Marching Band Stereotypes

I’m With the Band
At one point or another in life most people will experience a stereotype. A stereotype is something that places individuals in a group and characterizes them all the same way. A lot of the time stereotypes can be proven wrong. One of the stereotype I believe is always wrong is the way people feel about the members of a marching band. The members of this group are often referred to as band geeks. Band geeks is a term that can be taken many different ways and have many different meanings. Some people take pride in being called that and actually enjoy the name, others think it’s funny and go along with the term to fit in. Typically you can define a band geek by someone who is not very athletic, someone who has no friends, and someone who is nerdy. This definition is not always the case though for most people in a marching band and can be proven wrong.
Most people assume that being in the band makes you non athletic. A lot of people don’t realize what it takes to be in marching band though. There is a lot of practicing involved in planning a show and getting it as close to perfect as possible. A lot of the time there is more practice involved in marching band than

in sports. There are practices at least three days a week and you are expected to perform on Fridays during football season. The practices are long and often take place outside due to what is required. There is strength needed to be able to hold an instrument up for the amount of time that you have to. It also takes a fit person to be able to do what is done during practice. There is a lot of moving around involved. Typically you are moving across a field the size of a football field at a relatively fast speed. For the members in the color guard you have to be able to run at least the length of the field while performing with a relatively heavy flag. Aside from what is required at these practices a lot of the band members do choose to play sports in the off season. When football is not in season a lot of the members will be on the track and field team or playing other various sports.
People in marching band are assumed to have no friends. Usually the exact opposite is true, like any other group that you join while in school or at any point in life you have the whole group on your side as friends. At the same time there are the normal people who don’t get along and don’t agree with everything everyone else does but that is normal for groups of friends. Since you are traveling a lot and seeing each other daily you almost start to form friends that you can call family within the band so it is like having a giant family outside of your real family. You don’t always have to only have band friends though it is very possible to have friends outside of band. Aside from being in band you are just like everyone else and just as capable of making friends as everyone else is.
I think the most typical band stereotype would be the nerd one.

A lot of people think of nerds and think of people who wear glasses, don’t have many friends, aren’t good with social situations, don’t get in trouble, always getting good grades, and playing weird card and video games. It would be hard to classify everyone in the band as being a nerd though because like every other group it is a very diverse group of people to be a part of. There are people from different nationalities bringing the things that they like to do to the group and introducing new things to people. There are also your typical groups in band such as the drummers usually being the more athletic type, the guard girls being your more girly type, and so on. There are actually fewer nerds in band than you would

think.
As you can tell the band stereotype can be proven wrong. A lot of the members are usually athletic people, have a large group of friends, and aren’t nerds. Stereotypes have been around for a long time and can usually have big impacts on certain people. It is always good to get to know someone before you classify them by what they do or what you think they are like and give them a stereotype. You never know how different someone can be from the group they are stereotyped as until you get to know them.