7 Advantages to Being a Band Geek ...

By Lyndsie

7 Advantages to Being a Band Geek ...

I was a total band geek. Concert band, marching band, jazz band. I played trombone, y’all. It was awesome. With a few exceptions, the people I liked most in high school were right there with me. A lot of us weren’t the most popular kids, but I tell you what, I think being a band geek has a lot of long term benefits. Here are 7 of the thousands of advantages to being a band geek.

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1

Band Geeks Are Better Lovers

Band Geeks Are Better Lovers Photo Credit: JuttaV.

I’m serious. Actually, I’m exaggerating. Trombonists are better lovers. Why? Because trombonists do it in seven different positions, y’all! Ha ha! Ha … okay, that’s even less clever than it was when I was fifteen. But you know, the second had to make ourselves feel better somehow.

2

Learning Rivalries

Learning Rivalries Photo Credit: Absinthe Green

Bands are intensely competitive against other bands. This was true when the marching band had competitions and when the concert band played against other high schools. Bands hate other bands -- and that’s not enough. Sections hate other sections. Trombones hate trumpets and aren’t fond of tubas or French horns either. Flutes hate clarinets. Saxophones hate flutes. Tubas hate flutes and trumpets. Everyone hates the baritones. Everyone loves the drummers though.

3

Better Memory

Better Memory Photo Credit: Daily Herald

Having to learn about two hundred different scales and play them from memory is difficult but not impossible. Nothing changes, you just go up by steps or half steps, the end. It’s tedious but easily learned. Try standing up in front of the whole class trying to play “Frosty the Snowman” by rote though, and then listen to the thirty other kids in the class suck just as badly, and you know torture.

4

Teamwork

Teamwork Photo Credit: Anthony Shea
Let me be perfectly frank: I was not a sports girl. Ever. I couldn’t play softball without hitting myself in the head with the ball. So band taught me how to work as a team -- but it also taught me how to take responsibility for myself. It had to. When you’re music teacher gets down to making you play one by one, you can blame the flat note on anybody else.

5

Discipline

Discipline Photo Credit: GoodNightSweetArt (kyrakin)

One time, at band camp … our teacher and our drum major ran us ragged eight hours a day, five days a week. Learning all those routines, learning how to hit your mark while marching backward, learning how to keep your horn angles absolutely perfect … oh god, I’m getting flashbacks.

Famous Quotes

Meaning is not what you start with but what you end up with.

Peter Elbow
6

Rhythm and Tone

Rhythm and Tone Photo Credit: Maria Rosaria Sannino/images and words

It is all -- and only -- thanks to marching band that I am able to find a beat or carry a tune. I don’t dance well, but baby, I know the beat. And I don’t sing well, but you’ll never hear me go sharp or flat as a foghorn without knowing it.

7

Acceptance

Acceptance Photo Credit: supernova9

Because the people in the marching band and concert band came from all walks and all cliques, you learned to get along. There were people I couldn’t stand until they joined the band, and then, at the very least, we became respectful of one another. There’s something to be said for managing to learn that in high school.

Come on, where my band geeks at? I know you guys are out there. I want instruments and favorite songs, can’t you give me a hint?

Top Photo Credit: bluecinema

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Where Thoughts and Opinions Converge

mallet percussion anyone?? lol...i was the only one in my band who played the vibes! o yea lol...

Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute, Drums. favorite song, el camino real, even though it's extremely hard! look it up sometime it's pretty intense. as well ass dixieland. <3 nice fun-loving happy up beat song. I miss marching band the most, concert band is just as fufilling, but i liked having the excersie and the love of playing. it was a win win. xD

No way! i play the trombone 2! sistas 4 life!

Music is and will always will be my favourite subject in school. I play the clarinet, and I have been playing for close to 6 years now. I'm in the senior concert band this year; unfortunately, clarinets are not eligible for the jazz band at my school and we don't offer marching bad, which I would probably do if it was. I'm also a member of music council at my school, which kind of worlds as student council, but exclusively for the music dept. here. Music has opened up so many doors for me as of late an I don't plan in stopping anytime soon. Aside from the benefits you have listed here, I have also improved in terms of leadership skills and in other strands of my academics as well. I have improved in math and science, subjects which have not been my best in the past. Music has so many benefits that aren't even thought of but all in all the musi department is like one big family and that's what I appreciate most. <3

i do not believe that sections hate other sections nor that bands hate other bands. i respect other bands

Eh hasn't this already been published?

NOBODY LIKES THE BARITONES!?! We get along fine with the TUBAS, BARI SAXES, TENOR SAXES, TRUMPETS, and OTHER BARITONES! And we don't hate the trumpets

Alto sax, flute, cymbals, drum major! La Suerta de los Tontos was a favorite piece. Concert band, jazz, marching...i did it all.

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