“It is not like athletics, you just play an instrument.” It is harder than that. Straight leg marching hurts your knees. In addition, band members must straight leg march backwards and it's hard, because they may feel like they will fall. When that happens the band director says, “Squeeze the cherry and you won't fall,” which means squeeze your butt.

People in football or anything like that always say band is so easy, it's not. During summer in 100° weather we go outside and march on turf, and it is like 15° hotter plus you're in the sun. Our band director only gives us one 10 minute break each day. Then when it comes to marching to go to area during the summer we have to wear thick black cotton uniforms and gloves. In football they run and have like 2 hour practice, we do a 6 hour practice. Then when football players play they get to have break sometimes and drink water, and band doesn't get a break or water.

The only time it is easy is during concert season, because we get to sit in a chair. The band director still does not go easy. If you talk the band director puts us in set for like 5-10 minutes, and when I get to put my arms down they hurt. The music is a little easier but is still hard. When we are playing we still have to do the perfect horn angle. The flute has to be parallel to the ground, and it weighs 5 pounds. Holding a 5 pound flute parallel for 10 minutes is hard. They tend to go lower with your angle. To keep tempo we tap our foot. Tapping your foot for 10 minutes is not as easy as people think. The best thing about concert season is we get to win a trophy, if we worked hard enough.

Even during concert season we still don’t get a water break. I play my music over and over again and my mouth becomes dry from playing. We still get demerits in concert season. If we don’t do our demerits then we don't get a 3rd quarter break, which means you have to stay in the stands for 3rd quarter. Not having a 3rd quarter break is not fun, because we just got done marching and its like 8:30 and I want to get something to eat. We also get a demerit for not having our horn, being late, and not having our practice log signed on friday.

Practice logs are what we get, and have to practice at least 1 hour a week. Sometimes it is hard because we have a lot of homework to do. If we are in other activities we have stuff for that to, and sometimes we have to stay after school. I don't have a lot of time to practice my instrument, but I have to do it anyway or I get a demerit. Then we have to have a parent sign it, and sometimes we forget but we still get a demerit unless our section leader trusts you enough.

The best thing about band is I get more friends and we become close and become like family. When we go to state or win a trophy we cry happy tears. If we lose we cry when we leave, because I have been working so hard to win and we lose. I lose seniors that I love and always look up to or ask questions. The band and the director come close and when it is their last year as a band director and we lose at area everyone cries. If the band director says “I’m always going to remember this day,” and he starts crying and you're fixing to perform you cry.
Band is not as easy as people say, and at times it is easy but is still hard. I made friends and family I can trust and talk to. Sometime the band cries when they lose their band director, lose at area, finals, state, or when they don’t win a trophy during concert season. Band is fun and hard.

During marching it qualifies as a sport, so whenever someone says band is not even close to a sport I get to say everything we do. Then some of them are like “I didn’t know ya’ll did all that,” and some are still like “It is still a sport.” It does not matter whether it is a sport or not. We are active a lot. We should not care what other people think. If we think it is a sport then it can be a sport. The other people have not experience marching band, so they don’t know what it is like. They should not judge a book by its cover, because the cove does not always show what it is like. What other people say is not always true. Marching can be a sport.

Not every sport has to have a ball. A sport can something where you have to work in the burning sun. Where you have to have balanced marching backwards, sideways, or even forward. Even when we have to hold instrument that weigh 5-15 pounds for 10 minutes. It can also be when we wear a uniform.

Marching is not just about marching. It is also about color guard. They have to run with their toes up, and that is not easy. They have to be able to throw a pound flag in the air just right and catch it right to. We also have to be able to pick up other people. Color guard also risk running into instruments, hitting the people, and running into to band kids who are marching. It hurts when we run into each other, because you can’t stop you just have to deal with it and keep going. Is does not matter whether a another person thinks it is a sport or not. It only matters if i think it is.