I am on the younger side of things and I work in with high schoolers, so I will give people the most raw, honest, detailed, and uncut truth in this debate.
Nobody other than band parents and alum could give two sh!ts about the band. Other than the percussion group, if my school were to drop band, I wouldn’t notice. My administration at our alumnus wouldn’t give a if the arts department ed off. The teachers (other than the arts teachers) wouldn’t give a . And about 97% of the people who come to our school’s game wouldn’t give a either.
I work with young people all the time and I graduated from high school recently. I ran cross country and track. I was good at it. I never aspired to run in college (unless it was P5), but I was all-state as an individual and won multiple regional and county championships. Nobody gave a about us either. Nobody gave a that I could run the mile in 4:37 or run the 800m in 2:02. Other than my teammates, I never had a full-on, in-depth conversation about running with any of my peers other than how me and my team performed at meets. At a triangular XC meet, there would be no more than 100 people there, and they were all family and friends of runners. I was content with that though. I can’t watch a whole track meet on TV. I’ll watch the championship races from 100m-1500m, the hurdles, and the field events, but I’m not watching six hours of people running.
First off, we need to understand the psychology of band parents/alum and current band members like E-Town. More in particular, the old-school ones. I would know, my father and older brother were both in band. My father had his own band and he actually performed with ‘Kix’ before they got famous in the 80’s, if you know who they are. My father was pi$$ed that I chose not to do band in high school. In middle school, picked band over general music theory just so he could shut the up. He was his most proud of me when I was in band. I know it. He obviously did not tell me that, but I knew it.
First off, the current band members. A heavy majority of the time, current and previous band members only care about themselves and their performances. They sit together with each other at lunch. They have sleepovers with each other. They smoke Mary Jane out of their brass instruments together. And the guys in band will use a single trombone as a fleshlight, while the girls would use a drum stick or a flute as a dild0. Hell, one time I told a tuba player that no one gave a fvkc about band, and he threatened to shove me down his tuba. They play Mario-Kart on their Nintendo DS or Wii U. And they watch hentai together as well. Some of them become buskers. Others start a band. And some of them become producers (only type of band member that I’d hang out with unless we ran XC or track together). These peculiar people don’t have conversations with people who are not in band. Band members act like all football players and athletes in general are bullies and are disrespectful, but they are scared to have a conversation with them. Now I do know athletes that were bullies and/or disrespected anyone who was not in their circle, but there was only one or two of them. I generally avoided them because I was not trying to be seen as a bully OR a preppy guy who is only going to college so he looks qualified to take over his father’s business. But really most athletes are willing to have a conversation with anyone if it is about themselves or something they are interested in. I didn’t like a lot of people in high school, and a lot my male peers hated on me for a very teen age reason, but I could still talk with the peers who didn’t like me about music, partying, or the NBA or NFL. Band members fail to realize this though. They watch movies like Grease and Napoleon Dynamite and think that is every jock.
Now for the previous band members. Majority of these people peaked in high school. They want to be famous, and high school was the closest they were going to get to acquiring said fame. My father was in band at the right time to be in band at the coolest position. He played the drums and I will admit he is good at it, to this day. I have told him time and time again that people don’t give two damns about band. Nobody gives a if you’re good at playing the drums (I’ll get into this later on in my rant). But what previous members will never admit is that they peaked in high school. High school was the best time of their lives. I had a good time in high school for several reasons as well, but I had more fun in college and I am an Army Reserve member who was active duty in the past. I had a lot of fun there as well. Track and XC was fun and I miss it. But I am over it as well. I wish I did some things differently, but it was a good experience and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything. Luckily for me though, I was handsome in high school, I was voted best dressed, and I had the meanest mouthpiece out of my class since the 7th grade, and I’m still all of this, so running wasn’t even the peak of my high school career. I would walk into a high school party and I would get greeted immediately at the door by about 50 people, and it was mostly girls, while I could see a lot of guys choosing to give me the stink eye rather than asking me for some advice. But a lot of that is trivial to me because none of that will be benchmarks of your future success. Past band members only had band because they were busy doing the things I listed above with their band mates. All that culminated to leaking in high school.
Last but not least, band parents. Oftentimes, band parents force their kids to join the band just so it looks better on their college application for when they apply to Miami of Ohio. My older brother was playing the piano in the 2nd grade, so he actually wanted to be in the band. But even though I was an athlete, my father was still pressing me about joining our high school’s band. It’s all he ever talked about my 8th grade year. Whether he asked me politely to do so, drunkenly argue with me about it, or tempt me with some bullsh!t offer, I told him no. I was in our middle school’s jazz band (more on that later) and I didn’t want to do any of that . I would try to break my instrument on purpose if it meant not having to do that . But band parents are usually fed lies by their children. “All the football players are bullies” “A lot of people care about band” “I got the hottest girlfriend/nicest boyfriend and she/he is in band”. The lies can be small fibs or egregious tall tales, but band parents will believe it because it is their kid. Some band parents just want to see their kid get their diploma and go to college. Some will be living their past through them. Others are trying to keep a worthless family tradition going. But all band parents usually had one thing in common, which is that they either had no life in high school OR their only extracurricular activity was band. See, band parents obviously don’t give a about what is going on when football is being played, but only when the band is playing, and then they leave, even if it is a good game. But hey, if you like the band, thank a band parent. They are the ones who keeps kids coming to the band, because if it weren’t for band parents, I would say about 75% of kids in band would quit band if their parents never forced them to be in band.
Now for my experience in middle school band. I played the trombone, and I was the best at it in my class. Our jazz band was pretty good. I actually earned some awards for my solos and our jazz band was awarded some of the best show awards. But man, did I not want to do that . I only joined band in middle school because my father would not shut the up about it. I had a natural talent in it to. I picked up playing the trombone quickly and my father would force me to practice every so often, until I would practice at school just to get out of math class. Our middle school jazz band went to Kings Dominion for a competition in my 8th grade year, and I was awarded the best solo. It felt good, but I shrugged it off because I knew band was not going to be in my future. When we got back from the park, I received congratulations for my accomplishments from my peers. But I was asked even more about my experience at the park. I think that says it right there. Nobody asked me about my solo, but they asked me about the amusement park trip.
Lastly, more closing points. I never saw a band member on prom court. I never saw band member date a wanted man or have seggs with a hot woman when I was in high school. All the guys in our band smelled like Mountain Dew and Axe and all the girls in our band were built like Honey Boo-Boo and looked like Peyton Manning. Last that I checked, girls wanted guys who swore they were going D1 (we had guys at our school who were going D1 so I’ll give them their credit), pushed a half ounce of low quality reefer to our school, guys who hosted parties, or guys who just had it when it came to women, and the guys wanted women who looked like Alexis Texas or Teanna Trump. I never saw a band guy try to fight their bully in high school because they know they’d get their butt kicked. The guys in band also drove their parents econoboxes (me and my brother bought our own car and we knew what to pick out). Just like how all the ratchet girls would blow guys underneath the staircase for a free 8th, girls in band will blow the band director for free valve/slide grease or reeds for the saxophonists/clarinet players. All the girls in band wore obnoxiously noticeable mascara and foxtails between their legs because they were furries. Band guys now sound like girls and band girls sound like guys.
I will not say anything about the cheerleaders because most of the time they know they don’t matter.
I rest my case.
