Why I Hate Marching Band

Why I Hate Band

What is the real definition of insanity? Merriam Webster’s definition is “severe mental illness : the condition of being insane.” Albert Einstein’s definition is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And my definition is “running the same set over and over again expecting the freshmen to hit their set.” Unfortunately, this is a daily occurrence for members of a marching band, who spend countless hours walking from one side of a field to another just so that they can perform at a game while the audience is at the concessions. This illusion of importance gives most bands an egotistical view of themselves and an unjustified self confidence. They build themselves up with dreams of making

This applies to all aspects of band, from marching to classical to jazz. Directors hand out a piece of music and for the next three months, it is all that the students look at. In marching band it is made worse by the fact that you spend an hour during school working on the music itself, and three more after school working on both the music and marching. Classical band has its own share of problems though, as most of the time you are left doing nothing while the director works with another section. Jazz band may be the least offensive of the three, as aspects like improvisation helps, but it still is practically the same thing: staring at a sheet of paper until you’ve memorized your part, the person next to you’s part, and pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about the music. Also thrown in with the music are scales, which are hammered into your brain from the minute you pick up your instrument to the day you come to your senses and abandon

How many people have ever thanked their practice on the trombone when they received a raise or got a call back on an interview? Not to mention that people with fine arts degrees, depending on where you look, have a staggering 16.2% unemployment rate (yes,even worse than library sciences). This causes college graduates, who spent thousands of their parents’ dollars to “pursue their passion” as they likely justified it, to find welcoming jobs at fast food restaurants and laundromats. This leaves band with no purpose other than entertainment. Yes, it is true that the games and performances are fun. The rest of the band experience though is as far from entertainment as you could possibly get. Most parts of band, I would say, are about on the same level of enjoyment as textbook notes, which by the way will help anyone far more in life than knowing how many steps it takes to go from one yard line to