Where Have All The Marching Bands Gone?

On Friday night we went to a local high school football game involving my grandson's school vs. the school where I spent 39 years. I had two major surprises. First our football team is really very good - a vast improvement over most of the football teams when I was there. Second, sadly our band was very bad. I remember the years when our band numbered 60 - 70 musicians and they sounded great. This year's band has about 25 musicians plus about ten in the pit. They probably had about ten brass instruments and you could barely hear them when they played. It was sad, especially from a school that is Quad A and one of the largest in the area. What has happened? First, the new block schedule has prevented some students from being in the band because they must select it as a course - it is no longer optional or available during an activity period. But I think the main reason is that high school bands have changed their emphasis. Now they are all about competitions and winning awards. Instead of playing stirring marches, they have intricate shows which feature fancy routines, flashy costumes and flags, and special music written for these competitions. And to pull this off, it requires many hours in band camps, summer practices, practices in the evenings and long competitions plus football games almost every weekend. it takes a major time commitment and most kids today have other things to do but spend all their free time practicing and drilling. Band has to become their life. And this is becoming true at many schools. And their parents are almost like a cult. they travel together, they raise funds together, they tail gate together, and to them winning the competitions becomes their first priority in life. So gone are the days when a high school band is big, with a full sound, and the main purpose is to stir up the crowd and cheer on the football team. If you want that, you need to go to Penn State where the Blue Band sirs up the crowd and presents a simple, but exciting, halftime show. The members work hard, but for a much different purpose. Now while I was disappointed by the one band, my grandson's band sounded excellent and they had a good show, although none of the fans recognized their music or fully understood the purpose of their show. But they sounded great (especially the kettle drums). And they did win their first competition on Saturday night. But my age is showing - give me music like "Stars and Stripes Forever" or even "On Wisconsin". But then today's kids, band directors, and their parents probably don't even know these numbers.

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