Mary Angel

(10/2018) When my first child (a boy) started high school I was extremely nervous. I was nervous about them making friends, the drama, the class load, drugs, and so much more. When my second (also a boy) started high school I was still nervous, but nowhere close to the first time. I figured I would be good by the third. I was wrong! The third you see was a girl, so you have to add in a heaping cup of hormones to the recipe. By now I had, however, discovered a hidden gem, a little secret if you will. My secret weapon to starting high school off right was to get the children involved ahead of time. More specifically my children all joined marching band.

I had been told by many parents, teachers, and administrators that students who were involved in things (we will keep it generic for the sake of this article) had a much better high school experience. The truth is I only have one really athletic child and two book worms/thespians and an extreme introvert. When I heard "get your kids involved" I wasn’t sure what that was going to look like. Luckily my first son’s freshman year they needed some actors to play spies in the marching band show. Well, not only does my son love to act but he also loves a good spy thriller. That was the start of a beautiful thing. He made connections and built friendships that lasted throughout his four years of high school and beyond. The next year they didn’t need an actor so he picked his trombone up and went to the head of the band and said, "I would like to give it a try." One of the awesome things about our marching band is that everyone is welcome, regardless of experience or skill. Someone will help you, whether it is the marching band leader, one of the instructors, or another student.

When my second son was in eighth grade he decided he would start high school off with marching band as well. We found out, through my older son, that the percussion section had what was called "Spring Training". Once a week starting in January or February, the percussion instructor would invite any child who wanted to try out a percussion instrument to join them for practice. He didn’t care what you experience level was as long as you had an interest. So, my son started marching band in the pit, which are the instruments that don’t march but are positioned at the front of the field.

The next year he decided he wanted to play a drum, a very large bass drum to be exact. Although it was a true test of his strength and stamina he loved it. He so loved playing the drum that he asked to try the tenor drum set. For those of you who don’t know what that is, as I didn’t, it is the set that hangs on the front of you and has 4 or 5 individual drums hooked together. I thought he loved the bass drum, boy was I wrong. The tenor drum became an obsession, a really loud obsession in my basement and sometimes marching around the yard. He also made many connections and friendship that have lasted all through high school. Both of my boys have had extremely positive experiences with marching band.

Then it was time for my first daughter to enter high school and we were both nervous and excited at the same time. In December of her eighth grade year she came to me and asked when "Spring Training" would start. She couldn’t decide what she wanted to do, but she was sure she wanted to join marching band because she had seen the positive outcome it had for the boys. Spring Training rolled around in February and she started out by beating a drum and playing a xylophone. By May she had been placed on a bass drum and asked to march in the parade. She was absolutely beaming, until she marched with the drum on and then there was definitely some whining about the weight of it. By the end of September she was in full swing with marching band and high school. She started her year off with a comfort that a lot of kids don’t have at that stage of their high school experience. I, for one, attribute it to marching band and the friendships she made. There is nothing that can relax the anxiety of a freshman more than a bunch of upperclassmen simply saying high to them in the halls between classes. Because of her marching band connections my daughter was able to have that relaxation. Don’t get me wrong, there are so many more things to be anxious about in high school and when you add in hormones it is a cocktail I don’t ever desire to repeat, BUT this small welcoming, comforting step helped make her transition to high school a positive one.

Even my little introvert is considering marching band. She says she will do pit because she doesn’t feel as many people will be watching her as watch the kids who are marching. She loves to hear her older siblings tell stories about the fun they have, even the stories about all of the hard work grab her interest. Marching band is a total package. Your kids are learning (whether it be music, marching, or how to work as a team), they are requires to push through grueling weeks of band camp (actually overheard several coaches say that the marching band works harder than their teams), and as I have said over and over they are building friendships through it all. I don’t know if every school works like this, but I can’t say enough about the amazing affect marching band has had on my kids and my family. I just want to close by saying thank you to all of the Francis Scott Key Band instructors who give so much of their time and effort to making this an amazing program for these kids!

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