“Band, attention,” calls a drum major to the beat. “Set!” the entirety of the band replies with one resonant word. Standing in this still position involves more than discipline and balance. It involves core strength, muscle, the equivalent to your abdominals of remaining in a plank position for an unprecedented amount of time, especially when you consider that this stance is consistent throughout the performance. Let’s take a look at the more rigorous aspects of being in band, shall we?
A sport is defined by dictionary.com as an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. The activities involved in marching band consist of a considerable amount of all of these aspects. Not to mention, we practice about as much as the football team.
First off, athleticism. If it’s a P.E. credit, it holds a certain athletic value. So long as Nascar and bowling can be considered sports, marching band can, too. The heaviest instrument being carried on the field is somewhere around 20 pounds, being a tuba. These are traveling on players’ shoulders back and forth, wherever their sets demand.
Look at the marching alone for a second to get an idea of the kind of physical strength it takes to march and play an instrument at the same time. Marching differs from walking in that one must find a way to do it so smoothly that they do not move their upper body at all, which would otherwise result in a bumpy, disgusting sound being emitted from the instrument. The careful, smooth precision of steps taken to march cause calves to bulge–yes, bulge–due to the sheer strength it takes to move everywhere like that for eight minutes straight. Paired with the playing, this is about the equivalent of fast walking and breathing out more than you breathe in. Take that, diaphragm. The result of this is a bunch of sweaty, breathless kids by the end of the show.
As for competitiveness, every football game is pretty much a competition between the opposing band and us (and we usually win). We actually participate in competitions though, similarly to the cheerleaders. Bands are ranked based on a comprehensive point system combining both visual and musical performance. And once it comes down to the top six, the defining points are close.
Band IS an athletic, grueling, competitive event. It’s performed on a field, and there is a point system. Just because there’s no ball being kicked around doesn’t mean sweat isn’t put into it.