In my high school, marching band was a pretty big deal. We had more than 150 members and, at the risk of sounding totally biased, we sounded pretty amazing for a high school band. I look back on marching band fondly, thinking of the many hours of practice on the field, learning new dances, memorizing our music, band camp and meeting new people every Friday night from the marching bands of the other schools. I can confidently say that marching band was one of the best times of my life and has taught me many things.
1. Move or get run over.
One thing I learned in marching band is if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially come game time, you're gonna get run over. You better find your place fast because the whole band isn't going to stop because you don't know what you are doing. The show must go on, right?
2. Look out for others.
In marching band, you get placed into squads. A squad is typically four people and there is a squad leader among them. You form a bond with each other because of all the time you spend together, and you work on remembering drill together so that no one gets run over. Being a squad leader for three years, I affectionately referred to the rest of my squad as my squad-lings/babies and always made sure they knew their moves and music.
3. Leadership.
When you are in band, you have the opportunity to be a leader in your section and/or be a leader in a squad on the field. Our band director would choose who would be squad leader based on how much responsibility he thought the person could handle, and we held auditions for section leader based on musical skill. Being section leader, you hold the responsibility of making sure your section knows their music and, if the band director needs it, hold sectional rehearsals. It taught me how to teach people with different learning levels the same music and how to be creative and entertaining enough for them to listen to me.
4. How to take criticism.
Whether it'd be from opposing team's bands or from your own band director, you will learn to take criticism and hopefully learn to take it well. It will definitely hurt the first few times you hear it, especially if it's your band director chewing you out because the lines were sloppy and the music sounded like sh*t that day. However, you learn it isn't the end of the world and to work harder to do better next time. This is one of the most useful things marching band has taught me because the real world isn't afraid to tell you if you suck, and it won't sugarcoat anything.
5. Every individual is important.
The show as a whole won't work unless every individual person is doing their part right. Even if one person is wrong, nothing will work. Everyone is important to the performance, and everyone has to be committed. Don't like dancing in place while playing the song? Too bad, you'll be the one to look ridiculous when everyone else is jamming. It's like a puzzle — if one person is missing then the picture won't turn out right. This is important for real life too, in the sense that every person on this planet is important. Everyone you meet has a story that contributes to the "bigger picture."
6. Responsibility
Forgot your instrument? Take a lap. Moved at parade rest? Forty jumping jacks for the whole band. Tardy to rehearsal? Take a lap. Didn't memorize your music? Another lap. You learn pretty quickly, especially when what you do affects the whole band, to be responsible. You have people counting on you to be there for rehearsal and when you aren't, it messes with everyone because there are gaps and holes and some may need you for reference points. It's not just about you in band. You are a collective and are responsible for each other. As our director used to say: One band, one sound.
