The Life of a Band Kid: Exposed!

Our theory here at SparkLife? You can never have too many posts about band. swimchik88 adds to our already-impressive archives with her article—proving, once again, that there’s always more to learn.— SparkNotes editors

Most people think band kids don’t do anything but eat, sleep, and go to after-school rehearsals, and the vast majority of high school students know us only as that giant mass of shiny metal that takes up the front two rows of bleachers at football games. So let me shed some light on what our lives are really like…

1. Football Games: If you’ve only ever sat in the stands during a football game, you have no clue how much you’re missing. Not only do we play the fight song, dance our butts off, and rock our school colors with pride, we practically out-cheer the cheerleaders. Screw megaphones, we’ve got trumpets and snare drums! And don’t forget the shining moment of every football game: halftime! The band puts on the current year’s show and the football field becomes our stage. Move over football players, it’s our time to shine!

2. Summer Band Camp: For the whole month of August, all the band kids get together to face a grueling gauntlet of continuous marching rehearsals. These unending practices consist of:

a) scuttling rapidly from spot to spot
b) listening to the terrifying screams of fed-up drill instructors
c) attempting to sleep on marching field while another section is blaring away.

But all this this torture—er, practice— pays off when we’re hit by the absolutely exhilarating feeling of marching onto the field at halftime or a marching competition. It's even better than a 10-scoop ice cream sundae, the perfect day at the beach, and, dare we say it, meeting Dan Bergstein. Yep, it’s THAT good.

3. The Spring Trip/Big Trip: The best part of the Spring Trip isn’t the late-night pranks or the hours of laughter: it’s the look on the faces of the other hotel guests as one thousand band kids swarm the lobby, carrying black instrument cases that look like atomic bombs of chaos. But as fun as Spring Trip is, there’s something even better: the Big Trip. It usually occurs once every four years, and it's the cause of ridiculous amounts of excitement among us band kids. For days leading up to the Big Trip, we can be seen running in circles, shrieking wildly, jumping up and down, and talking about how much fun we’re going to have. The actual trip? More of the same, multiplied by a zillion.

4. The Section Families: “Section” is band lingo for “people who play the same instrument." Because we spend so much time split into our sections, we develop a special bond: there are arguments, inside jokes, best friends, bear hugs, and tears of joy when we make it to Regionals. Within the band, there are brawls, heated debates over which instrument is best, and crazy prank wars between sections. Band is basically the Island of Misfits, and when you get all the misfits in one place, we fit together perfectly!

5. The Friendships:
Band friends are friends for life. We’ve all been through so much together, and years from now, we’ll still be able to look back and laugh over the time we had to wear the crappy ponchos that made us look like human pocket protectors, or the time we played so well that our director actually started to cry. We geek out, we joke around, and we feel a true sense of pride and belonging when we’re all in step and we hit every note. Band is hard work, but for us, every second is worth it.

'Fess up: what's your favorite part of band?

Related Post: The Benefits of Being a Band Geek/Orchestra Dork, You Know You're a Band Nerd When...