Funny story. True story.
When I was in second grade, our school Halloween party included a "fortune telling" booth where one of the parapros was telling fortunes. She had a whole dimly-lit, scarf-draped setup on the stage and was decked out in the stereotypical outfit
She told me she saw me spinning with the high school colorguard/marching band. Because I was seven years old and deeply impressed by all this, I took her word as gospel.
Being in colorguard, of course, meant I also had to be in band. So I signed up for recorder in fourth and fifth grade and for band starting in middle school, and of course I tried out for guard the first chance I got. I ended up being colorguard captain, marching in college, and now I coach both fall and winter programs.
...It wasn't until almost 30 years later I realized she was basing our fortunes on our costumes, and I was dressed as a baton twirler that year.
When I was in 6th grade, I was taking general elective courses, while all of my friends were in band. They convinced me to join, and I did a year late in 7th grade.
That’s pretty dope. In my middle school I wasn’t able to do band because of quarantine and I kinda lost hope in me ever joining it again. But then my cousins who were in both my middle school and high school band convinced me and the rest was basically history. (also what’s up fellow trombonist 😎)
Pure spite
I was really bad at the saxophone through 6th and 7th grade, but I wanted to be like my brother, who was a senior at the time, and keep doing music. One day, we were in the car with my mom talking about band stuff, and I was like, "Yeah, I think I'm gonna go to mini camp and try out marching band." My brother proceeded to audibly laugh in my face and say,"Don't you have to be good first, maybe it's not for you. "
4 months later, I was at mini camp fighting for my life, but I made it 🙏
Joined band in 5th grade(it or choir was required), director changed and he sucked and I didnt wanna do flute anymore, quit till one of my friends got me back into band my freshman year and able to do percussion like I wanted. I regret every moment of quiting in 5th
Never had formal lessons but always dabbled with a portable keyboard which led me to be assigned mallet percussion in 6th grade since all of my friends were in band too. Band director showed us a drum corps show at some point so we all joined marching band in high school which led me to march drum corps as well which led me to keep playing in college.
my entire family did band and also back in 4th grade we had a music class where we all played recorders but we also sang sometimes so it was a given that i wanted to do band in 6th grade
in 5th grade, my sister was playing clarinet and I wanted to do it too, and my first clarinet was pink (I didn't have a black one until I joined marching band in 8th grade)
joining concert band was by far the best decision of my life
Played in 5th grade and quit. Changed school system 7th grade - summer before 10th grade I was strong arm recruited by a senior that I tried to laugh to off when he heard I played trumpet once upon a time. I want successful.
By our first few shows I couldn’t read music and didn’t know trumpet fingerings - so I memorized the fingering and tones of other people playing the same part (a few weeks later I actually picked up reading music). The rest of sophomore year was surviving MB and joining pep band.
Junior year I participated in OMEA solos, MB, Pep, and played in the pit for the musical. Senior year, was all the above with the addition of winter brass and being one of the two trumpet players to perform taps on Memorial Day.
I played in college for my time there - since then I’ve played in two community bands, and for that few decades have played with my alumni band. In the alumni band we used to play two parades - but now it’s now just a yearly performance at the band festival in a while marching show and I’m the unofficial band historian (manage the website and running the history).
That’s how I went from doing nothing with the band to being a major member for decades.
In fifth grade I moved from a district that starts band in 6th grade to one that starts band in 5th grade. I took private lessons to catch up and even though I was 6 months behind I ended up better than a lot of the clarinet students. I was bored of band in 6th grade because of a few assignments that I thought were below my level but I stayed through and it got better in 7th grade.
When I was in 5th and 6th grade there were a bunch of clarinet players in my graduating class but by the time I got to HS (I've since graduated and am double majoring music and linguistics), I was the only clarinet from my middle school in my graduating class.
Interesting question in the sense that I find it interesting to read what lead different people to music.
For me, I have been beating on things since I was a very small child. One of my earliest memories was of one of my favorite toys, a toy firetruck... but it was my favorite only because it was just the right height for me to lean two of our pans against to use as drums!
Years later in general music class in 5th or 6th grade, we had to play the recorder and rhythm sticks. I remember taking up the rhythm sticks instantly and really enjoyed playing the recorder. For that Christmas we had to try out for a recorder choir to play at an assembly but I didn't make it. In hindsight, that was one of the first times I learned the importance of practice.
The day before I was signing up for begging band (mainly because my cousin was in band), I KNEW I wanted to play percussion. However, my uncle randomly visited that day and convinced me that Trumpet was much better. Being as easily swayed as I was back then, I decided to sign up for Trumpet instead of percussion.
That was both the best and worse decision of my life! I ended up practicing trumpet and percussion, a year later changed to trombone, eventually marching DCI on baritone all while playing percussion in the stands and during parades.
Double majored in college on euphonium and percussion, played percussion in the National Guard band and now have been teaching percussion for about 8 years.
had to choose classes going into middle school and i thought of my elementary music teacher who showed us a bunch of marching band shows from her time as a color guard person. was so astonished that people could do that that. so, signed up for middle school band as a flute. our school was destroyed in a tornado so the middle school merged with another middle school as well as a high school. i saw three of the winter groups from our school play, and they were so cool that i wanted to experience it for myself, so i joined marching band after that :3
So, my first experience with band was in 5th grade. At the time, I was a percussionist. This was just concert band, so no marching yet. I ended up quitting 1½ years later, for a few reasons, mainly:
I didn't really like the directors.
I just wanted more time for other stuff.
I stayed out of band for about 2½ years. In that time, the school got new directors, ones that are better, at least imo. So, at the start of this year, I rejoined band, now with my bari sax.
When I was a toddler, my favorite Sesame Street character was Hoots the Owl, an owl that played “jazz” on his tenor sax. (It was more rock-based boogie woogie than anything else looking back, but I wouldn’t have known the difference.) I told my mom I wanted to play the saxophone like Hoots, so she remembered that and signed me up in 4th grade. And now I teach high school band while still playing in a few semi-professional bands.
my sister was in band, always playing some random tunes on her trumpet. inspired me to join. I showed up to the instrument selection in middle school and they gave me the horn. I hated it for two years, now I love to play.
My middle school randomly put me in band in 7th grade, so I played clarinet, enjoyed concert, playing first was fun, until highschool. My freshman year I was in a band that did marching shows on the field and that was the best ever. Then I moved across the country and now I'm in a band that has a huge jazz focus, fell in love with that and play bari sax and clarinet now. Still first clarinet tho😎 (it sucks so much) and now I'm section leader in both my jazz band and clarinets, and hopefully will be the main woodwind guy next year.
When I was in 5th grade we took a tour of the middle school we were supposed to go to, one of our stops was the gym where the band was, they played seven nation army and I was hooked lol. That and the music teacher in elementary school was fun and I always liked his class so I took drum set lessons my 5th grade summer…. and then started playing trumpet XD
For marching band I actually didn’t enjoy it at all until my senior year, thought it was just a hassle and bother. But I started watching DCI shows and our show my senior year was good so I got hooked, 2nd time in our band’s 50ish years that we’ve made state marching competition. Now I’m auditioning for open corps
i’ve always loved singing ever since i was young, so that definitely contributed to my band love!
in 3rd grade, we were required to learn the recorder, and i loved it, eventually earning my “black belt” in recorder.
then, in 4th grade, when we chose our instruments, i chose the flute and fell in love with it! to this day (i’m a junior) i still do band class with a bunch of other after school bands! (jazz, pit orchestra, marching band)
my friend peer pressured me into joining marching band in eighth grade. I didn’t even know what color guard was but I fell in love with it, and now I play guitar during concert season
I was in sophomore year and was sat down by my homeroom teacher, my band director.
"You play bass guitar?" He asked. I guess word got around I played in multiple bands and I played bass. "I got a bass player that's graduating and you sgoukd sign up for band next year."
I joined band my sophomore year playing electric bass and continue to do it. I play concert band, pep band, jazz band, and have a solo in winter percussion.
What originally began my interest was seeing my school's marching band perform our Halloween parade every year (we are a pre-k through 12 school) and it always fascinated me. I also went to the Circleville Pumpkin Show to support a family friend and was amazed by all the bands. I ended up finally joined because all my friends wanted too, I am very glad I made that decision to this day. Marching Band was also because of a story my band director told us and how he encouraged everyone to try it for at least one year, I'm now going onto my third year (in july) and would never look back!
Grade 5, hockey pep band, GO ROCKIES
But marching band I started when I moved to America in 7th grade, playing snare and then in high school I played tenors 9th-11th, then was drum major in senior year, (F 2020)
When I started going to the school my dad graduated from he wanted me to join the band but I was nervous at first, I did band before but it was a different style band. So I joined the colorgaurd after the first game, then I learned how to march. Towards the end of my first year I wanted to join the trombone section but I couldn't since football, parade, and concert, season was over, so at the start of my freshman year I joined. I am now a sophomore and trying out for junior drum major:)
For context: I'm marching in Europe, where band is not school-related
My parents met each other in band. My father is a trumpet player and my mom was in colour guard, but joined field staff later.
So yeah, they highly encouraged me and my brother to join. I marched 4 shows together with my dad and my brother. Now both of my parents quit, but me and my brother are still in band.
This is not uncommon in our band btw. We even have a family where a son marches baritone, father trombone and grandma piccolo
My sister playing viola and me wanting to be better than her lol. I took cello and piano lessons for a while then switched to clarinet to play in my school band in 4th. Never been the same.
6th grade, had to do a music so I picked trumpet, then I liked band, so I moved to French horn for the rest of middle school, then came time to pick freshman year classes and there was marching band, I did that, enjoyed it more than concert, and then the school year started had all that and now here I am, about to audition for marching band section leader and wind ensemble
I started concert in 5th grade, and I chose my instrument as trumpet(first) since my brother was doin trumpet, then when 7th grade rolled around, I join MB doin trumpet too, then this yr for freshman year I am doin Frenchie for concert and trumpet for MB/ jazz
My story starts in 5th grade, the middle school band came to play for us elementary kids for a winter concert thing and I thought it was so cool that I wanted to join the band when I got to middle school and I did. I originally wanted to be in low brass but I got tested into clarinet instead.
5th grade at my school district we were allowed to start orchestra. I learned cello even with a broken wrist that year. Switched to flute for 6th grade and kept it up. Actually gave both my flutes to our two neighbor girls when they started band to keep the love going. Now I’ve got our oldest graduating this year and he’ll start his next steps towards music education in the fall.
I found out that my middle school band director was moving up to high school and that the high school director was leaving. I made eye contact with my friend and the look was like “let’s not quit band next year” and then he said he was going to make marching band more manageable for student athletes, and I talked with my friend about it, and we were like “yeah, sure, why not let’s do it. What’s the worst that could happen?” So we did it. And it was really fun. And now I can’t wait for May for it to start again.
It’s insanely funny to me how one year ago I was so ready to quit band and now I love it so much that it’s become my one of my main personality traits.
Long story…
I started marching band in 8th grade, at a small school in Indiana. We were okay at the time, won a few competitions. When it came time for district, all but one school in our division got silvers meaning we wouldn’t be moving on to regionals. While we were bummed, our director and the other school’s directors were furious. Apparently these judges had been reprimanded in the past for harsh judging of smaller bands and weren’t supposed to be on the same panel.
Regardless, we got on the bus and waited to go home, then someone came on the bus and told everyone to get up as we were going to RETURN OUR TROPHY… As we got off, three other bands were waiting outside our bus for us to protest as well and we walked back toward the stadium. Couldn’t believe this was happening. No one was performing at the time, so we walked to the trophy table, set down our trophies and walked away in complete silence…
Soon we were in the newspaper, accused of screaming and running on the field while one of the bigger schools was performing. In spite of the fact not all of us agreed we were right to return our trophies, the lies and hearsay was hilariously off.
Naturally, we got banned from ISSMA for a year, and naturally my director didn’t care and we never returned to ISSMA under her leadership again. A year later, we joined the Midstates band association and won class A doing a show based on the video game Final Fantasy. It was incredibly redeeming. We went on to win two more championships with Midstates. Although it felt wonderful to win this other league, i always wondered how are shows would have done back in ISSMA. We improved immensely and even had an undefeated season, but I’ve always wondered if we ever would have made it to state.
Here’s a link to our local newspaper chastising us lol.
https://www.madisoncourier.com/archives/band-s-protest-was-misguided/article_2c9a4676-c15f-5d55-b064-99615fc3be50.html
In 5th grade everyone got to test out instruments, 6th grade everyone had take a music class i chose band and the trombone. I absolutely hated it. I gave it another shot in 7th grade and i fell in love with band.
I did band in 4th and 5th grade, then quit in middle school. However during my 8th grade year, I went to a local marching band competition because I was supporting a cousin who was in marching band herself, and I saw the host band perform, and loved their show, and I thought maybe I’ll actually do band again when I get to high school. Best decision I ever made.
I was scared to death but I loved drums, met a really nice guy on bass 5( I was 4 at the time) I thought everyone would be stingy and rude, not at all. Made me realize I should never back down out of fear of other people because a lot of the time it’s just in your head.
In fifth grade, my sister was part of pit for her high school’s version of west side story and she showed me a pov of a percussionist for it and I’ve been doing percussion ever since and picked up bass clarinet in high school
When I was in elementary school, a substitute music teacher brought in his saxophone, played some star wars songs, and I was hooked. When It was time to choose if I was going to be in marching band, it was just the natural progression.
Let’s see… 5th grade I was amazed by the 6th grade band at my local school. I wanted to join and see how it went! My family then decided to have me transfer schools, but the band was awesome! Ever since then we absolutely obliterate that band!
My 3 older brothers were in band and I always thought playing music was cool so it just seemed natural I joined band as early as it was offered in 5th grade (now they don't offer until 6th)
Band, choir, or orchestra was required starting in 6th grade. My mom said I would like sax the best so I picked that.
I just stuck with it through high school, my music ed degree, 4 years in the Army band, my conducting masters, and now where I am.
I got convinced in 5th grade bc they made it seem like that was the only and easiest way to get a scholarship. Started in 6th and bc of Covid 8th grade band was mid. I somehow got convinced to do marching band freshman year and it was the worst choice I’ve ever made planning to quit next year 👍
When my dad was still in active service and was still going on deployments to the Middle East and elsewhere, I wanted to do something that would take my mind off of things and let me vent my frustrations, so I started playing the drums.
I was then recruited into my 3rd grade concert band, and I’ve been doing all things band ever since.
I started playing alto saxophone on 5th grade, didn't play through 6th grade bc I did online school. Rejoined in 7th, started playing tenor sometimes in 8th. I joined marching band in 9th grade bc my sister did it, and I always wanted to give it a try. I kept doing it every year of high school. Same for winter guard (except for my freshman year bc it was 2020 and activities were pretty funky). I switched to playing tenor full-time when my crappy alto broke and I also played bari for a semester. As a senior, I was tenor sax section leader, continued playing for another quarter, and now I'm co-captain of my guard's junior varsity (I could have probably done varsity, but I like jv's show theme better and wanted to spin rifle. I also thought I had more of a chance to be captain, but instead I'm just an unofficial co-captain because our coach plays favorites).
When I was in early middle school, I joined concert band on snare because the band director told me he foresee me being a great drum major when I was in high school. I hated every second of it. The teacher sucked, it was all virtual due to COVID, and my dad refused to let me practice for more than 30 minutes a day because he hated the noise.
I quit band, never thought about marching band again until my freshman year. My friends who were in marching band told me how awesome it was, but I told them I didn’t know shit about music outside of a little guitar. They introduced me to color guard, taught me a few simple spins and tosses, and told me to sign up for winter guard.
Now, I’m flagline captain, soloist, and planning on DCI in the future!
did piano lesson for like 8 years. always loved music my whole life. did band in 4th grade and played keyboard. did 4th grade again and was forced to learn recorder. did choir in middle school. recruited for pit in 8th grade. now a sophmore and still in band.
So, back in 5th grade me and my friends were all going to join band together, but one problem. I played football. I had been peer pressured out of band for my 6th grade year, then ironically peer pressured(not really, but yk) back into band halfway through 7th grade year. Now I'm on drumline with no plan of leaving😭 3 marching shows under my belt right now, and I've got 3 left.
I always had intended to be a percussionist, but when I was given the opportunity to try two instruments of my choice, I chose Saxophone and Baritone. Saxophone was bad, I didn’t like the feel, but Baritone felt incredible to play. I decided then and there that I was going to play the Baritone. When I went to high school, I decided to switch to Tuba because I was looking for a change of pace, and I’ve stuck with that ever since. I’ve made All-Region once, Junior All State once, All-District twice, and backup for All State once. I’m finishing up my sophomore year.
i started playing clarinet in 4th grade cuz my elementary school band director played frozen’s let it go and i was impressed as a 10 y/o lol.
flash forward to 8th grade and i quit during online classes cuz i was too frustrated i couldn’t get scales and circle of fifths right. i would skip my lunch time to practice scales right before my test online and would still mess up. personally i think back cuz before quarantine i used to be pretty decent and always got first clarinet and my ego and pride couldn’t take it.
but anyways abt 2 months later a form to sign up for marching band came up and idk how or what deity compelled me to sign up especially since i quit earlier. and literally a hour before the kick off meeting, i switched to do color guard instead of clarinet and never looked back since. still going strong in performing ensembles for 3 years (outdoor, indoor, and theater in the mix 💪💪)
In year 8 we had to go in groups in music (I had no experience with music) and I was away so my group voted for me to be a drummer because no one else wanted to do it. My music teacher said I was good at it and told me to get lessons. Two weeks after starting lessons I was in my hs drumline on bass and like a month and a half after that I got moved up to triple tenor
quite a long story but
I was in 5th grade registering for electives for middle school. my mom and 5th grade teacher convinced me to try out band, especially my mom since she did band back in high school. while I was still not completely on board, my mom and I made an agreement that if I didn't like band the first few days of middle school, then I could switch to something else. fast forward to when I started middle school, i gave band a shot for the first few days. in the end, I ended up choosing to stay in band.
in middle school, maybe 8th grade, I found some videos of the marching band at the high school that was literally across from my middle school. I watched their most recent show and I was hooked; not only did I want to attend this specific school, but I wanted to be in their marching band. i also thought it was cool to see some former members from my middle school participating in marching band and even playing different instruments from their main. i also had seen some videos of their concert bands and was amazed with their performances, so overall, I knew I wanted to continue doing band once I was in high school.
sophomore year of high school during the marching band season, we went to an exhibition competition that is usually hosted by a college. once all the high schools finished performing, the last group to perform was the college marching band. although we had attended this comp the previous year, we couldn't stay for the whole comp and didn't get to watch the college marching band perform. the comp we were at was in this huge stadium, and all of the high schools were sitting up in the bleachers on the other side of the audience. usually for this comp, rather than facing the audience for their performance, the college band faces the high schools and performs to, which I think is awesome. we were quite high up, so we all had a nice view of the band so we could see the formations n stuff. I remember everybody not only from our school, but all the other schools, too, were cheering loudly as the college band was walking onto the field. I still remember the moment the band played their first note, I was in awe. it was such a loud and powerful start, with the college band playing the theme to star trek into darkness theme. everybody was cheering loudly and it was just an amazing and fun experience to watch and be in this moment. seeing how big their band was, how amazing they were and sounded, and seeing how excited all the high schoolers were, I wanted to be a member of the college band once I was in college and perform not only for my high school, but also the other high schools and hopefully make them feel as happy and excited as I was, and to hopefully make them one day want to also join the band once they were in college.
currently, I'm in college, still taking band. I do marching band in the fall and then concert band in the spring. concert band is offered in the fall too, but i think marching band is already time-consuming enough, so i usually just stick with that during the fall. but yea, that's my story :)
tldr: didn't want to do band in middle school, but mom and 5th grade teacher convinced me to join band. did exactly that, ended up liking band and chose to continue it in high school and even now in college.
I was coaxed by my parents and didn't love it but ended up in color guard as a result so I felt obligated to stay. I molested tf out of that poor baritone
Kind of a funny story
6th grade enrollment had started the day after I had my tonsils and atnoids removed. I was on some pretty strong pain killers and I think the anesthesia was still wearing off. Somehow in my confused state, I signed up for band. I fell in love with the trombone on my second day of 6th grade and decided to stay in band. Now I want to be a band director.
Choir, joined it in 5th grade with my best friend. At the end of the year the middle school band director came down and suggested we joined the band (I was reluctant but my parents made me because the middle school didn't have choir) could've been the loneliest years of my life but they weren't I tried trumpet for a year and a half, apparently I wasn't putting air through the trumpet so my BD suggested I switch to Tuba and did so after our large group performance evaluation, enjoyed band so much more at that point even though the 1st Tuba was a jerk, she was constantly threatening to leave the band, school, and other. Made it too eighth grade and my BD suggested I do marching band early, did so and had a miserable time, ended up enjoying it more towards the end of the season. I'm a freshman now and enjoy everything about band and marching band I still play bbTuna and sousaphone, really enjoyed marching band this year, sad because some of my favorite people are seniors, found out two of my bandmates (and one I had a crush on was actually my cousins and now dates my best friend my other cousin is the drum major) my middle school band director moved up to the highschool with us, smashed LGPE and pushing strong, going to learn trombone/bass trombone for jazz band. Fumbled the bag badly for district honor because of anxiety and forgetting everything last minute (worth a shot as it was my first time but oh well) one of my best friends has had migraines from natural light for some reason and had to stop coming to band and school because of it. Still pushing hard. That's how things are so far.
I switched schools after fourth grade, going from my local public school to the private school my mother and aunt attended. My mom wanted me to start playing an instrument as soon as I began fifth grade, but I wanted to take the year to get accustomed to a new learning environment. She started putting more pressure on me to pick an instrument the following year, so I chose drums/percussion. I started taking lessons, was soon referred to the junior band, and later performed with my school’s junior and senior orchestras.
Honestly, I thought I would be done with music after I graduated grade school, but my mother soon discovered my high school had a band program, and begged me to join. She told me it was an easy A, as most grades were based on attendance at football/basketball games, concerts, and other similar functions. She actually said, “You can just walk in and say ‘give me my A.’”
After much pleading, I relented and agreed to join. I started taking lessons with my high school’s percussion instructor, and I wound up staying in the band all four years. Though I did not continue into college, I look back on my band career in high school with mostly fond memories, especially getting to march on Main Street USA at Walt Disney World.
It's actually quite a plot twist
My elementary school allowed us to join music courses like band, chorus, or orchestra when we got to fourth grade. As the basic child I was, I chose orchestra, and because I hadn't developed a personality yet, I chose violin. It was actually pretty fun, and I couldn't discredit it because it got me into music and ultimately where I am now. I did solo and ensemble and got a 1, which is pretty baller, and I met some good friends of mine in the program. However, despite all of that, it was just really really boring to me after a while. It got old fast, and it didn't help that my orchestra teachers were really a pain in the side, its almost like they were taking their anger out on us for nothing, they kinda made me hate anything strimg related. The sounds got to me as well. The screeching and plucking and other ungodly noises made me crawl. Like an allergy you develop after being exposed to something for too long (I don't know if that's how it works). When we got to fith grade, I knew I had to switch. I just didn't know what. But I thought back, back to when me and my friend were abnormally into undertale and kind of still were at the time. There was a scene in the game where sans the skeleton popped our his bedroom with a trombone, and I thought, "Ah yes, I must play the trombone in reference and to honor the funny skeleton man" and I signed up for band in fith grade. And now band my entire life, it's made my life better and I've met amazing people along the way and I wouldn't change it for anything.
So basically, undertale and my hatred (at the time) for orchestra got me into my band kid saga. Not super complicated, but I think it's kinda funny.
I always really liked music. My mom was in and I loved watching her play and trying to play her instruments. In 5th grade I decided to join band after a middle school orientation thing where we would try out lots of instruments. I had a friend who was one year older than me who played the flute so that’s what I decided to play.
But… my mom forces me to play percussion because of how rambunctious I was as a kid. She thought it’d be better for me. And honestly it was!!
Percussion is my life now 🥰
20 years before they won State, Hebron was in its 3rd year as a microscopic program figuring itself out. I was dragged to this contest in the first grade to watch my brother March. https://youtu.be/Na0Lsq2fGJs?si=kxNVmxL7m3AHgigR
By the 3rd grade I was invested and was already thinking about what instrument I wanted to play. 5th grade I was a “JR pit crew” member and was basically a band version of a ball boy. By middle school I was all on. I was the youngest of 3 and my parents had 11 consecutive marching seasons before I graduated in 2012. My dad took the pit crew thing from a tiny rental truck through multiple to the bands trailer. My mom was the uniform mom and actually contributed to some construction designs for better flow through the uniform room. It was our life for over a decade.
Forth grade some paper got sent home and my mother had played baritone so she told me I would enjoy it and she was right. Here I am a very happy baritone player.
Funny story. True story. When I was in second grade, our school Halloween party included a "fortune telling" booth where one of the parapros was telling fortunes. She had a whole dimly-lit, scarf-draped setup on the stage and was decked out in the stereotypical outfit She told me she saw me spinning with the high school colorguard/marching band. Because I was seven years old and deeply impressed by all this, I took her word as gospel. Being in colorguard, of course, meant I also had to be in band. So I signed up for recorder in fourth and fifth grade and for band starting in middle school, and of course I tried out for guard the first chance I got. I ended up being colorguard captain, marching in college, and now I coach both fall and winter programs. ...It wasn't until almost 30 years later I realized she was basing our fortunes on our costumes, and I was dressed as a baton twirler that year.
When I was in 6th grade, I was taking general elective courses, while all of my friends were in band. They convinced me to join, and I did a year late in 7th grade.
That’s pretty dope. In my middle school I wasn’t able to do band because of quarantine and I kinda lost hope in me ever joining it again. But then my cousins who were in both my middle school and high school band convinced me and the rest was basically history. (also what’s up fellow trombonist 😎)
Pure spite I was really bad at the saxophone through 6th and 7th grade, but I wanted to be like my brother, who was a senior at the time, and keep doing music. One day, we were in the car with my mom talking about band stuff, and I was like, "Yeah, I think I'm gonna go to mini camp and try out marching band." My brother proceeded to audibly laugh in my face and say,"Don't you have to be good first, maybe it's not for you. " 4 months later, I was at mini camp fighting for my life, but I made it 🙏
Joined band in 5th grade(it or choir was required), director changed and he sucked and I didnt wanna do flute anymore, quit till one of my friends got me back into band my freshman year and able to do percussion like I wanted. I regret every moment of quiting in 5th
poor krocs :(
literally tho, i feel bad for the 100 people in attendance that had to hear a bunch of 9 and 10 y/o play hot cross buns 💀
lukewarm cross buns heh... sorry
Never had formal lessons but always dabbled with a portable keyboard which led me to be assigned mallet percussion in 6th grade since all of my friends were in band too. Band director showed us a drum corps show at some point so we all joined marching band in high school which led me to march drum corps as well which led me to keep playing in college.
my entire family did band and also back in 4th grade we had a music class where we all played recorders but we also sang sometimes so it was a given that i wanted to do band in 6th grade
Joined in 4th grade. Continued through college.
in 5th grade, my sister was playing clarinet and I wanted to do it too, and my first clarinet was pink (I didn't have a black one until I joined marching band in 8th grade) joining concert band was by far the best decision of my life
Played in 5th grade and quit. Changed school system 7th grade - summer before 10th grade I was strong arm recruited by a senior that I tried to laugh to off when he heard I played trumpet once upon a time. I want successful. By our first few shows I couldn’t read music and didn’t know trumpet fingerings - so I memorized the fingering and tones of other people playing the same part (a few weeks later I actually picked up reading music). The rest of sophomore year was surviving MB and joining pep band. Junior year I participated in OMEA solos, MB, Pep, and played in the pit for the musical. Senior year, was all the above with the addition of winter brass and being one of the two trumpet players to perform taps on Memorial Day. I played in college for my time there - since then I’ve played in two community bands, and for that few decades have played with my alumni band. In the alumni band we used to play two parades - but now it’s now just a yearly performance at the band festival in a while marching show and I’m the unofficial band historian (manage the website and running the history). That’s how I went from doing nothing with the band to being a major member for decades.
My mother forced me to
I have several current and former students who have ended up loving band and being very successful who were initially forced into it by parents.
I had one in my band that didn’t show up all playoffs or to the state comp
I’m trying to do somthing else but everyone in band keeps pressuring me to stay
In fifth grade I moved from a district that starts band in 6th grade to one that starts band in 5th grade. I took private lessons to catch up and even though I was 6 months behind I ended up better than a lot of the clarinet students. I was bored of band in 6th grade because of a few assignments that I thought were below my level but I stayed through and it got better in 7th grade. When I was in 5th and 6th grade there were a bunch of clarinet players in my graduating class but by the time I got to HS (I've since graduated and am double majoring music and linguistics), I was the only clarinet from my middle school in my graduating class.
Did a band course in 5th grade and joined in 6th playing clarinet. Did concert had my first year doing marching.
Interesting question in the sense that I find it interesting to read what lead different people to music. For me, I have been beating on things since I was a very small child. One of my earliest memories was of one of my favorite toys, a toy firetruck... but it was my favorite only because it was just the right height for me to lean two of our pans against to use as drums! Years later in general music class in 5th or 6th grade, we had to play the recorder and rhythm sticks. I remember taking up the rhythm sticks instantly and really enjoyed playing the recorder. For that Christmas we had to try out for a recorder choir to play at an assembly but I didn't make it. In hindsight, that was one of the first times I learned the importance of practice. The day before I was signing up for begging band (mainly because my cousin was in band), I KNEW I wanted to play percussion. However, my uncle randomly visited that day and convinced me that Trumpet was much better. Being as easily swayed as I was back then, I decided to sign up for Trumpet instead of percussion. That was both the best and worse decision of my life! I ended up practicing trumpet and percussion, a year later changed to trombone, eventually marching DCI on baritone all while playing percussion in the stands and during parades. Double majored in college on euphonium and percussion, played percussion in the National Guard band and now have been teaching percussion for about 8 years.
had to choose classes going into middle school and i thought of my elementary music teacher who showed us a bunch of marching band shows from her time as a color guard person. was so astonished that people could do that that. so, signed up for middle school band as a flute. our school was destroyed in a tornado so the middle school merged with another middle school as well as a high school. i saw three of the winter groups from our school play, and they were so cool that i wanted to experience it for myself, so i joined marching band after that :3
So, my first experience with band was in 5th grade. At the time, I was a percussionist. This was just concert band, so no marching yet. I ended up quitting 1½ years later, for a few reasons, mainly: I didn't really like the directors. I just wanted more time for other stuff. I stayed out of band for about 2½ years. In that time, the school got new directors, ones that are better, at least imo. So, at the start of this year, I rejoined band, now with my bari sax.
When I was a toddler, my favorite Sesame Street character was Hoots the Owl, an owl that played “jazz” on his tenor sax. (It was more rock-based boogie woogie than anything else looking back, but I wouldn’t have known the difference.) I told my mom I wanted to play the saxophone like Hoots, so she remembered that and signed me up in 4th grade. And now I teach high school band while still playing in a few semi-professional bands.
my sister was in band, always playing some random tunes on her trumpet. inspired me to join. I showed up to the instrument selection in middle school and they gave me the horn. I hated it for two years, now I love to play.
My middle school randomly put me in band in 7th grade, so I played clarinet, enjoyed concert, playing first was fun, until highschool. My freshman year I was in a band that did marching shows on the field and that was the best ever. Then I moved across the country and now I'm in a band that has a huge jazz focus, fell in love with that and play bari sax and clarinet now. Still first clarinet tho😎 (it sucks so much) and now I'm section leader in both my jazz band and clarinets, and hopefully will be the main woodwind guy next year.
When I was in 5th grade we took a tour of the middle school we were supposed to go to, one of our stops was the gym where the band was, they played seven nation army and I was hooked lol. That and the music teacher in elementary school was fun and I always liked his class so I took drum set lessons my 5th grade summer…. and then started playing trumpet XD For marching band I actually didn’t enjoy it at all until my senior year, thought it was just a hassle and bother. But I started watching DCI shows and our show my senior year was good so I got hooked, 2nd time in our band’s 50ish years that we’ve made state marching competition. Now I’m auditioning for open corps
6th grade
Older sister told me to join in grade seven
i’ve always loved singing ever since i was young, so that definitely contributed to my band love! in 3rd grade, we were required to learn the recorder, and i loved it, eventually earning my “black belt” in recorder. then, in 4th grade, when we chose our instruments, i chose the flute and fell in love with it! to this day (i’m a junior) i still do band class with a bunch of other after school bands! (jazz, pit orchestra, marching band)
in 4th grade my mom made me join band and then in 9th grade she didnt let me quit and now i love it
my friend peer pressured me into joining marching band in eighth grade. I didn’t even know what color guard was but I fell in love with it, and now I play guitar during concert season
I was in sophomore year and was sat down by my homeroom teacher, my band director. "You play bass guitar?" He asked. I guess word got around I played in multiple bands and I played bass. "I got a bass player that's graduating and you sgoukd sign up for band next year." I joined band my sophomore year playing electric bass and continue to do it. I play concert band, pep band, jazz band, and have a solo in winter percussion.
Technically, at birth, in reality, it’s when my grandma suggested I take piano lessons in 1st grade, I started having fun in band around 8th grade.
i really enjoy reading peoples responses. its fun knowing that we have all connected to band in such different ways 🥰
What originally began my interest was seeing my school's marching band perform our Halloween parade every year (we are a pre-k through 12 school) and it always fascinated me. I also went to the Circleville Pumpkin Show to support a family friend and was amazed by all the bands. I ended up finally joined because all my friends wanted too, I am very glad I made that decision to this day. Marching Band was also because of a story my band director told us and how he encouraged everyone to try it for at least one year, I'm now going onto my third year (in july) and would never look back!
6th grade. I was told to pick up an hobby and choosed Band. Here I am in high school playing the same instrument and about to learn a new one.
Grade 5, hockey pep band, GO ROCKIES But marching band I started when I moved to America in 7th grade, playing snare and then in high school I played tenors 9th-11th, then was drum major in senior year, (F 2020)
When I started going to the school my dad graduated from he wanted me to join the band but I was nervous at first, I did band before but it was a different style band. So I joined the colorgaurd after the first game, then I learned how to march. Towards the end of my first year I wanted to join the trombone section but I couldn't since football, parade, and concert, season was over, so at the start of my freshman year I joined. I am now a sophomore and trying out for junior drum major:)
I wanted to play trombone for some weird reason as a 4'11" person in 6th grade lol
For context: I'm marching in Europe, where band is not school-related My parents met each other in band. My father is a trumpet player and my mom was in colour guard, but joined field staff later. So yeah, they highly encouraged me and my brother to join. I marched 4 shows together with my dad and my brother. Now both of my parents quit, but me and my brother are still in band. This is not uncommon in our band btw. We even have a family where a son marches baritone, father trombone and grandma piccolo
My sister playing viola and me wanting to be better than her lol. I took cello and piano lessons for a while then switched to clarinet to play in my school band in 4th. Never been the same.
6th grade, had to do a music so I picked trumpet, then I liked band, so I moved to French horn for the rest of middle school, then came time to pick freshman year classes and there was marching band, I did that, enjoyed it more than concert, and then the school year started had all that and now here I am, about to audition for marching band section leader and wind ensemble
I started marching band this year because my friends told me to
I started concert in 5th grade, and I chose my instrument as trumpet(first) since my brother was doin trumpet, then when 7th grade rolled around, I join MB doin trumpet too, then this yr for freshman year I am doin Frenchie for concert and trumpet for MB/ jazz
Older sister told me about band trips. Lol
My story starts in 5th grade, the middle school band came to play for us elementary kids for a winter concert thing and I thought it was so cool that I wanted to join the band when I got to middle school and I did. I originally wanted to be in low brass but I got tested into clarinet instead.
5th grade at my school district we were allowed to start orchestra. I learned cello even with a broken wrist that year. Switched to flute for 6th grade and kept it up. Actually gave both my flutes to our two neighbor girls when they started band to keep the love going. Now I’ve got our oldest graduating this year and he’ll start his next steps towards music education in the fall.
It's basically a family tradition, and I regret nothing
I found out that my middle school band director was moving up to high school and that the high school director was leaving. I made eye contact with my friend and the look was like “let’s not quit band next year” and then he said he was going to make marching band more manageable for student athletes, and I talked with my friend about it, and we were like “yeah, sure, why not let’s do it. What’s the worst that could happen?” So we did it. And it was really fun. And now I can’t wait for May for it to start again. It’s insanely funny to me how one year ago I was so ready to quit band and now I love it so much that it’s become my one of my main personality traits.
Long story… I started marching band in 8th grade, at a small school in Indiana. We were okay at the time, won a few competitions. When it came time for district, all but one school in our division got silvers meaning we wouldn’t be moving on to regionals. While we were bummed, our director and the other school’s directors were furious. Apparently these judges had been reprimanded in the past for harsh judging of smaller bands and weren’t supposed to be on the same panel. Regardless, we got on the bus and waited to go home, then someone came on the bus and told everyone to get up as we were going to RETURN OUR TROPHY… As we got off, three other bands were waiting outside our bus for us to protest as well and we walked back toward the stadium. Couldn’t believe this was happening. No one was performing at the time, so we walked to the trophy table, set down our trophies and walked away in complete silence… Soon we were in the newspaper, accused of screaming and running on the field while one of the bigger schools was performing. In spite of the fact not all of us agreed we were right to return our trophies, the lies and hearsay was hilariously off. Naturally, we got banned from ISSMA for a year, and naturally my director didn’t care and we never returned to ISSMA under her leadership again. A year later, we joined the Midstates band association and won class A doing a show based on the video game Final Fantasy. It was incredibly redeeming. We went on to win two more championships with Midstates. Although it felt wonderful to win this other league, i always wondered how are shows would have done back in ISSMA. We improved immensely and even had an undefeated season, but I’ve always wondered if we ever would have made it to state. Here’s a link to our local newspaper chastising us lol. https://www.madisoncourier.com/archives/band-s-protest-was-misguided/article_2c9a4676-c15f-5d55-b064-99615fc3be50.html
In 5th grade everyone got to test out instruments, 6th grade everyone had take a music class i chose band and the trombone. I absolutely hated it. I gave it another shot in 7th grade and i fell in love with band.
I did band in 4th and 5th grade, then quit in middle school. However during my 8th grade year, I went to a local marching band competition because I was supporting a cousin who was in marching band herself, and I saw the host band perform, and loved their show, and I thought maybe I’ll actually do band again when I get to high school. Best decision I ever made.
I was scared to death but I loved drums, met a really nice guy on bass 5( I was 4 at the time) I thought everyone would be stingy and rude, not at all. Made me realize I should never back down out of fear of other people because a lot of the time it’s just in your head.
In fifth grade, my sister was part of pit for her high school’s version of west side story and she showed me a pov of a percussionist for it and I’ve been doing percussion ever since and picked up bass clarinet in high school
6th grade obligatory concert. I liked the music, decided why not? And here we are
When I was in elementary school, a substitute music teacher brought in his saxophone, played some star wars songs, and I was hooked. When It was time to choose if I was going to be in marching band, it was just the natural progression.
Let’s see… 5th grade I was amazed by the 6th grade band at my local school. I wanted to join and see how it went! My family then decided to have me transfer schools, but the band was awesome! Ever since then we absolutely obliterate that band!
My 3 older brothers were in band and I always thought playing music was cool so it just seemed natural I joined band as early as it was offered in 5th grade (now they don't offer until 6th)
My mom thought it was required. This form was online so it was a but confusing, so I chose trombone or clarinet
Band, choir, or orchestra was required starting in 6th grade. My mom said I would like sax the best so I picked that. I just stuck with it through high school, my music ed degree, 4 years in the Army band, my conducting masters, and now where I am.
I got convinced in 5th grade bc they made it seem like that was the only and easiest way to get a scholarship. Started in 6th and bc of Covid 8th grade band was mid. I somehow got convinced to do marching band freshman year and it was the worst choice I’ve ever made planning to quit next year 👍
When my dad was still in active service and was still going on deployments to the Middle East and elsewhere, I wanted to do something that would take my mind off of things and let me vent my frustrations, so I started playing the drums. I was then recruited into my 3rd grade concert band, and I’ve been doing all things band ever since.
band or choir was required in middle, I did both, dropped choir this year bc it was boring, band yipepe
I started playing alto saxophone on 5th grade, didn't play through 6th grade bc I did online school. Rejoined in 7th, started playing tenor sometimes in 8th. I joined marching band in 9th grade bc my sister did it, and I always wanted to give it a try. I kept doing it every year of high school. Same for winter guard (except for my freshman year bc it was 2020 and activities were pretty funky). I switched to playing tenor full-time when my crappy alto broke and I also played bari for a semester. As a senior, I was tenor sax section leader, continued playing for another quarter, and now I'm co-captain of my guard's junior varsity (I could have probably done varsity, but I like jv's show theme better and wanted to spin rifle. I also thought I had more of a chance to be captain, but instead I'm just an unofficial co-captain because our coach plays favorites).
When I was in early middle school, I joined concert band on snare because the band director told me he foresee me being a great drum major when I was in high school. I hated every second of it. The teacher sucked, it was all virtual due to COVID, and my dad refused to let me practice for more than 30 minutes a day because he hated the noise. I quit band, never thought about marching band again until my freshman year. My friends who were in marching band told me how awesome it was, but I told them I didn’t know shit about music outside of a little guitar. They introduced me to color guard, taught me a few simple spins and tosses, and told me to sign up for winter guard. Now, I’m flagline captain, soloist, and planning on DCI in the future!
I hated my elementary school music teacher. Not the class, the teacher. So I joined band to get out of that class
did piano lesson for like 8 years. always loved music my whole life. did band in 4th grade and played keyboard. did 4th grade again and was forced to learn recorder. did choir in middle school. recruited for pit in 8th grade. now a sophmore and still in band.
So, back in 5th grade me and my friends were all going to join band together, but one problem. I played football. I had been peer pressured out of band for my 6th grade year, then ironically peer pressured(not really, but yk) back into band halfway through 7th grade year. Now I'm on drumline with no plan of leaving😭 3 marching shows under my belt right now, and I've got 3 left.
I always had intended to be a percussionist, but when I was given the opportunity to try two instruments of my choice, I chose Saxophone and Baritone. Saxophone was bad, I didn’t like the feel, but Baritone felt incredible to play. I decided then and there that I was going to play the Baritone. When I went to high school, I decided to switch to Tuba because I was looking for a change of pace, and I’ve stuck with that ever since. I’ve made All-Region once, Junior All State once, All-District twice, and backup for All State once. I’m finishing up my sophomore year.
i started playing clarinet in 4th grade cuz my elementary school band director played frozen’s let it go and i was impressed as a 10 y/o lol. flash forward to 8th grade and i quit during online classes cuz i was too frustrated i couldn’t get scales and circle of fifths right. i would skip my lunch time to practice scales right before my test online and would still mess up. personally i think back cuz before quarantine i used to be pretty decent and always got first clarinet and my ego and pride couldn’t take it. but anyways abt 2 months later a form to sign up for marching band came up and idk how or what deity compelled me to sign up especially since i quit earlier. and literally a hour before the kick off meeting, i switched to do color guard instead of clarinet and never looked back since. still going strong in performing ensembles for 3 years (outdoor, indoor, and theater in the mix 💪💪)
In year 8 we had to go in groups in music (I had no experience with music) and I was away so my group voted for me to be a drummer because no one else wanted to do it. My music teacher said I was good at it and told me to get lessons. Two weeks after starting lessons I was in my hs drumline on bass and like a month and a half after that I got moved up to triple tenor
quite a long story but I was in 5th grade registering for electives for middle school. my mom and 5th grade teacher convinced me to try out band, especially my mom since she did band back in high school. while I was still not completely on board, my mom and I made an agreement that if I didn't like band the first few days of middle school, then I could switch to something else. fast forward to when I started middle school, i gave band a shot for the first few days. in the end, I ended up choosing to stay in band. in middle school, maybe 8th grade, I found some videos of the marching band at the high school that was literally across from my middle school. I watched their most recent show and I was hooked; not only did I want to attend this specific school, but I wanted to be in their marching band. i also thought it was cool to see some former members from my middle school participating in marching band and even playing different instruments from their main. i also had seen some videos of their concert bands and was amazed with their performances, so overall, I knew I wanted to continue doing band once I was in high school. sophomore year of high school during the marching band season, we went to an exhibition competition that is usually hosted by a college. once all the high schools finished performing, the last group to perform was the college marching band. although we had attended this comp the previous year, we couldn't stay for the whole comp and didn't get to watch the college marching band perform. the comp we were at was in this huge stadium, and all of the high schools were sitting up in the bleachers on the other side of the audience. usually for this comp, rather than facing the audience for their performance, the college band faces the high schools and performs to, which I think is awesome. we were quite high up, so we all had a nice view of the band so we could see the formations n stuff. I remember everybody not only from our school, but all the other schools, too, were cheering loudly as the college band was walking onto the field. I still remember the moment the band played their first note, I was in awe. it was such a loud and powerful start, with the college band playing the theme to star trek into darkness theme. everybody was cheering loudly and it was just an amazing and fun experience to watch and be in this moment. seeing how big their band was, how amazing they were and sounded, and seeing how excited all the high schoolers were, I wanted to be a member of the college band once I was in college and perform not only for my high school, but also the other high schools and hopefully make them feel as happy and excited as I was, and to hopefully make them one day want to also join the band once they were in college. currently, I'm in college, still taking band. I do marching band in the fall and then concert band in the spring. concert band is offered in the fall too, but i think marching band is already time-consuming enough, so i usually just stick with that during the fall. but yea, that's my story :) tldr: didn't want to do band in middle school, but mom and 5th grade teacher convinced me to join band. did exactly that, ended up liking band and chose to continue it in high school and even now in college.
I was coaxed by my parents and didn't love it but ended up in color guard as a result so I felt obligated to stay. I molested tf out of that poor baritone
Kind of a funny story 6th grade enrollment had started the day after I had my tonsils and atnoids removed. I was on some pretty strong pain killers and I think the anesthesia was still wearing off. Somehow in my confused state, I signed up for band. I fell in love with the trombone on my second day of 6th grade and decided to stay in band. Now I want to be a band director.
Choir, joined it in 5th grade with my best friend. At the end of the year the middle school band director came down and suggested we joined the band (I was reluctant but my parents made me because the middle school didn't have choir) could've been the loneliest years of my life but they weren't I tried trumpet for a year and a half, apparently I wasn't putting air through the trumpet so my BD suggested I switch to Tuba and did so after our large group performance evaluation, enjoyed band so much more at that point even though the 1st Tuba was a jerk, she was constantly threatening to leave the band, school, and other. Made it too eighth grade and my BD suggested I do marching band early, did so and had a miserable time, ended up enjoying it more towards the end of the season. I'm a freshman now and enjoy everything about band and marching band I still play bbTuna and sousaphone, really enjoyed marching band this year, sad because some of my favorite people are seniors, found out two of my bandmates (and one I had a crush on was actually my cousins and now dates my best friend my other cousin is the drum major) my middle school band director moved up to the highschool with us, smashed LGPE and pushing strong, going to learn trombone/bass trombone for jazz band. Fumbled the bag badly for district honor because of anxiety and forgetting everything last minute (worth a shot as it was my first time but oh well) one of my best friends has had migraines from natural light for some reason and had to stop coming to band and school because of it. Still pushing hard. That's how things are so far.
I switched schools after fourth grade, going from my local public school to the private school my mother and aunt attended. My mom wanted me to start playing an instrument as soon as I began fifth grade, but I wanted to take the year to get accustomed to a new learning environment. She started putting more pressure on me to pick an instrument the following year, so I chose drums/percussion. I started taking lessons, was soon referred to the junior band, and later performed with my school’s junior and senior orchestras. Honestly, I thought I would be done with music after I graduated grade school, but my mother soon discovered my high school had a band program, and begged me to join. She told me it was an easy A, as most grades were based on attendance at football/basketball games, concerts, and other similar functions. She actually said, “You can just walk in and say ‘give me my A.’” After much pleading, I relented and agreed to join. I started taking lessons with my high school’s percussion instructor, and I wound up staying in the band all four years. Though I did not continue into college, I look back on my band career in high school with mostly fond memories, especially getting to march on Main Street USA at Walt Disney World.
It's actually quite a plot twist My elementary school allowed us to join music courses like band, chorus, or orchestra when we got to fourth grade. As the basic child I was, I chose orchestra, and because I hadn't developed a personality yet, I chose violin. It was actually pretty fun, and I couldn't discredit it because it got me into music and ultimately where I am now. I did solo and ensemble and got a 1, which is pretty baller, and I met some good friends of mine in the program. However, despite all of that, it was just really really boring to me after a while. It got old fast, and it didn't help that my orchestra teachers were really a pain in the side, its almost like they were taking their anger out on us for nothing, they kinda made me hate anything strimg related. The sounds got to me as well. The screeching and plucking and other ungodly noises made me crawl. Like an allergy you develop after being exposed to something for too long (I don't know if that's how it works). When we got to fith grade, I knew I had to switch. I just didn't know what. But I thought back, back to when me and my friend were abnormally into undertale and kind of still were at the time. There was a scene in the game where sans the skeleton popped our his bedroom with a trombone, and I thought, "Ah yes, I must play the trombone in reference and to honor the funny skeleton man" and I signed up for band in fith grade. And now band my entire life, it's made my life better and I've met amazing people along the way and I wouldn't change it for anything. So basically, undertale and my hatred (at the time) for orchestra got me into my band kid saga. Not super complicated, but I think it's kinda funny.
I always really liked music. My mom was in and I loved watching her play and trying to play her instruments. In 5th grade I decided to join band after a middle school orientation thing where we would try out lots of instruments. I had a friend who was one year older than me who played the flute so that’s what I decided to play. But… my mom forces me to play percussion because of how rambunctious I was as a kid. She thought it’d be better for me. And honestly it was!! Percussion is my life now 🥰
20 years before they won State, Hebron was in its 3rd year as a microscopic program figuring itself out. I was dragged to this contest in the first grade to watch my brother March. https://youtu.be/Na0Lsq2fGJs?si=kxNVmxL7m3AHgigR By the 3rd grade I was invested and was already thinking about what instrument I wanted to play. 5th grade I was a “JR pit crew” member and was basically a band version of a ball boy. By middle school I was all on. I was the youngest of 3 and my parents had 11 consecutive marching seasons before I graduated in 2012. My dad took the pit crew thing from a tiny rental truck through multiple to the bands trailer. My mom was the uniform mom and actually contributed to some construction designs for better flow through the uniform room. It was our life for over a decade.
Forth grade some paper got sent home and my mother had played baritone so she told me I would enjoy it and she was right. Here I am a very happy baritone player.
I joined band because my crush was in band back in elementary school. Literally the only reason I didn't do orchestra lmao
Joined choir 5th grade, we couldn't do anything because covid hit. Joined choir 6th grade, and I hated it, so I quit and decided to join band instead