Picture this: It’s a cool, dark Friday night football game. The crowd is roaring with shouts and cheers; the players are running across the field. The home team just scored a touchdown! But… what’s missing?
The marching band, of course! They’re the backbone of the crowd spirit, and they provide some pretty good entertainment. It might not seem like anything special for those who haven’t been in a band before. But for those who have, they know the intense feeling that can rush through your body when you play your final note and look up with a smile at the crowd. It often seems that high school bands and even college bands get much less appreciation than other school sports do. Sometimes, marching band isn’t even acknowledged as a real sport, even though countless hours of work go into perfecting a field show for performance.
Matthew Morgan is the band director for North Marion High School near Fairmont, West Virginia. He believes the arts are less appreciated now because people have certain expectations of what art is, and marching bands don’t always align with those expectations.
“I think [the arts are] less [appreciated], and it’s kind of proven that it’s less because of the last 40-50 years, music education and music literacy has gone down.” he said.
The result is a kind of spiral, according to Dr. Alyssa Schwarz, Director of Bands at Fairmont State University. As bands become smaller, music programs shrink. “I don’t know what started it, but now we’re in a cycle of cutting the arts, so there aren’t as many people in it, so there’s not as much interest, so we cut it.”
And this issue isn’t limited to West Virginia; it’s a growing concern across the nation. Despite their apparent decline in popularity, being in marching or concert band is very beneficial and important to most students and teachers who participate.
“Not just about playing music”
Drawing from my own experiences in high school band, I can definitely say that we all spent a lot of time together; sometimes, maybe too much. But I can also definitely say that the majority of my close friends were also in the band. Having such close, in-person friendships with so many people was very beneficial during a time of increasing online isolation. For many students, band means more than just a space for them to express themselves through music.
Trinity Arnold is currently a senior percussionist in the North Marion High School Band who joined band in the eighth grade. She originally joined because her brother told her to, and she only began to really care about it during her freshman year after band camp.
Now, she said, band is a vital part of her life. “I love music; it’s an outlet for me; I get to meet a lot of people and do the things I love for fun,” she said. But, she added, being in the band is not just about playing music. “It’s about learning to be responsible and other life lessons.”
North Marion Band Director Morgan agrees. “Band is important because it builds so many of those interpersonal relationships and leadership skills,” he said. Positions like field commander and section leader give students the experience of leading and instructing a group of their peers. Students also learn how to work in a large group and develop teamwork skills. “These are all things that, in all reality, a lot of people look for on job applications,” he said.
Band can also feel like family; a second family, or a safe space for students to find comfort in. We all care about each other, and we all try our best for each other,” said Arnold.
Those close-knit relationships continue in college. “There are a lot of people whose big support base happens within the band,” said Schwartz. “A lot of band students are roommates with each other, and they do all these things together.”
Fundraising is a necessity for band programs
So obviously, there are still people who recognize that the arts are important, and there’s a lot of inside support for them, but there’s still a funding gap.
West Virginia is not a wealthy state, and that means less funding for the arts overall. But Schwartz and Morgan both said their local administrators are supportive of their programs.
“The current dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Dean James Matthew, has been super supportive and has helped the band a lot,” said Schwartz. At North Marion, band director Morgan said that his principals have been willing to pay for bus transportation for the band. There is also some county funding.
But, he adds, the [band] boosters and the band probably pay for a majority of what we use on a year-to-year basis.”
Bands and booster organizations are the primary source of revenue for most bands in West Virginia, covering expenses. At North Marion, the band runs football and soccer concession stands. Band boosters also host bingo events and sell spaghetti dinner tickets. Band student Arnold said those efforts raise good money, but she wishes they raised more.
At Fairmont State, Schwartz said the Fairmont State University Foundation is the band’s “number one” way to raise funds. We can ask for donations, we can do fundraising campaigns, and the biggest thing we do every year is Day of Giving,” said Dr. Schwartz. The Kappa fraternity also helps with smaller fundraising efforts for the band.
With all that being said, be sure not to take your local school bands for granted, as they put in copious amounts of work to entertain at events.
You can learn more about Fairmont State University’s bands through its website and Facebook page. The North Marion High School Band also maintains a website and Facebook page.
