PREMIER PARTNERS

US Scolastic Band Association
www.yea.org

The US Scholastic Band Association (USSBA) was formed in the fall of 1988 to provide high school marching band programs with a competitive circuit featuring the best adjudicators from across the country.

We support both competitive and non-competitive philosophies in performance.

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NOVEMBER

LEARNING FROM COMPETITION

By Marching Designs

After months of preparation, the band enters the stadium for the marching band competition only to stop in the tunnel before entering the field. The stadium is huge, the stands are packed and the lights are brighter than any they have marched under before. Marching band competition is a thrilling and frightening experience, and it offers a chance to grow in ways other students never experience.

The trials and struggles of preparing for a marching band competition are just plain hard. The body hurts, the brain is fried and the notes just will not stick in the brain. Forgetting to roll the foot, maintain position in the form, and match the choreography on the field is a never-ending battle of synchronization among hundreds of people. Marching band competitions are lessons in multi-tasking at their best and may just be one of the few lessons taught in school used in the “real” world!

Learning from marching band and winterguard competition is no different from other lessons learned in life in competition. The first lesson happens during the first summer band rehearsal as the students realize that there will be an investment required to succeed. Competition teaches the old adage, “The end justifies the means!” The students will need to “buy in” to this investment before the goals can can begin to be achieved.

On the marching band practice field, under the hot sun and the cold winter nights, the means may not seem worth the end. But on that field of battle, the marching band will be able to tangibly touch the result of their hard work and dedication. This is a lesson that will reach far into their lives as adults, spouses and parents. Not everything worth doing is done is a short amount of time. Sometimes, the wait is worth it when the end result is so very fantastic.

Obviously, some practices will be worse and some will be better. But, much can be learned from both so that the “bad” practices become less frequent and improved and the “good” ones become great. This is a process that every organization goes through and it is how these natural fluctuations are dealt with that determines the potential of the group.

Marching band competition is metaphorically about more than just marching band. The competition is about life and learning from life’s experiences more than meets the eye. From the way the band practices to the way they perform the marching show, there is a life lesson instilled in every student about learning, growing, evolving as a person and working toward a goal as a member of a team. The marching band competition is just a reason to mentally grow and mature masked behind woodwinds, brass, colorguard equipment, band directors, drum majors, bright lights and a banging set of quads.

CONTESTS