Hey, someone was saying they don't...um...appreciate marching bands and it was getting completely off topic of this poor guy's original post. So I was wondering, how many people here are/were in a marching band?

Yeah I was for a while. 4 years in high school, 6 years in college, 3 more years subbing shows here and there, and 1 year outside school. I can tell you this: I learned a hell of a lot in those years, and now I am a professional classical trombone player and teacher.

While some marching bands out there really are piles of crap with no benifit, that is deffinately not the case everywhere. It's unfortunate that some schools take away from Wind Ensemble and other groups for Marching Band, but it is not like that everywhere, nor should it be.

Marching Band teaches many very basic concepts you might never really understand without it. Proper usage of air, endurance, the whole physical side, controling your body, internalizing tempo, and many other things, as well as confidence, teamwork, and self-worth.

So, before you knock it for being "unmusical", take a step back and look at what it does offer. Sure, it's not for everyone, but that doesn't mean it's worthless. Just take a listen to some of the better schools in the country, and Drum Corps in general. (The ones that march real shows, not that boxed music pep band crap re-arranged for the field) Definately a lot more "musical" then most high school classroom bands I have heard.

Cool, thanks. I totally agree. Before marching band I was horrible. No one could hear me (though my sexist band instructor claimed it was because I am a girl). I play much better in concert and jazz band now, and, since I'm just a kid, I'm still getting better. There is no way I could do any of things I can do now if I hadn't joined marching band, and I just answered my own post...oops.
Anyoneone else?

we do some marching. more parades than anything, but we do one actual "marching show" a year.
my only real issue with marching bands..
1) often a horn angle is asked of you that is totally unnatural and very difficult to play
2) it's hard to blend/tune etc when the band and/or your section gets spread out on opposite ends of the field
3)personally, I would much rather focus on the music. counting steps, etc tends to detract from that
4) i have yet to hear a marching band that I would still want to listen to if I closed my eyes. sure, i enjoy it because the marching looks cool.. and when the marching looks cool, you can deal with the music being a little off, or played at a rediculous blastissimo dynamic.
my personal preference is to hear music performed by people who are more focused on the musical side of things. i'm not saying marching band isn't a legitimate art, I just don't enjoy it as much. and as a performer... I just plain hate marching. if you dig it, good on ya. enjoy it.

Yeah, I mean I agree with Steve. But if you can actually try your hardest and do well with that crazy horn angle, having to remember to mark time and stuff, and not mess up the dynamics (because music would suck if it was all the same sound level *cough cough* death grunge). But yeah then it can be pretty amazing. I mean the things the Cadets can do are just...wow.

youtube.com, go there and type in caviliers (sp) and Blast...both are marching bands, and if you havn't heard of blast, blast is a smaller, older indoor marching band, they take after a indoor drum core. But i like drum cores like those since there all highly skilled and displined at what they do-or at least they look it. But there are marching bands out there that sound as good or better than concert band, you just have to look for them.

Blast used to be a Drum Corp called Star of Indiana.

Add drum corp plus politics minus "we're sick of this" and there ya go.