Marching Band Question

[TigerCheer2009]

We had a game last night and we were winning (end: 47-8). Our marching band always has lots of fun...we make up chants or use the ones the senior band members bring from State Fair like Yeah Toast!! or the Sheep Song (long story), play cadences and "get into it", dance, do the wave, ...essentially go crazy and have fun. It's kind of sad, but we have more spirit than the cheerleaders! Coming from a JV Basketball cheerleader, that makes me wonder:

Is our marching band the only one who goes nuts for just being there, win or lose? What kind of "fun" things does your marching band do...or that you wish they would do?

 

[tubaman]

Is our marching band the only one who goes nuts for just being there, win or lose? What kind of "fun" things does your marching band do...or that you wish they would do?

Well...

One of our fight songs is called "Bop". I'm not sure if its just us that call it that, but we have many different versions of playing it. We have minor bop, silent bop (Our drum major will count off, and we do nothing), we have sit down bop (you count off and sit down), next we have opera bop (Devan, one of the other tuba players sings very welll, and loud. He will set his tuba down and sing. One time at the Poca vs. Winfield game, he ran 100yds to sing bop with poca, and then ran back 100yds.), last we have backwards bop, our drum major goes to stand infront of the back of the band, everyone turns around, and we play the song backwards.

Along with that our drum cadence has visuals along with druming. They hold one stick in the air, look at it, and play for a few measures. The snares, during a bass drum solo in the cadence, we "brush the dirt of there sholders". The other cool thing about our cadence is that one of the drummers wrote it.

Ocassionaly when we are practicing, low brass will block up into a square, march foward and every 16 counts we "break it down". Some body will beat box and we will dance for 16 counts. Its fun.

With everything else we also still have bandcamp. So I got some great stories.

 

[TigerCheer2009]

Sounds AWESOME, Tubaman!!!

We always do a dance in our halftime routines...last year we did what our drum major called "the shimmy-shake your groove thing-get the dust off your shoulders" boogie...and this year we had a dance-off. It's great!

Thanks for replying!

 

[The LK 4]

Waaaaaayyyy back when I was in marching band, we had a great band director who always had us dancing while we marched. My senior year, they brought in a new director who had us march, stand still, and then play the music. Ugh - how boring!

I miss the fun we used to have on the field and in the stands.

 

[ashjohnson80]

When I was in marching band in high school it was always like that. We had the worst football team ever and we still had a great time. The drum line would play this song that somehow got named "Wilma" and everyone would get up and dance to it and we would sing along to the kit kat song. I loved band.

 

[TigerCheer2009]

LK4-Sounds like fun...our band director is new this year, too. I liked the old one better, though. Thanks for replying!

Ash-Band is great, isn't it? I wish our crowds would get up and dance with us! That's a true band spirit! Thanks for replying!

 

[GeorgeG]

Takes me back over forty years... those were great times.

I think too many people tend to play down the band's role at sporting events, especially football games. Without the bands, it just a bunch of jocks patting each other on the butt... well, you know what I mean.

 

[TigerCheer2009]

ITA!

Band is great-we liven up things! It takes lots of hard work (2 weeks of band camp, individual time, and band class time) to get a maybe 10 minute show done.

Thanks for posting, GeorgeG!

 

[MinnieM3]

How cool! this is my son's first year in a marching band and last night's game was away and they can't take the whole band (200 kids) and he did not go. So I don't know what they did! In fact, they don't have a home game for a few weeks. I'm so anxious to see what they do. I loved our band when I was in high schoool... didn't play, but they made the games so much FUN!

Everybody now.....na na na na na na na na hey, hey, good bye!!

 

[Marseeya]

Well...

One of our fight songs is called "Bop". I'm not sure if its just us that call it that, but we have many different versions of playing it. We have minor bop, silent bop (Our drum major will count off, and we do nothing), we have sit down bop (you count off and sit down), next we have opera bop (Devan, one of the other tuba players sings very welll, and loud. He will set his tuba down and sing. One time at the Poca vs. Winfield game, he ran 100yds to sing bop with poca, and then ran back 100yds.), last we have backwards bop, our drum major goes to stand infront of the back of the band, everyone turns around, and we play the song backwards.

Along with that our drum cadence has visuals along with druming. They hold one stick in the air, look at it, and play for a few measures. The snares, during a bass drum solo in the cadence, we "brush the dirt of there sholders". The other cool thing about our cadence is that one of the drummers wrote it.

Ocassionaly when we are practicing, low brass will block up into a square, march foward and every 16 counts we "break it down". Some body will beat box and we will dance for 16 counts. Its fun.

With everything else we also still have bandcamp. So I got some great stories.

You're in the WVU band?

I was in it too... a long time ago -- longer than I'm willing to admit

 

[TigerCheer2009]

Marseeya-a band alum!! Nice to have you here!!!

Thanks, MinnieM3! We have 60 kids...I can imagine what it's like with 200 kids! I hope your son gets to have the best possible time in marching band!!

 

[tubaman]

You're in the WVU band?

No. I would like to be if I go to college there.

I'm talking about our high school band. Our first game is tonight. It got cancelled last night due to rain...so its being replayed tonight. We won't get to march our show, but we will get to play it on the sideline. Thats better than anything I guess.

Thanks, MinnieM3! We have 60 kids...I can imagine what it's like with 200 kids! I hope your son gets to have the best possible time in marching band!!

Our band has 110 and everybody gets to go. I guess 90 other people would make a difference.

 

[Barb D]

All I can say is that the marching band was practicing in the parking lot the other night when we were arriving for an athletes/parents meeting, and is was so exciting that I nearly cried. I know, I'm pitiful.

 

[ashjohnson80]

All I can say is that the marching band was practicing in the parking lot the other night when we were arriving for an athletes/parents meeting, and is was so exciting that I nearly cried. I know, I'm pitiful.

I'm worse. I went to watch my nephew at the end of band camp this year and I got all teary-eyed. I had never wished for one second that I was back in high school until then.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

The kids here do one called "Ice Cream and Cake." I don't know the whole thing.

When I was in high school we marched to an old Army chant: I left, left, left, right left...I left my wife and 48 kids on the verge of starvation without any gingerbread, did I do right for my country by jingles I could have stayed home but I left...." and then repeat. It kept us marching in order, anyway....

 

[TigerCheer2009]

We had a huge marching band festival and my mom cried at the performance of Phantom of the Opera! It shows you really love it all the more!!

Best of luck tonight, Tubaman!!! What are you going to play in your show?

Triple Rafiki-Omigosh! Sounds like a great chant...for those out of steppers, we just say "Left...left, left, left!" or as you hit you say something. We've done "N" right foot "B" right foot "H" right foot "S" right foot to an 8 count. So it sounds like you're saying N-pause-B-pause-H-pause-S-pause and then it starts all over again! We did that last year as we were entering for the game against our biggest rivals...it was SUPER!!

 

[tubaman]

Best of luck tonight, Tubaman!!! What are you going to play in your show?

Thanx!

We are playing The Mask of Zorro, Cantastic(percussion feature), and Estancia. We don't have time to play our last number Amiga, becuase the other band has to preform too.

 

[NCDisneyMom]

All I can say is that the marching band was practicing in the parking lot the other night when we were arriving for an athletes/parents meeting, and is was so exciting that I nearly cried. I know, I'm pitiful.

Don't feel bad...I get teary-eyed when our local HS marching band goes by during the annual Christmas parade. I really hope that someday, one of my kids joing the marching band (but the oldest is just starting K, so I've got some time).

HS marching band (waaaay back when) are my best memories from HS. We also had a football team that was not very good. Our Varisty cheerleaders were worse. They were really boring. So, we would make up our own cheers to go with theirs, and would say them at the same time. Everybody could hear us, but not them.

We had a great director, also. Great drum cadences, every year we would dance and/or sing somewhere during our show. He let us improvise lots of stuff (within reason), and we had a lot of input during band camp...made us enjoy it a lot more.

And this one time, at band camp.... (American Pie reference, just in case someone didn't see it).

 

[TigerCheer2009]

NCDisneyMom-How AWESOME!!!

Sounds like fun, Tubaman! Good luck!

 

[jfulcer]

Papillion LaVista Marching band alum here. We had all kinds of special things we did. Once of the coolest was different paced cadences while doing street marching. The percussion, on signal, would modify the cadence and we'd all immediately start with double time or half time marching. My parents told me that it was REALLY cool to have a band just all of a sudden start double timing - all in step and all at one time right in front of you. Of course, they might have been biased.

We won all kinds of awards for marching. Traveling, competitions, ahhhhh the fun. The best was marching through the neighborhood around the school on our 'two-a-day summer' practices. I'm sure the residents disliked us marching early in the am.