Memorable Experiences: My Journey in the Marching Band
Try jazz running with a Tuba or running throughout the show multiple times, during hot practices. I participated in marching band for all four years of high school. Even the three years of my middle school year. For those who do not fully understand what marching band is or concise of, it is a time intensive sport. Yes, it’s a sport, I know crazy right! Luckily though, I only played clarinet, but still my arms would ache after holding it up, my lips would feel dead, just useless flaps of skins, and I would just feel drained all over after drilling basics and roll-stepping for hours on end. Playing an instrument, roll stepping to keep tone, hitting your dot, and keeping the formation at the same time, is a lot of hard work. Marching band was a great experience for me.
Marching band really becomes your life. You get up at seven in the morning, so you can be ready and on the field at eight o’clock ready to practice. Whether it rained, was cold, or blazing hot; we marched until school started, but I had band for first block my freshmen year, so I stayed out on the field. I would say to my band director, “it’s supposed to rain all day, are we still having practice” Mr.E would say “rain or sunshine you know we are”.
I remember when it was freezing cold, I was wearing boots with double socks, a thick sweeter, coat, and gloves. It was cold, and the wind was blowing, which didn’t make it any better. I was hoping that a least we could be lucky enough that a peek of sunlight would shine through the clouds and give us a little relief. I would keep my mouthpieces warm inside our pockets and occasionally warm our hands on the warm skin inside our coats, so our fingers would still function enough to press the keys on our instruments.
Marching band was hard, and if all it included was just marching, no one would ever join, we stayed for people and the good times. Band competition is where you form special bonds and become a team. I would always joke around with my band director and they would always laugh. When they were not feeling their best I knew how to cheer them I would say, “Mr.E and Mr.Reynold, you all know that Beyoncé is my cousin right”, they laugh would until they couldn’t anymore. Then they would say to me “JaTorious you do know how to brighten up our day”.
We would practice two weeks in the summer in the blazing heat. Don’t get me wrong we had plenty of water breaks, snacks and food. Constantly marching an empathizing with each other’s complaints and glaring in anger at the band director for telling the famous lie of all time “one more time and were done.” To tell the truth most evenings were miserable, but sometimes the practices were always a blast for me.
Band Competitions would always be fun even after we perform. Also, I remember during practice when we had a water break, me and my friends threw our friend Taylor Nike slides into the tennis court, and we all had to crawl under the fence to get them. After school started, I would always say, “I can’t wait for the chick-fil-a meal deals”. Sometimes we would get out of class early where we would spend time crammed onto a bus playing games and joking around. But then again, the actual competition was always nerve-wracking, but as soon as it was over we all breathed a sigh of relief, unless you REALLY messed up.
Band practices were always the greatest, where the funniest things happened, and you got to spend at least three hours hanging out with friends. All my friends were pretty much in band. If I had stopped taking band, I do not know where I would have hung out before school, after school, or when I would even see my friends. My section also became my pals. I loved my underclassmen as they were so fun, and I must say we were awesome clarinet section. I have learned so much from being around band people /my band family.
After spending hours on end with the same people, the band becomes your family, quite literally sometimes because you may see the people in band more than your own family. Me and my friends always made sure we had fun in marching band throughout the good and the bad, I realized that it’s more to life than winning all the time. I made sure I stayed connected to my friends that are now family because we were always with each other through concert band, football games we would sit beside each other, and, on the bus, we would sit beside each other.
As you can see, band was important to me. Band was full of friends, and fun people that I will never forget about. I loved playing my clarinet with everyone else and getting the chills when music comes together to create something marvelous. Because of the people I met, the experiences I had, the confidence I gained, and the laughs I had, I am the person I am today. I still have great love for music and keep those great friends dear to me. I have learned much about music and the terminologies used by the band geeks. I learned some stuff maybe that I would have never been better without, but for the most part band was very rewarding although being quite a challenge at times. I am so glad I stuck through with it to the very end. Band experiences has made some memorable moments in my life that I will cherish forever.
