The marching band spends a couple weeks before the start of school to prepare for basics and for the ability to build stamina, in which they call band camp. They usually meet the Friday before marching band camp to prepare for the schedule and to gather necessary items like music and paperwork, as well as the uniform. The dates that the marching band camp runs usually occurs a week and a half before the first day of school, and anytime after that they meet on Wednesdays and Thursdays for rehearsals in preparation for football games and parades. They usually meet from 3-8 pm with dinner and water breaks included, as well as time to learn the basics and practice on the field and in the band room. It usually takes place in the band room in the music wing right near Exit 9, as well as in the parking lot near that area and both the main stadium and the auxiliary field. If any student wants to join after band camp ends, they can let Mrs. Kline know and the marching band will gladly welcome them.
Students who participate also do not need to know an instrument to join. They can join the color guard and learn how to toss different sizes of flags or rifles. Usually, the color guard also has a week where they specifically learn the basics of being a color guard, including the proper stance and way to toss and spin what they use, which is much more complicated than some people realize.
There is a big thing the marching band does during band camp to show what they learned, and that is called the ‘march-off’. The march-off is where everyone shows off their different learned marching band skills like turning right in place and marching backwards, but the speed gradually grows.
Mrs. Kline is the marching band director here at Hamburg area high school, and she joined in on the idea of marching band camp from other schools because the group wouldn’t be prepared for the football games if the camp didn’t exist. To choose the music the marching band plays, Mrs. Kline and several other staff members pick a theme for the show tunes, like the current one called ‘Favorite flashbacks.’ The original theme for this year was Micheal Jackson’s top hits like Dirty Diana, Thriller, and Beat it, but Dirty Diana was out of availability and the group already does Thriller for parades. This is Mrs. Kline’s eleventh year doing band camp at Hamburg, and she loves to watch the group’s growth over the week and a half they spend together, as well as the bonds they have created. The only small hurdles to marching band are the ability to not be able to control the weather, and the need to adapt to everyone’s schedules, since most students are in several other extracurricular activities as well. In her words, “marching band is an immersion of Music and drill, as well as the team building and bonding experiences.” She says that marching band “50% music and dill, and 50% friendship building and teamwork, and overall, learning to be good humans.” The marching band is welcome to any student from eighth grade through twelfth.
