Leadership In A Marching Band

Marching band is hands down one of the biggest influences in my life. It has only impacted me in a positive way. From friendships that I know will last a lifetime to experiences i could never forget. My junior year in band I was baritone section leader and my senior year I was low brass section leader and brass horn sergeant. Having to be the leader of 60+ people has really

This can be seen in the small town of Lapel, Indiana. When Nicole Flora, a member of the Lapel High School Marching Band and the Lapel Concert Band, was interviewed about her experiences with Lapel’s arts education program, she said that Lapel has a strong, long-standing arts program and that it unites their community (Flora). The community of Lapel takes much pride in their show choir and bands, resulting in much support for the musical groups. In one instance, Flora was in a marching band show performing at the Indiana State Fair Band Day. The crowd began cheering as soon as Lapel’s name was announced, even before the band took their place on the field. The cheering only got louder as the show went on, especially during the famous Lapel Funky Chicken dance step that is the band’s traditional exit (Flora). Not only does this unwavering encouragement instill a sense of pride in the students associated with such a unified and supported group, it strengthens the community as a whole.

I want to be a drum major and squad leader for the 2018 season of marching band. I know I have the leadership qualities that are needed to fill these positions. The current leadership experience I have through band is being a previous squad leader, holding three band officer positions, and at times being the Symphonic Band clarinet section leader. Outside of band I am a member of the National Honors Society and am a mentor in MVP. I also frequently volunteer with programs that help children and I have been a preschool teacher in one program.

The President of the Student Council. The drum major of the marching band. The founder of the biggest club at school. All of these positions involve organizing, interacting with, and motivating a large amount of people and just scream “LEADERSHIP!” However, this wasn’t the right kind of leadership for me; I’m not the type to get up and speak in front of a big group of people or give grandiose motivational speeches, but I still wanted to be helpful to others nonetheless.

I’m the tuba section leader in the Pride of Broken Arrow (my high school marching band) for my junior and senior year and i’m also a leading and active member at my church, especially in the youth group. Doing those things are very important to me because they gave me some leading experience early on in my adulthood that many people don't get until college or after they start working.

All of this contributed to me joining the marching band, beginning in eighth grade, which has taken over my life now, in the best way possible and given me a defined place. It’s nice to be a part of something like

We have been in band since the fifth grade and gained a tremendous amount of music knowledge. In the middle school years we sought out more experience by starting a jazz ensemble. After middle school, We joined all aspects of band and participated in every event possible. Through our three years of marching experience we led the our respective sections. We focused on making sure our rows and lines were straight. Keeping in step was also a very important

Why should we choose you as a section leader? There are so many things that I could say about why I should be section leader, about how I am the most qualified, or why I am the best suited to be a section leader compared to the other upperclassmen. However, I want to answer this question by talking about my experience in the marching band organization and what made me want to become a section leader. In my freshmen year, I was very naive to the marching band as I had little to no prior experience with the marching band other than the one time I performed at a football game with the 2013 band in 8th grade. However, my section leader, May Nakari, helped guide me through basically everything that I needed to know to excel at the activity, from

During Senior year’s marching season, I was given two leadership positions. Section leader of the french horn section as well as Hornline Captain for the whole entire wind ensemble. I had many responsibilities and obligations to fill with both positions. With time,patience, and much failure I was able to rise to the challenge.

About three weeks into marching season, a spot opened up. Of course, I had to audition for the spot with the other alternates, but I was successful in winning a marching spot at that time and have never lost it. I also worked hard on becoming a better musician. I drastically increased my practice time and was fortunate enough to be able to hire a private tutor to improve my musical abilities. Now in my senior year I am in the top band and I am on the varsity marching squad. I have even obtained a leadership role in the band as a rank leader. As a rank leader I am a mentor and coach for several other students in the marching band. I really feel like I am providing these student the same thing that Zack Santos provided for me. It makes me feel good that I am assisting other kids in achieving their

Marching band was one of the most difficult/challenging activity systems that I have ever done in my life. But at the same time it was an inspirational and motivating aspect of my life. The very first thing it taught me was the definition of hard work. This was because I spent hundreds of hours to my dedication and devotion to band marching around the field in the hot sun every day. Even though there were times when I wanted to quit; one such instance was when we were out performed by another school, other times it was becuase of the teacher being a little too hard on me when I first started. Despite setbacks such as these, I had an ardent attraction to marching band, mainly because in middle school I was a part of concert band, which made me love music. The biggest, reason why I chose to do marching band, aside from my enjoyment of music, was because towards the end of my eighth grade year my middle school band director told us about a huge opportunity that we had coming up to become a part of the high school across the street marching band. They were called the Titan Regiment. She told us the difference between concert and

When I joined marching band in my freshman year of high school, I felt nervous and reluctant about joining because I questioned my abilities. However, I decided to commit myself to it so that I would know if it was something meant for me to pursue in the future. On the first day, I was overwhelmed with the many people who I did not recognize, and I started to feel as if I should never have come. Things began to change for me when I met an upperclassman named Sophie, who was my flute section leader. She was kind to everyone and did not get upset if anyone made a mistake in the music or marching technique, but rather, she gave constructive criticism. Sophie was an amazing leader and musician, and she was, and still is, a role model to me. Without

When I was in marching band finding my identity was one of the hardest things that I had to do. It took me to my senior year to fully understand what it meant to fully identify myself as a member of the Titan Regiment. What made me understand that I was a member because of recognition that I received in my last two years? Having the honor to lead my saxophone section in marching band and to be an inspirational figure to them recognized me. When this happened, it confirmed to me that I was really a member of the Titan regiment. This community defined me because it's built on top of my leadership skills that I currently had and it also help me to make more mature decisions as I got older. This experience did that by challenging me

“Drum major is your band ready?” if you haven’t heard this you must not be in marching band, and you most definitely haven’t lived in the color of music. Music has brought color in my life like you wouldn’t believe! I finally realized this at state. Crowds roaring for their home band, band moms screaming their lungs out for their kids, it’s where everyone gets to participate no matter how good you are, and you finally find meaning through music. Yeah it’s pretty great, and I’ll share my wonderful experience with you.

Previously in the year, it was typical for me just write what is on my mind at the time and later go back and organize it. This paper is a stupendous presentation of that obsolete format. It was common for me to leap from one paragraph to another without soundly blending my ideas into the narrative. Despite this, however, many outstanding developments appeared in this essay. This was the essay that helped me further develop my ability to write sensory details, which immediately shows itself in the introduction: “Lights blare down from above. To my left, I can see the crowd cheering as the previous band charges off the field, and we prepare our grand entrance” ( 1). I also highlighted the negative aspects of the band, such as leadership problems: “Aside from inexperienced and uncaring managers, some people are just wholly opposed to taking orders from their peers. This causes an avalanche of tension between them and their section. Arguments will typically break out as to who is right and who is wrong-- especially during marching season ( 3).” Each paragraph, despite flowing strangely, outlined a specific aspect of the band in increasingly detailed methods. One section describes the methods band members use to communicate with one another while another tells of its hierarchy. Overall, this paper, despite its shortcomings, laid the base for which I would later improve upon in following essays.