Samantha

Yup. I really miss it. I love marching. Just a few more months till band camp!!! Now I know I'm a freak.... I miss band camp and I'm all but counting the days until it comes back around....

Eeviac

Boy oh boy did you come to the right place! This is the place for advice! OK here's what'cha do: Join the Army. If you're too young, join the ROTC. In either case, plenty of marching, plus yelling that sometimes sounds like singing "cadence" lol. And you'll get a nifty M-16 to carry around while marching and stuff, and if you really want to, you can carry the GUIDON. That's that really cool flag that the guy in front carries while they're all marchin' and runnin' and yellin' along, Really Cool People get to carry that! Oh, and they wear cool hats, believe me start getting a bunch of Sergeant Schultz jokes together now, because they'll come in handy for jokin' around while wearing the illustrious "Fritz Hat".

Oh, and if you "spin" your M-16 a lot and do that crazy drill team stuff, they'll recognize your rare talent by giving you an M-60 to carry, that's uh, a machine gun, you can't spin one of those!

ccNochops

"that's uh, a machine gun, you can't spin one of those"......well you can, but it will hurt you

bjntrumpet

Samantha,

Now is the time to really focus in on your playing. Focus on your breathing and playing with no tension. This will make your marching band playing easier. Plus if you had marching band year round, you would never get the chance to break the bad habits that marching band creates. :)

BergeronWannabe

Marching band is OVER!! Yay...
Sorry, guess I don't like it as much as you.

jazz9

I personally like the competition of marching season, but man does it kill your chops! Every year I have to get back to being able to play soft again. Every time you're out on the field, you try to play as loud as possible, and it ruins you for winter competitions unless you practice soft all the time for forever to get it back. Sorry for rambling; those are my thoughts. :)

Eeviac

haha my older sis played flute in marching band ...... I told her she must have been pretty good, she replied, "No, this was at football games, not good, just LOUD."

cornetguy

I am guessing that she misses the social aspect of marching band as much as the actual playing in marching band. any ideas on how they can keep that part going even in the concert band season.

rowuk

Samantha,
Marching Band is a combination of playing, choreography, stretching your own limits and of course the social activity. All of these things can be dealt with individually between seasons.
Playing of course by practicing and regular band. Choreography perhaps by dancing, stretching your limits by memorizing the music that will be played next season (ask the director) and maybe some physical activity like swimming, and socializing with the other marching "freaks".

Sometimes you can extend the pleasure by having people videotape your shows and then making a DVD of the highlights AND the lowlights between seasons. Doing a good job cutting and with the soundtrack requires the same precision that you have on the field and putting clips together can give you important insite into what works and what does not!