As the academic school year begins, it is time for many students across the country to either say "hello" or "goodbye" (depending on the move-in date) to a little collegiate tradition called band camp. The arrival of Fall means football, and football means marching band. Yet, like the football team, the band has to put in hard work before the season even begins in order to be successful.

So every year, there is band camp. Yes, hahaha, I've seen American Pie, and I've heard all those sexual band camp jokes. I can hardly start to tell a story regarding my band camp experiences without having my audience chime in with that infamous phrase, "One time at band camp..." I have a ton of stories about band camp, just because I did it all throughout my high school and college career (so far). As I write this, my junior year band camp experience is coming to an end, and I am readying myself for the season, which will be quite grueling for me since I am the only drummer this year in our tiny liberal arts school marching band.

For those who never participated in band, it's almost impossible to understand what band camp is like. To most people, we are just a bunch of weirdos and nerds doing something that a lot of people haven't learned to appreciate. That's why I'm writing this. I want to capture an experience that has become as familiar to me as my favorite pair of drumsticks.

At Birmingham-Southern College, the band always moves in a week earlier, along with several other athletes (yes, band is a sport!). So, first we lug our clothes, rugs, furniture, and everything else to our dwelling places, and then we have to go to band camp. Band camp typically lasts for a week and a half, from nine o' clock in the morning to nine o' clock in the evening. Of course, we take hour and a half long breaks for meals, but we are otherwise hard-pressed with learning music and drill.

Marching is not just walking around. It requires a lot of technique and style, and every band has a different way of doing it. As a drummer, for example, I don't march like the horn players. To go side to side, I have to crab step, while the horn players keep their lower half facing the direction they are walking and their upper half facing the stands. Drill also varies depending on the band program. Some colleges love elaborate, intricate designs made of marching dorks, but others are what you call a "scramble band." They make a mad dash to their sets rather than march to it. Either way, everyone is put out in the hot, July-August sun, where they spend hours upon hours upon hours learning and memorizing drill. And God help us when we do Basic Block!

But the real reason people watch a band is for the music, and music is arguably even more important than drill. The crowd is full of people who don't understand drill, but they know whether the music is good or bad. Sometimes we rehearse music all together, but a lot of times, we go off by ourselves, as sections, to work on individual stuff. I loved having time to drum with other drummers, away from the horns, back in high school and the last two years of college. Now, I'm by myself during sectionals, hammering out notes on an old, beat-up Real Feel™ drumpad. I actually long for those moments when our director calls out, "Okay, band! Time for full rehearsal!"

After rehearsals, the band often hangs out together. Back when we had a full drumline (before everyone graduated), we'd all go to the section leader and his girlfriend's shared house, and we would throw little parties where we played Mario Kart and Jenga. The other sections did similar things, and–all in all–everyone got to be great friends. It was wonderful as a freshman, because you already had friends by the time school started!

As you can see, band is like any other collegiate activity: very involved and very social. Yet I'm still meeting people here at BSC who didn't even know we had a marching band until I told them. I think that marching band is one of the best groups you can possibly be involved in (and maybe I am biased), so I hope that this article has been an eye-opener to those out there who never think about what band camp is like. It's weird, difficult, and oddly satisfying, in a dorky way.