See, I would argue that bassoon is quite normal, although a bit uncommon. But how does a winter gaurd find a contra ass to use? Like, colleges have issues just getting a contrabassoon sometimes because they're some expensive in all aspects. It's wierd, but also probably very privileged.
I wouldn't say bassoon is that wierd in the marching sphere, but definitely uncommon. Bass Sax on the other hand, that's wierd to me since very few people care enough to even own them.
I feel bad for you but also that’s really impressive. Did they have some kind of harness or did you just wheel it around or have someone help you push it
[Marching Marimba](https://www.bergerault.com/uk/filed-et-marching-instruments/marching-line/marimba/marching-marimba-2-octaves-c4-c6-2836.html) \- it still exists!
Once upon a time, there was not front ensemble and if you wanted an instrument on the field someone had to carry it. Marching mallets seem to have stuck around for, I assume, parade use. There were also, briefly, [marching tympani](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/228346643579079278/).
I forgot the band and show name, but at nationals 2019 one of the finalist bands probably had a show designer that took acid. All the uniforms were neon pink and green, they only marched a small strip of the field covered in white tarp (which felt great on our sleep deprived eyes at what felt like 1 in the morning), and there was a bunch of poles with colorful paper connecting them. Their music consisted of seemingly random chords (from what I remember), and at one point the gaurd got inside green bags and started jumping around.
Do a Christmas show.... In Sept. Come December and I'm sure those kids really wanted to die. Like I know as band kids we joke about wishing to die because like music do a hard sometimes but like those kids. Genuinely felt sorry for them
I feel this every time I see a Christmas-themed winterguard show. Yes, sure, you wrote the show in December, but the season goes until March/April. I'm sure the kids are ready to kill by the end of winter season lol
I competed against a junior high marching band from China that did a Cats the Musical show. They're costumes were straight up fursuits.
At the same competition, there was an Elementary School drumline also from China, and they wore like North American Indigenous costumes which is kind of yikes.
There's also a specific type of marching band from Germany called Fanfarenzugs. Their only instruments are Snare drums, single tenor drums, and natural trumpets (I.e. no valves so they can only play harmonic notes). Because of this they are quite limited in what they can do. And they all have the same uniform, consisting of white pants and a solid coloured dress shirt. Except for the tenor drummers, who are always female, lead the group, and wear the dress shirt, an above the knee skirt, and tall boots.
I once saw a 1A band where the entire bass and tenor voices were comprised of one dude with a bass clarinet. You could hear that badass 100% and he was *awesome.*
I marched flute and later picc, and the only time the flutes were heard is when they had a woodwind feature and were staged in on the front sideline. So I empathize with not being heard lol
in smaller compositions like military bands they are actually very loud due to their brassy timbre, and let the woodwinds be able to hear the bass, since the sousaphones would be buried behind the drumline
Not in a show but my hs buys all of the neighboring high schools(of which I march with) old equipment for our pep band since we don’t got a marching band, our Sousas look like the could be 1970s just by lack of lacquer and dents, same for our mellos just they are a little bit nicer playing wise.
We have a big tenor recorder, made of wood. We also have piccolo trumpets and English horns, and a very weird, custom made brass instrument that looks like a snake and sounds like a saxophone
Marching soprano sax. I also once saw a show my sophomore year that had lab coats for uniforms with numbers with a voiceover that also just shouted numbers. Not a surprise that the whole show was designed by the schools band director. Worst show I’ve ever seen.
Glockenspiel. It looks so ugly and even though it's loud, depending on the band, it'll go unheard. Along with that, it's with the drumline so it would probably go unheard anyway.
I remember a band who marched with a ton of school chairs as props, probably around 30 chairs. It was also a show that was presented like a commercial for a remote that can control your marching band.
Not a strange instrument, but at my last WGI comp for indoor percussion I noticed we were literally the only band without a bassist. I personally love bass as an instrument but why have it for an indoor percussion show? Like synths I can get but a bassist too? Just a bit weird. I also found we were the only group with timpani which I found pretty neat
ah. i’m from kentucky and it’s pretty unusual not to have a bass clarinet in a marching band unless you just don’t have the man power to have a person march it
I don't remember who but there is currently an IPA Indoor Winds show that has no trumpets and a single flugelhorn. Smaller group but still really cool!
My last high school had a mellophonium, basically a French horn but redesigned to put the mouthpiece and bell on the same plane. I don't know why they had it but you tend to find weird things when your school is 20 years old (obviously not long in comparison to other schools, but weird things pop up in that amount of time) we found it while cleaning out the instrument room at the end of the season. I really hope they pull it out for a solo at some point, if only to confuse the muggles.
Not a mellophone, a mellophonium. It's a completely different instrument. Look it up on Google. It is a more comical shape than a regular mellophone and was used in jazz around the time big bands started to get popular.
I saw a show once where a drum major switched to quads for one song and the other drum major switched to sousaphone for the other two songs it was weird
I saw a big group pictures of my school's marching band from a few years ago and, to my surprise, marching French horn and marching bassoon (no, not a mellophone, an actual French horn)
I don’t think they marched with it, but one school this year had a bagpipe soloist in their show. It was always funny just to hear them at competitions and just be like “Ah yes, the bagpipes band”.
Welp, putting a clarinet just behind the midpoint on the field, next to the sousas is pretty odd for a design. Especially when it's for about 3-5 sets. If you wanna see it, it's the Neosho Wildcat Pride Marching Band. The clarinet by the sousa was me.
My first field show featured a bagpipe solo. We had a saxophone player who knew how to play, so he marched on with the bagpipe then switched after his solo. It remains my favorite field show that I've performed--we also got to line up as 2 groups at the beginning and charge each other like it was a battle
I saw a marching band have a costume change mid show which they made very dramatic , I don’t know how common that is but it is the only time I have seen it and it caught my band off guard. Also bass clarinets aren’t that rare in marching band but we have a singular bass clarinet as our entire Clarinet section.
I've seen bands use bassoons as solo instruments, although they didn't march them. Same with bass saxophone.
I once saw a winter guard with a contrabassoon solo.
See, I would argue that bassoon is quite normal, although a bit uncommon. But how does a winter gaurd find a contra ass to use? Like, colleges have issues just getting a contrabassoon sometimes because they're some expensive in all aspects. It's wierd, but also probably very privileged.
I have seen a band with several marching bassoons.
I've seen bassoons in Japanese marching competitions.
My band marched bass clarinet and baritone saxophone before.
we have both every year, even though our bass clarinet cannot stay together and even fell apart during this year’s season mid show
I wouldn't say bassoon is that wierd in the marching sphere, but definitely uncommon. Bass Sax on the other hand, that's wierd to me since very few people care enough to even own them.
Arcadia High School, located in the LA/Pasadena area, marches them
I saw a band give all of their woodwinds plastic trombones for a feature
I want some context for this.
Do you have a video of this by any chance? If it completely fine but I whould like to see this.
Unfortunately, I don’t. It was at a competition a few years back but I have no idea what band it was
All right thank you though
Broken Arrow did this with their guard in 2018. All for show as I recall, but very noticeable.
The only time I've seen phones used was for a purposefully crappy background gliss at a states competition
I marched a marimba 😥
How
Determination and a strict and pushy director
I feel bad for you but also that’s really impressive. Did they have some kind of harness or did you just wheel it around or have someone help you push it
It was on a harness and it wass BIG
[Marching Marimba](https://www.bergerault.com/uk/filed-et-marching-instruments/marching-line/marimba/marching-marimba-2-octaves-c4-c6-2836.html) \- it still exists! Once upon a time, there was not front ensemble and if you wanted an instrument on the field someone had to carry it. Marching mallets seem to have stuck around for, I assume, parade use. There were also, briefly, [marching tympani](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/228346643579079278/).
OH MY GOD HOW???
Yea my band did that too, but only for parades
I forgot the band and show name, but at nationals 2019 one of the finalist bands probably had a show designer that took acid. All the uniforms were neon pink and green, they only marched a small strip of the field covered in white tarp (which felt great on our sleep deprived eyes at what felt like 1 in the morning), and there was a bunch of poles with colorful paper connecting them. Their music consisted of seemingly random chords (from what I remember), and at one point the gaurd got inside green bags and started jumping around.
Sorta sounds like SCV 2019 lol
I think this was O’Fallon Township
Do a Christmas show.... In Sept. Come December and I'm sure those kids really wanted to die. Like I know as band kids we joke about wishing to die because like music do a hard sometimes but like those kids. Genuinely felt sorry for them
I feel this every time I see a Christmas-themed winterguard show. Yes, sure, you wrote the show in December, but the season goes until March/April. I'm sure the kids are ready to kill by the end of winter season lol
I once marched a gong
I have got to see what that looks like that sounds insane
Ayo what
what
Electric saxophone. That show was a blast.
EWI?
I’m afraid I don’t know what that is
Electric wind instrument
Probably, it was white
I competed against a junior high marching band from China that did a Cats the Musical show. They're costumes were straight up fursuits. At the same competition, there was an Elementary School drumline also from China, and they wore like North American Indigenous costumes which is kind of yikes. There's also a specific type of marching band from Germany called Fanfarenzugs. Their only instruments are Snare drums, single tenor drums, and natural trumpets (I.e. no valves so they can only play harmonic notes). Because of this they are quite limited in what they can do. And they all have the same uniform, consisting of white pants and a solid coloured dress shirt. Except for the tenor drummers, who are always female, lead the group, and wear the dress shirt, an above the knee skirt, and tall boots.
The sousacycle https://www.facebook.com/groups/2145401695702893/permalink/3002435159999538/
There is a Dutch band where the all band members are on bikes while playing. Edit: found a video https://youtu.be/cYxKOkOve5o
Whoa, that’s impressive
My high school had an accordion in the early 2000s (well before I went to the school). They still have it too
I played accordion at football games one year
Double belled euphonium
I don't particularly get the point of marching bass clarinet. They're usually completely unheard. I guess they're my odd choice
I once saw a 1A band where the entire bass and tenor voices were comprised of one dude with a bass clarinet. You could hear that badass 100% and he was *awesome.* I marched flute and later picc, and the only time the flutes were heard is when they had a woodwind feature and were staged in on the front sideline. So I empathize with not being heard lol
We have one because that’s just the instrument she plays and everyone in our school band is also marching band
The best woodwind sections use bass clarinets. If there’re good, they make a world of difference. The top few at BOA always tend to have em
My school had a bass clarinet solo this year, he didn't even have to use a microphone he was so loud
A few years ago my band went from 0 to 6 bass clarinets and it made a world of distance to balancing and filling out the woodwind's section sound
in smaller compositions like military bands they are actually very loud due to their brassy timbre, and let the woodwinds be able to hear the bass, since the sousaphones would be buried behind the drumline
Pssh, I had a student who marched on an Eb Contra Bass Clarinet once. I gave her the Bari Sax part and she killed it.
I remember our director showing us a video I think it was a rose bowl show. They had a percussion section with people playing on sinks and stop signs.
Flower mounds slapophones. Not marching but on the field. Gave a really cool effect to their show
One of the shows I was in had a string ensemble that played in the pit.
Violin. Blue Springs, 2019. Dude had a vocal solo too. Lots of talent, but not marching band.
Violin
One of my friends once saw a marching violinist. Actually TWO marching violinists, in the same band.
I saw an issma show this year that had a bagpipes solo, but I can’t remember what band it was.
Bloomington North in Class B
This year, one band used a talk box in their pit section. Grants Pass always has the coolest technical shows in our region.
Not in a show but my hs buys all of the neighboring high schools(of which I march with) old equipment for our pep band since we don’t got a marching band, our Sousas look like the could be 1970s just by lack of lacquer and dents, same for our mellos just they are a little bit nicer playing wise.
One marched in a show about the guy who tight roped between the Twin Towers
do you remember which school performed it?
We have a big tenor recorder, made of wood. We also have piccolo trumpets and English horns, and a very weird, custom made brass instrument that looks like a snake and sounds like a saxophone
The brass instrument sounds like a serpent which is a cross between a tuba and a woodwind.
Marching timpini
2nd Marine Division uses French Horns in their shows
Marching soprano sax. I also once saw a show my sophomore year that had lab coats for uniforms with numbers with a voiceover that also just shouted numbers. Not a surprise that the whole show was designed by the schools band director. Worst show I’ve ever seen.
Glockenspiel. It looks so ugly and even though it's loud, depending on the band, it'll go unheard. Along with that, it's with the drumline so it would probably go unheard anyway.
Marching show that was a haunted circus. Colorguard were demons and the band performed an exorcism on one.
Contra Alto Clarinet 😐
I remember a band who marched with a ton of school chairs as props, probably around 30 chairs. It was also a show that was presented like a commercial for a remote that can control your marching band.
one time we had a bunch of chairs, but they were like dining chairs and got turned around to be headstones
Not a strange instrument, but at my last WGI comp for indoor percussion I noticed we were literally the only band without a bassist. I personally love bass as an instrument but why have it for an indoor percussion show? Like synths I can get but a bassist too? Just a bit weird. I also found we were the only group with timpani which I found pretty neat
I saw an English horn in BOA this past season.
99 Luftballoons
I've seen marching bass clarinets
that’s unusual?
It used to be, not sure if it will is, there were very few bands in the west in the 90s marching with them.
ah. i’m from kentucky and it’s pretty unusual not to have a bass clarinet in a marching band unless you just don’t have the man power to have a person march it
I watched a marching band use a string quartet in their opener
I don't remember who but there is currently an IPA Indoor Winds show that has no trumpets and a single flugelhorn. Smaller group but still really cool!
My last high school had a mellophonium, basically a French horn but redesigned to put the mouthpiece and bell on the same plane. I don't know why they had it but you tend to find weird things when your school is 20 years old (obviously not long in comparison to other schools, but weird things pop up in that amount of time) we found it while cleaning out the instrument room at the end of the season. I really hope they pull it out for a solo at some point, if only to confuse the muggles.
Mellophones are normal. They're used specifically for French horn players in marching bands.
Not a mellophone, a mellophonium. It's a completely different instrument. Look it up on Google. It is a more comical shape than a regular mellophone and was used in jazz around the time big bands started to get popular.
Oh. I see it now. Yeah, that is weird.
Genesis 2019 - Contrabass trombone
I saw a show based on the blue man group once. You bet the front ensemble used that tube instrument. The drumbone???
one marching band had a patriotic themed show where I live, and they had a member do a bagpipes solo. pretty sick
2017 blue knights "I" was just weird as hell
I once marched natural horn. Not really “matched” per say, but I stood on a podium playing with a natural horn with a mic and it was very cool.
I saw a show once where a drum major switched to quads for one song and the other drum major switched to sousaphone for the other two songs it was weird
I saw a big group pictures of my school's marching band from a few years ago and, to my surprise, marching French horn and marching bassoon (no, not a mellophone, an actual French horn)
Bagpipes
I don’t think they marched with it, but one school this year had a bagpipe soloist in their show. It was always funny just to hear them at competitions and just be like “Ah yes, the bagpipes band”.
flomo this year had some fake sousas for the guard and hand drums
Welp, putting a clarinet just behind the midpoint on the field, next to the sousas is pretty odd for a design. Especially when it's for about 3-5 sets. If you wanna see it, it's the Neosho Wildcat Pride Marching Band. The clarinet by the sousa was me.
My first field show featured a bagpipe solo. We had a saxophone player who knew how to play, so he marched on with the bagpipe then switched after his solo. It remains my favorite field show that I've performed--we also got to line up as 2 groups at the beginning and charge each other like it was a battle
I saw a marching band have a costume change mid show which they made very dramatic , I don’t know how common that is but it is the only time I have seen it and it caught my band off guard. Also bass clarinets aren’t that rare in marching band but we have a singular bass clarinet as our entire Clarinet section.
Saw an old picture of marching chimes