Football games are a staple of high school life. Whether you go and play, go and watch, or just hear about them at school the next Monday, it's hard to escape them and most wouldn't really want to. After all, there's friends, concessions, and free music courtesy of your friendly neighborhood high school band!
Speaking of the high school band, let's take a few moments and just appreciate their sheer gloriousness, shall we? Think about it, the band practices for hours on end every day during school, not to mention after-school practices almost exclusively to perform at the very game you've either attended or heard about incessantly. They learn, memorize, and perfect a (generally) 8-10 minute show complete with stunning music, breathtaking formations, and the occasional bit of choreography, all for little to no reward. They are the football team's cheerleaders beyond the cheerleaders, the team's backbone, besides the coach.
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Think about it this way, how different would the game be if you didn't hear your school's fight song after every score? Or the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of each game? Or even your pregame song blaring as the team makes its way on the field? The band is there for everything, but often gets left out of the newspaper articles, conversations about the game, and television recaps. They have their time in the stands, their time on the field, then they're right back to practice on Monday to do it all again next week. They don't get nearly as much praise or attention as the football team, but they'll still play just as loud and march with just as much effort the next week, if not more.
But marching bands aren't just Friday nights in the stands and on the field, they're also pep rallies, parades and marching contests. They put loads of work and passion into everything they do, and memorizing hundreds of pep songs and the music and footwork to a 10-minute show-displays every bit of that dedication. If you want proof, look up the Ohio State University Marching Band's Michael Jackson show on YouTube, then realize how hard it must be to get a 50-yard-tall Michael Jackson to moonwalk across a field (spoiler alert!)
In conclusion, marching bands do a whole lotta work for not much credit and deserve all the praise in the world. So next Friday, whether you go to the game or just hear about it, take just a moment to think about all the hard work the band has done, and maybe even compliment a band member on his/her performance (extra points if you give them a hug!) because they deserve it.
