Lessons Learned from Being in the Marching Band
- Katherine Fary
- Aug 3, 2016
- 3 min read

I have so many mixed emotions about my experience in the band. Overall, I loved being part of the band. It was very time consuming, energy consuming, and emotionally challenging, but it really had an impact on me as an individual and these changes are still part of me today. My nerdy self would like to explain these changes to you. So here we go!
Thats not my band, but still! Hell yes to marching band!
1. Teamwork

From the very beginning, you felt that you not giving your best will ruin the entire band. You mattered solely because you made up part of the entire team! The pressure to not mess up was so high. But only because you felt that you let the entire band down if you messed up. Its a strange balance between the importance of the entire band (basically you are not special) but if you mess up, the entire band messes up. OH THE PRESSURE!
2. Friendship

The friendship made in band were entirely different than any other one. I blame this on the fact that only the people in band truly understand what the heck you go through on a daily basis, especially during marching season. I know that without my friends, I would not have made it through those four years alive. They know the struggle of practice in the 100 degree heat. They understand the passion of being part of the group. They will share those memories with you for the rest of your life. Even though I am not close friends with my band friends anymore, I understand that the bond made from being in the band together will always be there.

3. Passion
OMG! The amount of times this word was thrown around during band camp and just in general throughout my four years of high school is insane! Our passion was music. Our passion was the band program. I swear, when I look back on it, the band program must of looked like a cult to anyone that wasn't part of it. And I admit, it was very similar to one. Their was an atmosphere of commitment and passion to this program. You spent hours of your day perfecting in order to proudly display your band (your group) to the world. You were proud to say that you were part of the Wando Band. I am still very proud to say that I was part of the Wando Band.


4. Community
I don't mean this specifically towards the band community. I very much mean this towards the entire community that supported us and surround us with love. Marching band is not cheap and requires much help from many different areas in order to run properly. Our community gave so much to us in order to provide us with everything we needed to be successful. Our family members volunteered to help at practices. Water was provided for band camp. etc. Because of this support, we learned how important it was to give back to our community. Support like that was not common. So many times in my four years of marching band, I volunteered in events with the band. This lesson has stayed with me still to this day. I feel the need to give back and volunteer in this community all the time. Its extremely important.


5. Time Management Skills
Can you even imagine how a normal school day went during marching season?! Wake up -> go to school -> have an hour and a half break before practice to get homework done and/or practice your instrument-> band practice till nine-> eat dinner and go to bed-> wake up at 6:45 am. There was absolutely no free time during marching band. So time management skills were required in order to pass your classes. Ironically enough, most of the band students were some of the top students in our class. My ability to organize my life and use time management skills today come from the requirement in high school.

There are so many more lessons I have learned from marching band, and band in general. These are just my top 5. I can't even imagine going through high school without the support group of my band family. The lessons I learned from band have stuck with me into my adult life and I will forever be thankful for what it has taught me. So many good memories but also memories of stress, heat and exhaustion. I will forever be proud to say that I was part of the Wando Band.
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