Musical Benefits of Marching Band Part 1

This is part one of a two part series designed to try and answer the question of whether or not marching band serves any musical purpose.

As some of my students get ready to go off to band camp, I find myself pondering over something that one of my teachers said to me in college. What this teacher said didn't set right with me back then, and it still doesn't now after 10 years. This teacher simply said this, "There is no benefit to marching bands."

At the time, I just sort of looked at him funny. I didn't think to try and challenge him on this point, after all he was a college professor. He was also my trombone teacher, so there was a little fear of retribution if I challenged him too much. But ever since he stated that, I have found myself wondering what universe he resided in to be able to make such a statement and to also be able to believe it.

In my opinion, there is a great deal of musical benefit that students can learn from being in marching band. There is no way that you will be able to play a ff power chord at the end of a song unless you are using proper breathing techniques. Indeed if you are not using the proper breathing techniques, you will probably be passing out on the marching field halfway through the first song. Being on a marching field, you also learn quite a bit about balance between instruments. You also learn a great deal about listening to other parts, but being able to play your own part independently. On a marching field, if you listen too intently, you will end up hearing the delay due to reverb and echo. So in that respect, you need to know your part and be able to play it independently, regardless of what is going on around you. Because of the wide openness of a marching field, you end up having to over emphasize dynamics in order to make the song come to life on the field. Being on a marching field also teaches the students to blow the air through the instrument. I cannot tell you how many students I have had that when they first started taking private lessons sounded like the air was dribbling out the end of the horn. All of these are beneficial tools and can be used when teaching students in a studio situation, provided that your student has been exposed to marching bands at some point in their playing career.

One of the common complaints that I hear from teachers when the marching season is done and they start up with the concert season is that the band is still playing like they are outside, in other words too loud. Obviously you need to be able to have some control and be able to reign the band in, but I think that if you use marching band as a foundation, you should be able to build upon those blocks of balance and control and make your concert band better in the long run. The lessons learned in marching band; proper breathing, dynamic control, balance within the ensemble, listening to other parts, and blowing through the instrument, are all blocks that are necessary for being able to play well as an ensemble or individual player. Ususally in a studio setting, you are concentrating on one or two of those blocks at a time. Players in a marching band will ultimately be working on all of those blocks at the same time and will be better players for it.

Each individual player is going to be different and require different needs in order to get them to be a better player. I feel personally that marching band allows the player to work on most of the common elements to becoming better players. From there it is easier for me as a teacher to be able to build on those elements and help the students to become better musicians.