Anyone in marching band! Do you guys have any traditions?

Question

We always have coach buses.

We always write messages with colored masking tape on the windows for championships.

We always have 4th of July parties at the richest kid's house.

Before competitons, we all go to Wawa (in Jersey that's a convience store on every street and corner).

How about you guys?

Answer 1

u guys get coach buses??? lucky. we only have those for really long trips. otherwise we have plain old buses.

people bring donuts and energy drinks before competitions.



we cover the wall of our slot room with funny articles and drawings.

at the end of every practice, our drum major calls us to attention and we shout "go mars!" (name of our school) and then the tubas yell "HUH!" i dont really know why, but its fun.

we do special exercises during practices like arm circles and "mars jacks" which are kinda like jumping jacks except that we have to shout "M.... A....R....S....M..A..R..S..M.A.R.S. MARS MARS MARS MARS!" we have certain sections do it, like the first set will be woodwinds, the second will be brass, and the third one will be altogether. the people who are the quietest have to run laps.

our band always plays parades in kennywood, for the forth of july, and for christmas. we decorate our instruments w/ stuff like lights and ribbons and tinsel and for the christmas parade we wear santa hats.

we prank call each other's hotel rooms whenever we stay in a hotel. last year, we even stole a "do not disturb" sign in detroit and its still floating around our bandroom today.

we also have spirit week during band camp. theres stuff like pirate day, beach day, pink day (our drum major hates pink so she always dresses up in bright orange), and section shirt day.

we play games like elves, wizards, and monsters. we also play this mind game that i cannot figure out at all.

Answer 2

We're a band full of tradition. I'll just name a few of the bigger ones.

Our first and foremost is a "tradition of excellence." We've gotten all superior ratings at competition every year since before our current director was in band here (which is a LONG time.)

On picture day, the tubas (if they can get away with it) always try to take their section picture with the tractor next to the equipment shed in our stadium.

In the band hall, we have sort of a motto. When our director wants to make a point and remind us of it, he'll say "Treat" and we recite the rest of the motto, "this room and its inhabitants with respect, pride, and dignity."

At the end of every rehearsal and every home game, we have a "dismissal routine" where the drum major calls the first word of a phrase, or the first syllable of a word, and we complete the phrase or word. "Feet/together, back/straight, elbows/frozen, chin/up, eyes/with pride, eyes/with pride (not a typo, we say that twice), dis/missed. Only then can we break attention and leave.

On Senior Night (the last home game) we have the Senior Recognition Program on the field, then halfway through the fourth quarter, we have the "Shoe Ritual." The seniors all go line up on the track facing the band section and take their shoes off there. Then they all link arms and call in unison "We leave these shoes for you to fill- we leave them here for those who will." They come back into the stands and leave their shoes on the track until the end of the game.

And in the drum section, there was a certain initiation ritual- sadly, though, the tradition was broken because of me =( Freshman Initiation for the drumline was always at the end of band camp or the beginning of school. (They waited until then because a lot of new drummers tend to quit during camp.) They would take the freshmen drummers into the drum room when nobody was in the band hall, turn the lights out, and proceed to "beat them up"; which wasn't bad at all, they made sure never to really hurt anyone. Well, my freshman year, I was the only freshman- and the only girl. So they decided it would be a bad idea. The drummers haven't done Freshman Initiation since... although they did duct tape someone to a light pole one year, just for fun...

Answer 3

I got tricked into joining a pipe band... and we snare drummers made a fun cult together... We'd pick on the bass drummer and try to stick a bee up our instructor's bonnet because she was really picky about every single detail.

Part of our group was in our town's 4th of July parade and we got best band. Prolly cause we were the most diverse.. We had experienced people but then we had some little kids and one girl was almost too small to carry her drum, but we played well together.

But during competitions with our instructor she wouldn't allow people to play.. "I know we're not going to win but I need the best"... So the little girl and I would have wasted a whole day waiting to be told we couldn't play with the rest of them because our strides were too small.

So we would do whatever we could to make her angry ;]...

And then we'd go flirt with the guys in the higher divisions.. XD

Answer 4

Um.... not really.... except that before any parades all of us kids switch instruments around to tick off the band director.. but us reed kids never lend the reeds, bad idea... well, except for the dumb ones... then they get angry, and in trouble when they get broken.

Why do you ask?

Answer 5

We do a "Finding Nemo" mine game. Gets really annoying. During certain songs, every section has a different dance going on. We make section shirts.