Marching Band Observation Report

For eighteen hours a week and fourteen weeks out of the year, members of the Ralston Valley Marching Band practices and memorizes a show. Every bar of music is memorized and perfected, and every member learns their exact spot on the field for every beat of the show. This kind of thing takes an extreme amount of coordination and planning by the staff. In the eyes of the staff, a Section Leader acts as a bridge between them, the students, and other sections of the band in order to facilitate coordination. We also were meant focus on encouraging the band during practice. At the beginning of the school year, each Section Leader goes to a training session for a total of three hours. After this session, each section leader is widely on their own
I expected every note to be played with consistency, I emphasized the importance of dynamics in every song, and I challenged everyone to look and play fierce when on the field. Most of all, I wanted everyone apart of the bass-line to learn how to love music and like marching band. This all fed into the larger goal of the band to make state semifinals this year. In order to achieve these goals, I organized twelve hours worth of sectionals outside of class where I would work on music or drill with the bass-line. After we completed our goal for that sectional, we would do something fun or have a treat. One day we just hung out and had a pizza party and soda after a sectional. Other times I would bring them caramel from my job as a treat. I would also work individually with each member of the bass-line on music or drill they found particularly frustrating. This often took patience and positive reinforcement. As the season progressed, I held less and less sectionals and placed more responsibility in the hands of my section. By this point in time, they had gained the knowledge and the drive to be great. Every time we performed, we took pride in our skill as a