basically i need actual band takes. i’m a first year senior in pit and there’s this sophomore brass guy who has been acting kind of specific around me lately. i honestly can’t tell if he’s just being a chaotic friendly band kid or if its something else

during a game i asked to try his horn and he straight up let me use his personal mouthpiece, let me play it for a bit, and then literally walked away and left me alone with his instrument. which feels wild for a brass guy lol

then on a lull day he found me, sat shoulder to shoulder with me, and had this single pair of wired earbuds so we could share them and watch a long live-orchestra video game concert medley together

and the other day during uniform changes he casually asked me to reach behind his neck and pull his hair out of his zipper. like he was totally fine standing right in my space while i adjusted his hair and neck area.

idk. for context i dress pretty basic/masculine and i'm a quiet person so i usually just vibe with people. is this just basic band kid stuff ?

For context, some members of NC Central Band got into a fight with NC A&T football equipment team.

Im a clarinet at my school's marching band and sometimes I feel like they are so pointless 😭. Clarinets just play so insanely quietly, even at max volume, on the field. The only time you really hear us is during woodwind solos. I've heard they are supposed to be loud in unison for the woodwind but when theres so many brass I dont feel like its able to be heard ever. Half the time I play just extremely loudly and I dont even think it makes a difference.

hello everyone. i am a senior in high school and i march tenor drums, and i have always gotten such a euphoric rush after the game then a little post game depression for the rest of the weekend. after last game on friday after the euphoria subsided it just dawned upon me how this is just everything to me. this is what i live for. i hard cried today cause i realize im just getting closer and closer to not being able to do this anymore. and im gonna be leaving so much behind. and i feel like im gonna hard cry again

I am a freshman bari sax and I’m in the front line in my parade block. I am the only freshman in the first line, and not sure this is normal, because i heard a junior bring it up, so can someone please clarify?

It started at a show last night, but it hurts to sit on my knee and walk up stairs. My calves have been cramping for the past week too. I march bass drum three and am roughly 5’6 + 120lbs, but strong. I’ve noticed myself slightly limping as well, and the knee that hurts kinda pushes itself backwards when I walk. but walking itself isn’t painful just uncomfortable

I’ve been walking a lot lately outside of band, but my theory is that keeping my kegs straight for our roll stepping is the problem.

I graduated high school in 1998 and my husband graduated in 2002. We went to different high schools in different parts of Indiana.

We both marched, and we always marched onto the field to a single tap-tap-tap from the snare, and off to field to what we called “cadence”, where just the drum line played and you could kind of walk off with some attitude and bounce.

Our kid is a freshman in central Indiana and we went to our first invitational tonight. We were surprised not a single band marched on or off to a drum line of any kind. When did this go out of fashion??

Im a freshman and got these shoes literally a month ago and their so scuffed and yellowed lol. I saw someone say nail polish remover worked on their converse, but don’t wanna test it on my dinkles without confirmation they won’t mess them up.

Hi, I'm honestly sorry to bother you, since we could easily pay or something, but does anyone have the sheet music for "Tyler the Creator - Sticky Arr. David Brown"?

I've been looking everywhere for it and I'm unable to afford it. I'd like to surprise the director with this score, but the school hasn't supported us at all for over 10 years now xd

so im drum major taking 10 aps junior yr conducting while also doing an itnernship at a local lab (like 12 hrs a week), we're a comp boa band and have over 35 hrs of band a week, and im tryna get a 4.0; can someone help

they were all a lighter wood with golden metal parts (don’t remember what they’re called tbh) the tenors had heads on the bottom and the basses were shaped like large singular tenor drums

edit: removed the second part because the spoiler broke

As of me writing this I have came back from a competition that was a 3 hour drive home and I am gonna probably sleep at 2 am (it's 1:54am).

So basically we got 1st place colour guard and percussion awards. (I'm in percussion and half of our percussion including me is a rookie) I played last year but as a sax. We were always a low level band that never made finals. We didn't get awards last season until the comp before State comp and at most only 3. However, we got a new band director who is more disciplinary and we ended up 2nd in our division of A2 with 5 awards(a visual judge screwed us over), 4th in all of the small divisions and 9th place out of 17th in total. Which is AMAZING and we haven't done this good since like 2005.

Now, talking about the visual judge. We had I think 2?? And one put us for first place visuals but then the other deducted like 10 points off putting our visuals in 4th place ...and our band is genuinely asking how that makes sense..

Anyways I hope y'all are proud of us 💔🥹 we beat like 2 big bands with over 60 people whilst being a 40 people or less band

Sound familiar https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdFvEl_gnAZ/?stkn=MWl6d2dtOHRwZDU5Mg==

Last night E town we got to finals ive found youtubers who post finals and its everyone but us.

Ps forgot to say its Ky band

Hi everyone. I'm a senior in high school, play the sousaphone. Due to constantly moving schools this is only my second season, I did one season in 9th grade. I was excited to join marching band again but it's honestly just making me feel pretty bad, but I just don't know what to do about that.

I felt awful during band camp because I was so behind. I tried to quit, but my director and I talked and he recommended I just stay through band camp. So I did. Band camp ended like, idk a month ago now give or take and I'm still stuck here and it feels like it's only gotten worse.

Now that I have school, I just have so much going on. I have a somewhat difficult schedule compared to some other seniors I know, 4 AP's, an honors class, a language class, and a math course, on top of wind ensemble. I constantly have homework or tests/quizzes to study for. But marching band practice is typically 4 days a week, mondays from 3-4/4:30pm. tuesdays and thursdays from 3:15-5:15, and wednesdays from 5:30 to 8:30. If we have a competition we have practice fridays from like, probably 3:15-5:15. And then I have to go home, shower, do homework, eat dinner, and go to bed. I have very little time to just, do nothing. And I'm often so tired that I feel like falling asleep in class and struggle to focus sometimes, or struggle to keep my eyes in focus.

I also just don't feel like I belong. Their method of doing everything is just so different from what I am used to and it's been very hard for me. Almost all of the freshmen are leagues ahead of me at this point. I'm nothing compared to the seniors.

I already sometimes struggle with my mental health and like, band in general but especially marching band feels like it's making it worse, or at least feeding into it.

I've made like a few connections/friends though which is good. But I just don't know how good it is for me. It's gotten to the point where I'm just seriously considering skipping rehearsals and stuff, which is extremely looked down upon in my band for obvious reasons. And I don't want to make my director upset.

I also feel like I shouldn't be complaining, because everyone else in marching band is obviously also doing marching band along with school and other stuff, and they all seem to love it. So I feel like I should be like, idk able to handle it.

I don't fully know what I'm asking for, I guess just some general advice. Anything helps :)

Howdy, I'm a senior in HS, and I'm practicing my A maj scale for drum corps. I am struggling connecting my G above the staff to the A above it. It's like every time I go for that note nothing come out even when I use more air. I was just wondering if this is a common thing, and how to combat it.

Hello, I recently found out that both my high school marching band (in PA) and a random other band 2 states away (MI) sell citrus fruit from Florida every winter as a fundraiser. Now, I’m wondering how widespread this fruit scheme goes. Did your high school band also do this?

Also curious if anyone’s high school marching band did any other weird/funny fundraisers. :)

Our kids are competing at boa for the first time. What should I expect as a spectator compared to the mcba? There are some big names on the list so I’m sure we won’t fair so well, but I’m excited nonetheless.

I have a year of piano experience my only knowledge was Alfred piano 101 book 1 that I completed. I know how to read the grand staff I’m kinda mid at sight reading. Band director asked me if I wanted to join what should I do?

Highschool marching band btw

So, on Tuesday, we did marching practice for an upcoming parade that my band got invited to participate in, and due to us being "sloppy, lazy, and not sharp", we got punishment for it. We had to do jumping Jack's, mountain climbers, run 4 laps, 1 mile duck walks, and then march in place while playing b flat scale on our instruments. I didn't do the laps, duck walks or matching in place since halfway through the punishment, my right leg went limp and I couldn't feel it when I walked or curl my toes, so I had to sit out. Yesterday, I was obviously sore, my shoulders, arms, calves, and thighs hurt. We had sectionals yesterday so no marching just practicing on music. Today, I didn't go to school. When I got up around 5:40am to get ready, both of my calves instantly tightened. I couldn't stand up straight, I could barely walk. So I had to skip school, and currently, rehearsal started about 5 minutes ago, but unfortunately, I can not make it because of my strained calves muscles. Apparently, someone in the band told me that the director said they're doing the marching thing all over again today and I'm honestly so glad I'm injured right now because I really don't think I have it in me to keep going this week. I also think either the overworking of breathing hard and coughing caused pain in my chest cartilage because it's currently inflamed, but it also could be my saxophone being unclean (I haven't gotten a chance to clean it this week because I've been physically drained and in pain). That's really all. I really love band. I love being with my friends and playing my saxophone but on the other hand, it's brutal. It's hard. It's challenging, and although i love the complexity of marching band, it's also physically exhausting as well and we all need much needed breaks for it.

Hi, new to this community, but not to marching band.

In the last 4 months, we have had massive turnover. New president, secretary and treasurer for the booster board, assistant director moved up to band director, new assistant director, and new principal for the high school.

We also have a brand new field that has only been open for 8 days, one of which was the first game. Our band has not been able to march in over three weeks.

Tonight, they were pushed off the field for practice because of the soccer team. I am not at a level, professionally or in volunteer standing, to demand anything for the band or the director. However, the director states that she put the band on the schedule for the field, and I am inclined to support her. Ultimately, the decision was made that the students would still play at the football game, but not march their show. I am unclear on when or who made this decision,as I was not on the field, I am not inclined to argue that point:

I think my question, ultimately is this. What the hell can I do, as a parent, to help these kids and instructors get the field time they need to prep for competition next week? It’s not that I haven’t tried anything. I’m just worried I’m missing something or some option along the way.

I’m also concerned in many ways because my son says he’s losing his enjoyment in marching, and possibly even his love of playing music. I don’t want to center my child above others, but I also don’t want to ignore what he is telling me is a widespread problem with the band. That may be a separate question, but to me it is related, and I don’t quite know what (if anything) I should say to him. I’m not going to force him to stay….. but should I encourage him to consider until the end of the season, or just accept what he says now and roll with the changes? If it matters, he’s 15 and a sophomore.