Essay On Marching Band

You may think I’m talking about politics or something of that nature, but I’m definitely not. I’m talking about High School Marching Band. My band director has a saying that he repeats quite often. When he thinks that we are getting out of hand, he says “This is not a democracy, this is a dictatorship.” Meaning that we do not make the rules and he does, which is sometimes frustrating. Such little words give off such a big lesson, showing all of us that we will not always get what we want and not all things will be up to you. Little lessons like these are taught every day in the classroom and on the field. It takes a lot from you, but it also gives a lot back. Marching Band gives students an opportunity to learn how to be responsible, shows

Those sections include students from seniors to 7th graders. In my section, I am one of the oldest players so it is partly my responsibility to make sure that I know my music to set an example for the younger ones. Sometimes we go into sectionals so that we can practice with just our group, in there the oldest players are the leaders and have to mark the beat and sing the rhythms for anyone who doesn’t know how to play it. Sometimes this is frustrating and can be really hard to focus. If you’ve ever had 9 girls in the same room, you know why. We all want to cut up and talk or be on our phones, but it’s every person in the rooms responsibility to focus and concentrate on the task at hand. Not only are you responsible for your section, but you are also responsible for yourself. You are responsible for memorizing your music and asking for help if you need it. Not having your music memorized, can hurt the entire band and everyone has to pay the price for your mistake. At competitions, everyone is responsible for bringing everything they need and for abiding by the dress

On the field, we play a game to practice and improve our marching skills, a memory game. The rules are simple when the band director yells a marching command, you wait until he counts off and you complete the task. If you mess up you are out, and the command builds on top of each other. For example, if the band director yells “LEFT 8, RIGHT 8, FORWARD 8, BACK 4” the band would follow instructions and if a person ended up at the wrong spot or started on the wrong foot, that person would be out. Games like this motivate us to do better, but in a fun way, which makes our band better. Work with no play discourages the band and just makes the band do worse. The director will make jokes and students will respond with another when we know we are all getting a little frustrated. This is helpful to keep the spirits up on the field and in class. It also teaches the students that there is a time for work, and if you get the work done, there can be time to do something fun as