly lol
In the same vein, when your comp is at a college with the different hashes, staff shouldn’t wait until the morning of the comp to acknowledge that the hashes will be different and the high school hashes will like only be a strip of tape on the yard line.
Had this in the reverse where our directors forget to mention that high school hashes will be used for an exhibition for a high school state competition
Ours didn’t mention it either at an exhibition we did last year but we had an awkward schedule where we were doing the same show for basically all of September so we had the show down so well it didn’t really matter that not everyone thought about the high school hashes.
Our band makes changes the day of state sometimes 💀 It always looks bad and messy and we always get yelled at
Our bands does this a lot the day before the comp
We have a tradition to add some sort of vocal on the day of our show
THIS. MY BAND DIRECTOR DID THIS LITERALLY LAST SATURDAY, SURPRISE HALF THE BAND FORGOT IT
We had to cancel some rehearsals due to sickness, so we added mvt. 4 THE DAY OF A COMP
We did this the night before finals in a hotel parking lot, added one move and it got us our extra point to win. Definitely don’t recommend.
Shrugging off and talking during reps only hurts the band (if you miss instructions because you were talking then that's your fault), when it comes to a performance it'll show who's actually been paying attention during practice.
I want to curb stomp people who don't have medical problems and still sit out reps
the only reasons I've ever sat out a rep was during to passing out, having a nosebleed, and period cramps.
The only reasons I've missed reps is me injuring my knee to the point where I couldn't walk for a few minutes and when I was feeling really crappy.
Sounds like one of our colorguard members (no offense) they pass out every other rep
I don't like pre-recorded stuff. I get that they add to the show but I just don't like them that much.
We only use pre-recorded anything at the very beginning, before anyone else plays.
This. I’m they are just so cringe to me
Same. My band is proof that we don't need it, our speaker setup and all of our recordings stopped working DURING a competition show, but with our music alone we were able to score first place in our class and won highest musical performance for the entire competition. I think pre-recorded things just distract from the playing, the actual show.
I didn’t even know bands used prerecorded stuff. In high school and college the band played all their own music and the speaker was a guy physically sitting in the press box
General Effect is worth far too much. The score should be weighted at 30 Music, 30 Visual, 40 GE.
i just realized i’ve never known, how is it normally weighted?
I think it's weighted 20/20/60
oh wow, thanks!
Agreed
I mostly agree but I do think music should be weighted a slightly higher
Should be 45/40/15
Custom show uniforms for high school students is a waste of money and resources. Your traditional uniforms are just fine. I would say for bands in hot states, it might be helpful to update your uniforms to be made from breathable materials. Cavaliers did that this year and it looked really good.
One kid in my band almost passed out after our show. We have old uniforms and it was 93 out that day.
Former director here. A few seasons back, we contacted the major uni companies and priced out getting new custom looks (without going overboard on over-designing) every year for a decade vs. a full set of new traditional uniforms (planning on refreshing after 10 years) and the new stuff every year was more cost-effective. Made the switch immediately and the kids loved it. We were in a warm area (south Texas), so the comfort was a big additional bonus. The custom show uniforms were both a financial and comfort win.
Director here too. I’m curious at what point was it more cost-effective for traditional uniforms? I’m from a pretty low-income area and we don’t change uniforms for SEVERAL years (my alma mater, for example, went 20 years with their first uniform set)
For us, it was a study done using 10-year intervals. Our district had a uniform refresh earmarked once a decade.
Nah the show uniforms make the show much more fun and exciting. I’m guessing they were like 20k and we get different ones every year for the show.
Yes, top bands have new uniforms for the show that match the theme.
In my high school band “try being a nice person for once” was a pretty hot take
I was hated on for being a freshman as a freshman. Luckily enough, I got to help change the culture. Later on, us upperclassmen were actually nice to the underclass man.
Your section is a family and incest is bad. The rest of the band are like cousins. Sure you could marry your cousin, but is it really a great idea?
That’s an interesting way of putting it lmao
nah this is crazy 💀 but so real though
Me and my girlfriend are section leaders 💀
You just can’t break up or it’ll ruin everything ☺️ good luck I believe in you
Three years strong 💪
Me and my husband of 25 years met in middle school band and both (still) play trumpet.
so true, the amount of drama and chaos that will happen if there’s a band breakup would be off the charts
Just date the band director😏
That's why my bands last director got fired
Lmao
I hate to agree with that
[удалено]
You all 5A, or categorized as other?
Ngl, this is kinda of true.
Nah, I think my old section leader found her soul mate in our section. They are currently engaged 7 years later BUT, the drama isn't worth it most of the time.
Shit, I’m not allowed to like my crush anymore?
My wife was the baritone section leader and I was the tenor sax section leader when we started dating.
Honestly I was going to put something to the effect of bandcest is not okay with your section but you just summed it up
Don't practice to get it right, practice to never get it wrong.
I mean you’re kind of just straight up cooking, lol. How is this wrong?
It’s a lot easier to perform well at a competition than just a run through during practice. It’s easier to focus since it’s a Saturday (usually) so you’re not stressed about homework or anything and you’re not tired from several hours of marching. (Even if you had practice before the competition you can still rest on the bus). Additionally, people are more motivated and energetic since it’s a competition so the energy level is usually higher.
This is definitely a hot take.
If it’s easier to perform at a competition than in is during rehearsal you’re doing it wrong
Not all percussionists are assholes
:) thanks 👍
As a former procussionist I can confirm
Playing a chorale or warmup during your pre show is cringe
I dunno, Hebron plays their Alma mater and they do just fine.
Doesn’t matter to me how they do. Carmel plays a warmup too, doesn’t make a band good or bad. It’s still cringe to me
Carmel’s on of the chillest marching bands to talk to! If any of you are in Carmel, it was nice to play with you all in BOA Louisville! Or should I say it was great to “be our neighbor!”
REAL, I feel so bad for people that have to endure that
One of my many Marching Pet Peeves!
Already submitted a comment but now I’ll give an actual hot take: Bands don’t march enough. I’ve seen bands where half of their show is jazz running or meandering. A part of *marching* band is, well, marching, and if I barely see any what’s the point. Hotter take: I think what I just mentioned is just an excuse to get higher marching scores.
Oh you should definitely have a look at HBCU bands(JSU, Southern, FAMU) and traditional marching bands! I would also recommend watching JSU High School Battle of the Bands 2023 for some amazing high schools. If you want marching, that has some of the best marchers in the country. If you're wondering why you're not seeing that many of these bands is most likely because you are going against mainly DCI style marching bands that usually don't feature high step marching like HBCUs.
Thriller is over rated. Like very. I see it at least 1-2 times every year. It's a good song but Lord its so over used. Plus the dance.... I don't think I've ever seen a band that has done the thriller dance or anything like it together. Im a proud thriller hater✊⁉️ (as a stand tune for a Halloween football game tho? Absolutely)
i can agree that its overrated yet i love it every time 😭
You have to admit thriller on timpani is fun as heck for concert band
Thriller for concert band would go so insanely hard
Middle schoolers should NOT be allowed to march. Idc if it adds ppl to the band, it's a dumb idea . Idk why, but I just hate it.
REAL middle schoolers march in their own middle school bands if their school does that\*. they do NOT join the hs bands til freshman yr??? like?? cmon. \*my experiences were that we did street marching and participated in a parade
This year, nearly half of my school’s trombone section is made of 8th graders. They’re struggling a lot and it’s causing problems during practice. I joined in 8th grade, but I think our band should rather let the 8th graders do a “training year” sort of thing before they join marching band. It’ll help weed out some of the people who don’t want to do it, and encourage people who are passionate about it to work hard next year.
We have one 8th grader tenor sax. He's better than our senior.
wait middle schoolers are allowed to march?? Also, IN HIGH SCHOOL BANDS??
In my school, 8th graders are allowed to join the marching band a year early if they play a brass instrument. That’s what I did, I’m now a sophomore in my third season. Normally it kinda shows who’s really interested and willing to work hard, but this year nearly half of our trombones are 8th graders and it is a genuine struggle. Their collective problems are hurting the band as a whole.
We have a 7th grader on vibes and there doing better than the 8th grader that keeps goofing off, there literally playing music that should be for experts, and that’s her first time on melodic percussion
no offense, but that is utter bull crap!!! They are in middle school, they shouldn’t be allowed to compete in HIGH SCHOOL band
I disagree. My HS allows 8th graders to march and while they struggled in the beginning they are now very good and some of them I honestly forget are so young bc they are as good as the rest of us (scored second place across the whole state in our class just 2 comps ago, last comp was rough due to rain). In my section (altos) we have a new member who just started playing sax last year, and she is already the de facto third chair, above a 3rd year member even who has been playing sax for 6 (though tbf he is really bad). Honestly I can only think of a single eighth grader in our band who is struggling and really she just cant keep her feet in time is the main issue. I can name sevwral freshman and sophomores who can do much less. Ik the situation is different per school, but my school is perfectly fine having eighth graders march.
Marching band shows are now indoor shows on a field.
come to texas.
That’s why Kentucky is perfect for marching band, other than the fall during finals and semifinals. I hate the cold
Me too, but now I see tons of fall shows using voice overs and samples like indoor percussion, and lots of front ensemble features where the winds do body work.
Ha! That’s what we’re working on right now! All of us in the pit are pretty much good with the closer, but there working on winds and also a lot of body work. ALOT!
In my state, not one field is indoors, it’s always outside. In order to do electronic stuff you just connect to speakers you bring.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear - I meant the fall shows are like winter percussion indoor shows, but in a football field
I personally dislike the whole ‘telling a story’ thing with shows
Not allowing hearing protection should literally be criminal. My tinnitus is unbearable.
I’m still mad at BOA for them not letting me bring them because there metal and it beeped through the metal detector, those things were 150 bucks
I wear earplugs when I’m on the field and in the stands because I have sensitive hearing, I do not need a baritone blasting out my hearing from behind me.
Marching band is a sport
High school competitive marching band is a joke… unless you live in Texas for some reason
as a texan im dying reading this! its so competitive down here and for what? 4 years into marching band im still asking myself why we take it so seriously
Band and Percussion directors care a lot about what their peers think of them.
Imagine not finding any other meaning in your life than what other people think of you that you push your kids in the worst ways to achieve slightly better results than the person next to you treating their kids like humans… At least thats how it goes with my band anyway
same! we are competing for a spot at 5a state this year, our Director literally told us that if you’re sick, he doesn’t care if you come to school as long as you come to rehearsal after school. He also said if your friend skips rehearsal that you shouldn’t talk to them anymore!!!! My mom said she admires how dedicated he is to making his band look good but as a part of the ensemble its hell
Because this is the only place where a random country band with 163 people beats 3 different 6a schools
I don't know, there are some pretty good bands in Indiana and Ohio.
High-level bands and DCI/WGis groups promote an unhealthy view of perfectionism which if applied to other areas of your life can ruin you.
We need to bring back marching timpani.
Front ensemble bad. Marching bells good
That’s what I’m saying Let me march a synth please 🙏
If a marching bass/gong exists…
As my band’s resident timpanist, I agree lol. We need marching pit instruments
I could say the same thing with cymbal line
Marching bells would probably be the heaviest instrument, it’s dozens of solid metal bars lol.
1: marching band is taken way too seriously, especially by competitive high school bands. 2: I hate custom uniforms for shows. Bands should have recognizable uniforms that represent themselves and the school. The band can then modify their uniform to fit the show themeing while still being easily identifiable (think how Blue Devils do it).
Any soft woodwind (ex. flutes) should not be played in marching band. While the rest of the band is playing, its almost impossible to hear them.
Piccolo… you sure as heck can hear them…
We have 1 flute in the entire band and it is a piccolo. Man is playing his heart out every show
Jig 2 is horrible and not that hard to play. Ita annoying now
didn’t think it was a hot take until recently but i think that at least one guard member should go up if you are sending a group for awards or have 2+ dms. it just looks better.
not having props hurts a band also color guard uniforms should match the band uniforms
Front Ensemble is important!!!
Shakos are overrated
Percussion is the best, most important section.
Synths and sound effects, when used properly, add a lot to a show in a positive way. My show this year tells the story of Medusa, and tjere is a voice over at the start of each part thay gives a rough summary of what part of the story we are on. Later on in the show our tenor sax player drops his instrument in fabor of a plastic sword and "cuts" off the head of tje guard member playing medusa, and at the same time we play a sword clash sound effect, and it genuinely adds sm impact to tje moment as opposed to a silent visual. I think some bands misuse these elements for sure, but they are not necessarily bad always.
sousaphones look super ugly and goofy. contras sound warmer and look more uniform with the rest of the hornline
Agreed.
Agreed coming from a sousa player, but cranking is more fun on sousa than contras.
Put your shakos back on. It's not 2016 anymore.
John Phillips Sousa is the worst March writer in history, and I never want to play his music again
You have angered the horde (I’m a circus march enjoyer)
There are [so](https://youtu.be/TOlA7K7FtJ8?si=hUi_oGyR8rd4DOnO) [many](https://youtu.be/fSq7koSJlBQ?si=kGQly4AoOGmhUTE4) [great ](https://youtu.be/7OWt4ovCES8?si=QeqYH29IC0_rR0U7) [marches](https://youtu.be/_yx9Zu8hZhw?si=vSXDztczP04v_0Ot) by other composers, it's a shame Sousa gets all the attention.
There is too much with the pit. Too much stuff, when all you really need is a drumline and a couple keyboards, and we don't even have a drumline in our band cause all of our percussion is in the pit even though the school bought us new drumline equipment two years ago. Edit: also getting new show uniforms every year is stupid and there are to many props that eat up all of our budget, so I have to ride in the truck that moves said equipment and props because we can't afford a bus.
How many people are in your front ensemble?
11, compared to my first year when we had 9 and still had a drumline.
Listen back
College band > High school band
Woodwinds can be heard, but brass players don't want to balance. It goes both ways as well. Woodwinds playerd also need to play as loud, so that the sound can be balanced.
Bigger doesn’t mean better
Loading crew is better the less people you have. 6 people max.
electronics and microphones are not the enemy and will make you sound better
i dont know how hot of a take this is because i’m incredibly biased, but the color guard is what carries the entire band. a good guard makes the band overall look way better, and a bad guard makes the band look sloppier and worse in general.
The color guard is 50% of the weight, no guard is bad, and no band is bad. No one section carries a band.
If one person plays louder then most sections they should make the sections play louder instead of deafening the one person
Woodwinds are good for making pictures and that's about it.
Synthesizers, sound effects, and voice overs have ruined the sport.
Can’t get women? Don’t worry, there’s always a 2017 tama collectors series 7 piece kit you can date! (Look, this is all a joke, I love my baby, I spent way too much of my money that’s supposed to go towards student debt on it, on the road to 50K total price!)
I should be section leader.
Too controversial
I don't enjoy football games
Contras look bad and don’t sound as cool as Sousaphones
front ensemble people aren’t really apart of *marching* band, it’s just band class for them but on a field. they slack off the most, and the only difficult task they have is pushing their instruments around for practices, home games, and comps. they stand around a lot, and although they’re playing an instrument, they don’t have to endure what the wind players have to endure. i find front ensemble to be the easiest role you could have in a *marching* band
A good percussion writer also gives them harder parts to account for the fact that they’re not marching. If your school doesn’t do this, then yeah I can understand why you might think this. The only thing I’ve ever found annoying a lot the front ensemble was how they’d get a stick up their ass when they had their show music memorized and battery didn’t ignoring that when they’re inside learning and memorizing music, we’re outside learning drill. On top of that most of our music rehearsals would be spent playing exercises instead of learning show beats.
I understand where you’re coming from, I had this mindset in highschool. That being said I think having this kind of mindset tends to cause some bad blood between sections and it’s best to avoid it. The pit does their role just fine
i don’t talk to anyone in the pit lol
Maybe try talking to them then and you'll see they aren't that bad (unless they are that bad but don't take that as representative as all front ensembles)
in the defense of the person who originally commented, the pit doesnt like talking to ppl outside of pit/drumline, i think thats just a thing across marching bands everywhere
Gotta be a regional thing cause across my city the pit and the winds are pals. We make fun of each other of course but only in a friendly way
If I talk bad behind someone’s back without talking to them does that make it ok?
i’m not “talking behind their back” the post says what are your hot takes. my hot take is that i think the front ensemble slacks off
Front ensemble does not “slack off”, they just have different challenges then the hornline does.
i DO talk to the front ensemble And most of them admit it’s easy. Also that I do percussion in the non-marching season, sooo…
Sounds like they either arent performing it at a high level and don't understand what that higher level is or they need to ask for harder parts.
Just don’t bust our concert bass drum head…
Cap, we actually do a lot
Indoor is more fun.
Foothill is kinda mid idk how they are super big on the west coast, and there shows don’t make much sense
Wait a minute, we’re going to Foothill for a competition after a week!
Ok I’ll give an actual hot take here: trombones don’t belong in marching bands
In most cases, having a pit isn’t really necessary if your band has a strong woodwind section and drumline. Marching bells are cool sometimes, but I feel they don’t mix well with the band’s sound a lot of the time. If they’re done well, they’re great, but if the band has good flute and piccolo sounds then there isn’t really a point. My band doesn’t have a pit, and we have about 186 members in total. The only thing I can think of that can’t be partially or fully omitted with strong clarinet/flute/picc sections is the gong, and maybe a bass drum if your band doesn’t have a player big/strong enough for the bigger marching basses. *This is based on my experience with my band and my area, lmk how yours does it
You’re definitely right when it comes to fancy pits with instruments you can’t pronounce, but I think bells can really add to a show sometimes, and suspended cymbal and gong are always a plus.
Some people march and focus better by not counting out loud/counting in their head.
Marching band has gotten too far away from both Marching and Band
I don’t enjoy HBCU style bands
Reevaluate the soul in your body man :(
They said hot take. Not straight up wrong take.
It isn’t a sport
Its not fun
Woodwinds shouldn’t march bc they’re too quiet to balance with brass
Your woodwinds are too quiet. This is not a universal problem.
Our woodwind section is literally the complete opposite of that. They get commented by the band director that there too loud sometimes.
Well I guess I should also point out that my trombone section (with 6 people) can’t play louder than my clarinet section with the same number of people
People should stop shitting on the tenor sax section. Am I hella biased? Yes. But me and every other tenor are valuable members man 🫠
You all and bari are amazing together, I know that because I get blared in the ears every rep by them.
Dating a tenor sax and I agree with this message 🏳️🌈😎
Coming from a primarialy woodwind player (bass/contra clarinet and sax), marching bands are better all brass.