Marching Band / Band

The Common Room Off-Topic
#1

My particular starting post is Pixar-related, but I’m sure that this will go on to the general subject, so I posted it here.

So, while I was at work today, I was humming/singing as I usually do (have been ever since I started watching Up, the soundtrack keeps me in high spirits :slight_smile: ) and due to my recent Pixar-splurge, the soundtrack for The Incredibles managed to wander into my head. As I kept humming/singing, I started to remember back during my junior year in high-school. The marching band had done The Incredibles for our halftime show, and that was quite possibly the best marching season I’d ever been a part of. The music was great, the show itself was a blast to be a part of. I really miss being in a marching band.

The college I go to (for now, it’s a puny school, and it doesn’t have the programs I need for my career plans) only has a pep band, jazz band, and concert band. There’s no football team, so no halftime shows. If we did, I’d run right up to the director and say ME. IN SHOW. NOW.

I’d really love to be part of a marching band right now, I miss the music, the long hard work, it’s a lot of fun.

Oh, btw, I played cornet (trumpet, I just have a cornet) and I switched to baritone during my senior concert season (I love baritone!)

Anyone else been in a marching band and/or want to talk about your band experiences?

On another note, I’m planning on learning Married Life (or just the general theme to Up) on the cornet at some point (don’t have a mute though,…), I plan on posting that on here if I ever get around to it. :smiley:

#2

The main thing about marching band is generally learning the music til you have it down pat. Then, comes memorizing your spots on the field, and keeping formation while moving. It’s really tough work, but when it starts looking and sounding amazing, it’s really awesome to be part of.

Keeping in step with the music has never been a problem for me. I’ve always had an EXCELLENT sense of rhythm and I can actually remember songs and sing them back in their actual key from memory. I haven’t really marched with anything but 3/4 (I can’t remember the song name, but it’s Bob’s workout montage music in TI) and 4/4 (everything else). If you have a good sense of rhythm, walking with the beat comes really naturally.

#3

I can’t say our highschool band has ever marched, but we definately had a blast playing some awesome songs. The only Pixar-related song we did was “If I Didn’t Have You”, from Monsters, Inc. I convinced my instructor to buy the music for it, thinking it would be the jazzy version from the opening credits of the movie, but alas I was wrong. It was still fun to do though. Some of my other favorites incude Coconut Champagne, Soul Man, I Got You (I Feel Good), Pirates of the Caribbean medley, John Williams medley, Beatles medley, and In the Hall of the Mountain King.
The only problem was that our band was extremely small, and as the only trombonist, I was also the only low brass instrument. So I also got to learn a little bit of the Tuba.
Did any of you play in the “pit orchestra” for your school’s theater productions? I remember doing that as well- good fun.

#4

We don’t have marching bands, or to be honest, really any type of bands in the schools over here aside from perhaps a concert orchestra or something like that, and they tend to be quite traditional in their music (though I think the strings orchestra at my school did some music from Harry Potter at some point). I didn’t actually realise that the schools in America have their own proper American Football teams either- do you have like a stadium for every school then?

But that’s off-topic. :laughing: Anyway, a marching band does sound like fun, though as a pianist I probably wouldn’t be much use. I have played film music on the piano before but not really anything Pixar-related, aside from trying to play by ear some of the music from Monsters, Inc..

#5

Yeah lizardgirl, most high schools have their own stadium. I really don’t like concert band all that much, mainly because of how much traditional stuff we play. I’d rather play something like movie soundtracks, and stuff I can actually recognize. I love music that’s not necessarily fast, but has a lot of movement, and is kind of exciting. Slow music is kinda boring, and it most cases are harder to play.

My school never did any pit orchestra stuff, but my brother’s college did that quite a few times. It seemed like it would be pretty cool to do that.

I’ve never even heard of a high school having a string orchestra, that’d be really neat. It’d also make doing an Up concert much more doable, lots of strings in the soundtrack for it. :smiley: I don’t play any string instruments (besides like 2 things on the guitar, and I’m not even good at those).

As for the piano-playing, I’m no good at that, but my brother is AMAZING. He can play Marching Season (hehe, funny I should bring that song up) and Until the Last Moment by Yanni almost perfectly, look it up, amazing songs. He actually said he wants to learn the piano parts for the Up soundtrack at some point, I’ll wanna work on trumpet if he does, :smiley:[/b]

#6

I play the trumpet in my school’s band. We don’t have a football team (too small of a school) so I couldn’t be in a marching band. My band instructor wants to put me in the school’s jazz band. :slight_smile: Only problem is they rehearse before school. Ugh! Too early to wake up! Sadly, we haven’t done anything Pixar related. Then again, movie scores are tackled by our senior high band. But this year, I’m in senior high, so maybe I can coax my band instructor to do something Pixar. Other scores the school has done was Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Carribean. :slight_smile: Maybe a Pixar score is in our future.

#7

My youth group at church has a band - does that count? :laughing: I usually sing, but I’ve been trying to convince our “band leader” to let me play piano with my sister. We have two electric pianos at the church, and I would rather be playing piano and singing at the same time as opposed to doing just one.

Obviously, we probably won’t be playing any Pixar songs, because the band’s been formed to reach out to our peers through music. It’s a lot of fun, and my two favorite songs that we’ve played are Meant to Live by Switchfoot and I Don’t Wanna Be by Gavin DeGraw (with like, one word change).

ffdude1906: I’ve learned most of Stuff We Did on piano by ear (left and right hand - I’m pretty proud of myself!) and just need to do some work on the ending. Whenever I would watch it in the theater, sometimes I would just listen to the music and separate left from right hand. It sounded simple, and playing it, it really is simple. :slight_smile: Hopefully I’ll put that along with Ratatouille Main Theme up online as soon as I can record them (our piano has two dead keys… a low E and a high D… yuccchhh).

Oh, and have you ever tried playing in 5/4 time? :wink: I’m pretty sure you can’t walk comfortably to that beat… :laughing:

LightningandDoc: A fellow piano student of mine played “He’s A Pirate” from POTC this past year, and it was absolutely breathtaking. He’s younger than me, and he could really make that piano sound rich. The entire time he played, the poor piano up on stage shook violently… it was incredible, and definitely the highlight of the night!!! :smiley: (I was the graduating student and messed up horribly… so he ended up sounding far better than me!!! :blush:)

little chef

#8

When I was in high school, my band (as well as the rest of the performing arts department) were award winning. I wasn’t big into band, but I knew some great friends in band.

I used to play an instument (a trumpet), but I quit in Middle School when I was torn between band and choir/drama.

#9

My brother plays piano entirely by ear, he hates reading music. It’s really amazing, because he’s one of the most talented pianists I’ve ever heard. I prefer playing by ear as well, not a big fan of reading music. As for marching in 5/4, it wouldn’t be that difficult, I love obscure timing, stuff like 7/8 and 5/4 are really cool, I know how they work. Like I said before, I have a great sense of rhythm.

Man, music is awesome. :smiley:

#10

I can’t play by ear. At least yet. I prefer to read music. But that’s just me. I’ve only played 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 time. Then again, we don’t handle other times until senior high.

I think my sister is planning on joining the elementary school band next year. I think she mentioned flute as what she wants to play. For my younger brother, I’ve got no clue. He’s too young to decide if he wants to be in band or not.

#11

L&D, I really hope you have a good director in high school because high school band can be one of the funnest things ever. Marching is really hard and tiring work, but when you’ve gone through four years of it like I have, and look back, there’s a lot of really great stuff to remember. Concert season isn’t all that great in my opinion, but that’s probably because of my director’s taste in music. I’m not a big fan of traditional concert music. I prefer fast, exciting stuff rather than the slow moving, dynamic driven stuff we’re usually playing.

I did really enjoy playing baritone during my 12th grade concert season (it actually netted me with most improved, which is pretty funny considering I didn’t get all that much better, I was just the only baritone, so I was more audible in a section with one person. :stuck_out_tongue: ). It’s a bit easier to play than trumpet, and I could do a lot more on it as a result. Marching bari’s are HEAVY though, good lord.

#12

I remember last year, our final performance (we do two each year) was on my birthday. And the year before that, it was the day before my birthday. Is my birthday just a popular time for band concerts? XD

We play a variety of songs. We play slower ones, we play faster ones. There was a song I heard the senior high rehearse that focused on the trombone section. They were showcased for that piece. We did a piece last year called Contrasts that sounded like it’s title. It was fast and slow, loud and soft; there were many opposites in the song. It was difficult to learn, but I learned it. My director enjoys a variety of music, so that’s what we play. :slight_smile:

#13

I’m sure I posted on here that I wanted to talk to my high-school band director about his concert season this year.

Good news. He showed up at work tonight.

First off, I work at a Sonic Drive-In, as a carhop. Stressful job, but the money is worth it. Anyway, I was taking an order out, and as I walked past a car, I hear “Hey!” I glanced over, and saw my band director, he waved at me. I gave the customer their order, then as I walked past him on the way back in, I said “Hey, I really want to talk to you.” He looked a bit puzzled, but said “Ok.”

I had to wait a bit before I talked to him, we were somewhat busy at the time. I took a few more orders out, and stopped at his car on the way in. I then proceeded to unleash my awkwardness upon him

“Hey, I asked you about something like this before, last year, but I wasn’t as serious about it. (I had asked to play in the marching band the year before) Um, have you seen Up?”

Being a father of 2 sons, I believe 5 and 7, also a modest Disney fan, he replied as I expected him to, "Yes. I took my sons to see it around the time it came out. They liked the [spoil]“cone of shame”[/spoil] chuckle

I laughed as well, and proceeded to elaborate. “Well, I’ve pretty much fallen in love with that movie. After today acutally, I’ve seen it,… 25 times in theaters.”

He laughs in shock, “Wow, that’s insane”

I laugh back, “Yeah, I know. It’s really amazing, I love it SO much. Anyway, I really REALLY love the soundtrack, and,… I want you to,…”

He interrupts a bit “find the sheet music for it?”

I reply “Well sorta, but not for me. I think you should play it for concert band this year. I’m sure you’ve already picked out your music though,…”

He responds “actually no, I haven’t found out what I want to do for this year’s concert season.”

My heart skips a few beats, and I say “Oh my gosh, it’s gorgeous! I really think you should look into it.”

He continues, and says that he’ll look at the arrangement, and consider it. Then comes my second question

"Well, ok, but if you decide to do it, I really really want to play it with you guys.

He replies “Yeah, I think we can do that.”

Man this day so totally rocks. I mentioned that Gates was wanting to do it as well, she’s actually getting the soundtrack pretty soon. She’s also in band, so that will be cool. I continued the conversation, asking when early week for marching season was, he mentioned that the Colts are going to be rehearsing in our high school stadium for a DCM competition. They did the same last year, and I went the year before that. DCM is one of the coolest things ever. So much talent in so many young people (professional drum corps ages range from I believe 14 to 22, no higher or lower).

I’m pretty much gonna bug the crap out of him for concert season, I want to play those songs so bad. I’m really surprised that when I mentioned Mike’s name, he didn’t immediately recognize it from our Incredibles show 3 years before (best halftime show I’ve been in). Regardless, the consideration of doing the score and me possibly being in the band would be incredible. I haven’t really done band stuff since my senior year, so I’m out of practice. Here’s to hoping! :slight_smile:

#14

I think I would like marching band more if it wasn’t 101 - 105 degrees outside. But that’s Texas.

Our theme this year (and next year, it’s a lame 2-part show x.x) is “Earth” (Head band director swears it won’t be an enviornmental message) and we were going to play Down to Earth, but the head band director couldn’t get the copyrights from Disney or Peter Gabriel. Ughh! That was the only thing really making me want to do marching this year.

I think the closest to Pixar we have gotten is we play Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas. Disney, not Pixar, but close.

The orchestra did play Ratatouille, and I hated their guts for it. Maybe in full orchestra, we can play some Pixar ;D Maybe A Bug’s Life Suite (beastly horn part) or something like that (I did convince him to let us play October by Eric Whitacre for band concert season for the upcoming year)

Marching band starts soon. We’ll see how this goes.