It Is What It Is: Back In The Day Part 2

When I was a clarinet player and then Drum Major in the North Hunterdon Golden Lions Marching Band... back in the day... we did not do many competitions. Maybe because I grew up in rural NJ and there weren't that many around. Maybe it wasn't the big business it is today. Or maybe I just don't remember

It went like this:

Go to band camp in the summer.
Make new friends (shout out to my oldest, coolest and dearest friend, Audrey, who I met at band camp before freshman year)
Learn how to march and play the songs which were both musically and technically challenging.
Get your uniform (which we kept all season, dry clean when necessary, or not)
Practice after school two or three days per week
Be ready to play at the first football game
Play the half time show at ALL the home football games
Perform a pre-game show at ALL away football games.
March in ALL kinds of weather, pouring rain, snow, it didn't matter. And the mud - oh the mud. With white shoes for the band and go-go boots for the girls on the band front. (no boys)
When we went somewhere, we showed up in uniform, packed ALL our stuff up in some school buses about 1 hour before game time and away we went.
Cost: Free with enrollment. (or the cost of your instrument if the school didn't have one you could borrow)
Fundraising: The ever popular band candy! Not much else that I can remember except maybe the snack bar?

This is what I learned volunteering at the Mira Mesa Tournament yesterday:

Call time 5:30 am.
Parent pick up time 1 am THE NEXT DAY!!! (Shout out to ALL the volunteers who made it through that marathon! And there were many!)
Kids had to prepare for the tournament and perform in a parade
They worked shifts in concessions, worked in the kitchen, picked up trash and tons of other stuff I have no idea about.

My boy, Andrew, working the concession stand
They arrive in the pre-clothes and uniforms are managed by a cracker jack team of parents who dress the kids before a performance and undress them immediately afterwards. They uniforms are kept meticulously clean by not allowing the kids to eat or even SIT in them unless there is paper on the bleachers.
Bands and equipment arrive in CUSTOM SEMI'S or in Mira Mesa's case carpools and rental trucks.
Roadies (or band parents) number close to 50 in some cases.
They have props like you wouldn't believe! Roman columns and a Tiki Volcano anyone???
Color guard or the band front as we called them had multiple changes of flags, poles, guns, sabers and who knows what else!
There is a complete pit orchestra that play in the front of the band!
They practice daily BEFORE school as well as after school to learn musically and technically challenging.pieces. I can hear them in the morning at my house.
There is a pep band that plays in the stands at the first few football games. The marching show is not even broken out until somewhere around Homecoming.
Cost: Some bands have fees over $1000!!!! I hear Mira Mesa is the most reasonable at about $350 and by state law that can't be mandatory. I guess that's why no custom semi for them.
Fundraising: Tons and Always. Candy, Wrapping paper, Dudley's bread, restaurant nights, Sponsor your kid at a rehearsal-a-thon, the tournament and more I don't even know about!