Top Ten Absurd Tendencies Marching Band Members Have

People have some crazy things come to mind when they mention marching band. Stereotypically, they'd say nerdy, and it's true, but with a few outliers. However, there are many more words people have used, and they can only be described by band people. So, some of the awkward, weird, and you-won't-get-it-unless-you-were-there tendencies marching band people have.
The Top Ten
1 Having a dislike for at least one other section in the band

Among some of the favorite sections many of us marching band people dislike are trumpet players, who have egos about 10 times the size of an average, drumline who can't stop "hacking", which is a term we use for tapping (but it's so fun to tap), and tubas for being plain immature (no offense to anyone who plays these instruments).

2 What happens at band camp, stays at band camp

You know those American Pie movies, where someone always HAS to bring up band camp? It's kind of the same for us, where we mention bizarre stories about what happened. However, we won't tell ALL of our stories... because they're just so absurd, you'd have to be in marching band to understand!

We had a male stripper run through our band camp, argue with our director, and eventually taken away by the police. What happened at band camp, stayed at band camp that very day.

3 Having to let everyone know it's harder than it looks

Hey, let's ask those people who waste their time and money on sports equipment to do one thing: Pick up a bass drum, which is light, but you can barely see over it, then march in time with everyone else, play at the same time, or if you're one of those "wind people", do visuals, carry, and play your instrument. They just don't understand...

I know right everyone think percussion instruments are easy no

4 Not thinking before they do

Since I am anonymous for the most part on this website, I've got to say one of the perfect stories as an example: at band camp, I ended up in a cabin full of people who'd you think had a combined IQ of 5. They started jumping up and down so much, it cracked a small crack in the ceiling of the people below us. I'm shocked we didn't get kicked out...

5 Are indistinguishable as individuals, but are easy to spot in groups

That is because, while we do act alike in ways, we strangely act different. We're like a family in a way: We don't always have to talk to each other, but we are strangely alike, which bonds us together. Not only that, but we seem to alter our topics around others, and we have non-band frends.

A lot of us are plain crazy and because of marching band me and my squad of 16 people do everything together. We even refer to eachother as the instrument they play

6 The awkward introduction for newbies

Often, a newbie comes in, a few people say hi, and they basically spend the year learning the steps and habits of marching. Not all newbies are freshmen by the way. But even if you're a newbie who knows experienced people, it takes a while to adjust to the big community. And there is an awkward induction, which will be disclosed (see number 2).

7 Slightly hating marching, but still doing it because it's fun

There are a few annoying things about marching band, but the main reason people stay is because it's fun, and what we make in the end is an amazing product. Another reason we stay is of course the community. And some people even do front ensemble/sideline because they hate marching so much!

8 Bizarre sense of humor

Our humor comes from all different roots, from sarcastic, to punny, to rather cruel, to sexual, and the occaisonal joke about the coaches. A joke about the drumline coach is very easy to make, where all you do is make a girly midwestern accent and tell people to quit tapping.

We had to make up section mottos for bandcamp. Us trombones used "We're afraid of what's gonna happen." but the mellophones win this round- their motto was "Do what we did, and get mad at trees! " and I just know this is an inside joke

I'm not part of a marching band but I'm like this too.

9 Have difficulty staying on topic

Getting a marching band member is about as easy as finding a needle in a 3km/3km/3km cube of hay. Our attention spans are quite small, and we often find ourselves going from one thing to the next quickly. The only way to grab our attention is to promise a candy bar or a game of Cards Against Humanity (if you don't know what that is, chances are you shouldn't).

10 Dislike for parade marching

Parade marching is bloody hell, everywhere from the start of the parade and the prepping and waiting, to the hour, long march whrre you lose track of time and nearly faint, to the boredom of continuously playing the fight song (or carrying the sign for front ensemble/sideline).

Thanks for reading!

The Contenders
11 Drumline being a group of immature people

Everyone in my drumline always talks about memes and just really stupid stuff and no one understands what they are talking about except for them. It's really confusing. At every practice they talk like Forrest Gump and talk about conspiracy theories but yea basically everyone is constantly confused by out drumline.

12 Liking Doctor Who

Everyone in my band have watched Doctor Who and have doctor everything

13 Having no breaks during high school
14 Strange obsession with meme culture
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