Spirit and Skill are Band Substances

As many of you know by now, I am not a huge football fan.  Though my husband loves spending hours watching the Patriots on Sunday afternoons (he’s watching them play as I type this), I prefer to spend my time reading, watching movies, folding laundry or even scrubbing the bathtub.  I have nothing against Tom Brady and his crew; I just find football to be a slow-paced, confusing game.  No matter how much someone tries to explain the rules of the game, I just can’t seem to grasp it.  

Maybe if my kids played football I’d have more of an appreciation for the sport, but it’s definitely not their game.  However, at least once each season, my younger son will ask me to take him to watch his friend play football.  As a result, I wrote a column last year about the appeal of the Friday night football game.  Under the lights, bundled up against the cold, crisp fall air, a palette of leaves scattered on the edge of the field, with moms and dads calling out encouragement to their fifth and sixth graders; I may not understand what’s happening on the field, but I definitely can appreciate the camaraderie in the stands.

And now I have a new appreciation for football thanks to one more very special element:  Marching band! 

Now that my older son is a freshman in high school and a member of the marching band, football holds a whole new appeal for me.  I may seem to be paying attention to what’s happening in the game, but what I’m really doing is sneaking peeks at my son in his band uniform.  Who knew that the strains of “Gonna Fly Now” could sound so inspiring? I’ve always found “The Star Spangled Banner” to be moving, but now it brings tears to my eyes.  Marching band is the final piece of the puzzle.  Football now has meaning.

Okay, well I still don’t know a flag from a fumble.  But who cares as long as there’s a combination of brass and percussion to entertain me?  I rely on my husband for cues about the game.  When he claps, I clap.  When he cheers, I cheer.  When he curses, I ask, “What just happened?”  And then I wait for the band to strike up a rousing version of “Bad Romance”.   

Marching band provides inspiration for the team.  It gives the cheerleaders something to dance to.  It entertains the spectators, especially when the band performs their rendition of “Jaws”, complete with a bloodcurdling scream at the end.  But best of all, it gives us the halftime show.

This year, our marching band is performing a medley of Beatles tunes.  It would be tricky enough to perform “Eleanor Rigby” marching up and down the field, but watching the performers sidestep and cross each other without collision is truly a wonder to behold. I asked my son, who plays bass drum, why he “crabs”, or walks sideways.  “It’s because we can’t see over the drum and if we walked forward we’d crash into each other”.  His comment reminded of the scene from “Animal House” when “The Stork” leads the entire marching band down into the alley.   I never thought much about all the time and work that goes into the choreography of marching band until I watched my son beat a 20-pound base drum while “crabbing” from the 50 yard line down to the 40. 

Of course, none of this would have been possible without summer band camp, which could also be considered “boot camp” for musicians.  For five days, the members of the band marched up and down the field at Camp Wind-in-the-Pines during the dog days of August.  In addition to giving kids the skills needed to perform, it also gave the incoming freshman a chance to get to know the upperclassmen.  One seasoned band mom said to me, “If your freshman discovers his friends aren’t in the same lunch, remind him he can always sit with the band.” One my son’s first day, he did just that. Marching band is what made the transition to high school a smooth one for my son.

So if you happen to see me at a football game, clapping and cheering and having a fantastic time, don’t think it’s because I’ve finally learned the ins and outs of one of America’s favorite sports.  I’m not there for the fumbles and the interceptions and the touchdowns.

I’m with the band.