How many of you are in Marching Band?

Question:i just want to know. it saddens me to know that marching bands in New England are dying... The Fitch High School Marching band in Groton Connecticut is slowly but surely shrinking. please, answer this question, and let me know if you are in... oh, and if you've ever recruited. if so, give me advice for recruiting.
Plus, tell me which section you are. COLORGUARD counts as well!!! i was Captain this past year, so of course it counts!!!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: i just want to know. it saddens me to know that marching bands in New England are dying... The Fitch High School Marching band in Groton Connecticut is slowly but surely shrinking. please, answer this question, and let me know if you are in... oh, and if you've ever recruited. if so, give me advice for recruiting.
Plus, tell me which section you are. COLORGUARD counts as well!!! i was Captain this past year, so of course it counts!!!

Recruitment, recruitment, recruitment. I've worked as part of my university's marching band staff after marching for a few years, and I'm a music educator so I have experience in recruitment techniques.

Here are some ideas:
EXPOSURE-
*How much exposure are you providing the band? Are they getting out and talking to future students (this includes director and students)?
*How active is the band in the community? Do they perform at football games, for pep rallies, have they worked with other schools for workshops?
*How interesting is the field show and the music? This is marching band, and media plays a big role. You want music that is appealing to the audience and visually stimulating shows to correspond.
*How technically able is the band? Are they utilizing old style marching, or modern? While the old styles are fun to see, modern styles will allow the band to create more complex and interesting shows.
*How dominating is their presence in the school? Are the directors out wandering the halls between classes just to say hi to the students? Are the band members conducting themselves as moderately mature and intelligent students? Appearances are what first gets someone interested in band.
*Is equipment accessible for growing numbers? Are directors taking whomever they can get in band? Honestly, I couldn't care less if I had 30 flutes and 2 tubas or the other way around. I'm just happy to have them and I will arrange the score a little better to accommodate.
*Are there options for students to be able to RENT or BORROW equipment from the school? Band programs often collaborate with local music departments for help in this area. Some schools are lucky enough to have a surplus of instruments and some are not, so they need to have this option no matter what.
*Is the band advertising itself? Can they provide fun activities for younger students to get them interested in band (for example, marching workshops, allowing them to play music with you, instrument petting zoos, etc.), and are the directors doing recruitment for band in GENERAL? There isn't just marching band, there's concert season as well. They need to advertise band ALL YEAR ROUND and not focus on one season or the other.

If you have access to catalogues in your local library, see if you can find "The Instrumentalist." It's a great music ed catalogue and there are TONS of recruitment ideas.

No, but I wish i wus...im in choir though.

im not in a marching band sorry

3,142 of us.

Next!

i am.

I'm not (b.c I'm 22), but I live right across the street from a high school with full view of the stadium from my window, and they have band practice every Tuesday night.

no.

While I am no longer in High School, I was in marching band while I was. Was part of the woodwinds(clarinet), and percussion(symbols, and 2nd 2 largest bass drum). Good luck!

I was in the marching band in high school. I was personally called by my band director and told I made it. I think it needs to be made more public and let others know what a great accomplishment it is to be in the marching bad.
I'm not sure why it gets less every year. Maybe that band instruments are so expensive.

Never in marching band but was in school band. I played the clarinet. I wanted to play the flute but my parents wanted me to play clarinet.

I am!!!! Mb is amazing! My friend whos here with me is too. She is on drum line, and plays marching bass drum. I'm a flutist! We met through band!

YEAH BAND!

I'm part of my school's marching band. Our season has ended and now we're entering concert season, but I will continue to play in it.
I'm a percussionist in the front ensemble. I'm the school's best mallet player and section leader of the front ensemble. I want to be on the drum line, but my instructor need someone with my level of expertise on mallets.
Hope This Helped. :-)

I AM!!!!! im sorry but im a band geek...sax

yep, I am in marching band as a flute player. the season has ended now, but I really miss those 4 hour practices every Saturday... it really sucked that homecoming got rained out though. I still continue to tease my poor friend who got stuck carrying out the xylophone everyday, when I could balance my flute on my finger.

Go POBJKFHS marching band!!

Alright, here we go. I'm a senior in High School, and we just finished my least marching season -- Oh, yeah.

2nd chair flute out of 35 flutes, section leader, and I played Piccolo instead of flute.