Seniors Rachel Bean and Andrew Cho have participated in marching band for the entirety of their high school careers, earning them the leadership position of drum major. Drum majors like Bean and Cho are responsible for conducting and leading the band during competitions and football games throughout the fall season.

“I keep everyone in time during our show, and I’m responsible for making sure we have everything ready for rehearsal and getting everyone hyped up,” Bean said.

Committing to marching band has been challenging for Bean and Cho due to the physical toll and the amount of time put into practicing and competing. Marching requires students to engage multiple muscles while moving at fast speeds, and carrying instruments while doing so makes the task even more physically demanding.

“The time commitment and physical toll is super hard,” Bean said. “We start in August and we have two weeks where we have 12-hour rehearsals every day.”

Despite having to dedicate large amounts of time and effort into perfecting their routines, Bean and Cho both agree that marching band has been beneficial in the long run, allowing them to improve time management skills and fitness. Fulfilling the drum majors’ tasks, such as providing guidance for their teammates, has helped the students improve their leadership skills as well.

“[Marching band] really helped me grow as a leader and it’s helped get a lot of positions in other activities, not just from adding marching band to my resume but through the actual skills I have acquired,” Cho said.

Although committing to marching band may seem daunting, students who are current members have the ability to not only gain new skills, but to meet new people as well. Through marching band, junior Melissa Abel has been able to create strong relationships with people inside and outside of her grade.

“Most of my best friends I made through marching band, and I stay close with my marching band friends throughout the entire year,” Abel said. “Being friends with people throughout all the different grades and getting to meet them through marching band has been great.”

The ability to create new friendships through participating in marching band has impacted how rewarding band is for Bean and Cho as well, since they too have established new relationships in band.

“Before band I would always hang out around the same crowd, but now band really showed me that there’s something cool about everyone,” Cho said.

Regardless of the many positive aspects and opportunities given to members in marching band, there continues to be many present misconceptions when it comes to the band itself. These preconceived ideas are in regards to the difficulty of marching band and the social status of students who choose to participate in the activity. However, members of the band strive to contradict the misconceptions presented to them everyday.

“People say it’s easy, but those people have never played an instrument while marching on the field,” Bean said. “They don’t know what it’s like to learn the instrument, play really difficult music and march difficult routines.”

Marching band tends to be more physically inclined than many people think, due to the constant need to march at extremely fast paces while carrying and playing heavy brass instruments.

“I also think a lot of people don’t realize that marching band is not just walking with instruments, the different techniques we use make it a lot more physically demanding,” Abel said. “We’re  moving constantly the whole time, and you can’t breathe regularly because playing the instrument requires a lot more air, movement and focus.”

Many aspects such as musical ability and fitness must be included in the band’s everyday routine to ensure a successful season. Time, exercise and a positive mentality are just a few things needed of every member. Marching band has made a huge impact on the 150 students currently participating in it, and has left them with a new outlook on high school and themselves.

“Marching band showed me that there’s another side to high school instead of trying to fit in,” Cho said. “If you work hard in whatever you do people will respect that, no matter what is.”