Even with a drum saving Sarah’s boyfriend from being squished by a teen driver, I forget that we’ve been doing band camp for three years now. It has poured rain every day this week, but the band is still marching, every day, in the monsoon, from 8 in the morning until 8:30 or 9 every night. Yesterday, I sat in the office of another high school waiting for my appointment as a dazed parent wandered in the center of the school preparation chaos.
“Can I help you?”
“Um, yes. My daughter is a freshman, err, is going to be a freshman and doesn’t want to come to band camp anymore. How do I get band off her class schedule?”
“Well, the guidance counselor is away for training all week. Maybe you can reach her by e-mail.”
“Oh, uh, thanks. We’re going home now.”
“Good luck.”
I squirmed in my chair and bit my tongue so that I didn’t blurt, “You AND your child need to go talk to the band director right now.”
Why so intensive in just one week? Why not spread it out more?
The guard girls and percussion are on their second week of all day camp. This week is the first practice for the rest of the band. After tomorrow’s all day practice, they will go to Tuesday, Thursday and Friday practices until November. I don’t know why they do it this way, but all the schools seem to follow the one week of what would otherwise be described as band hazing.
From a former band camp participant, I would guess one reason they need this intensive one week schedule is for the marching routines and tunes for football season which start up immediately when school starts.
I didn’t see what was the big deal, it’s summer camp. We went away for a week to TN Tech in Cookville. Our parents did not go with us, they got a week break from at least one child.
Don’t really remember any “hazing”, on the girls’ side anyway.
Hey, marching band kept us active. It even kept us out of gym class for most of the 4 years of high school.
I was being sarcastic when I called it band hazing. The one week of 12 hour days always seems to drive half a dozen students away from band. The ones that stay treat band camp like a badge of courage. They compare sunburns, skinned knees and blisters. “Well, I’m so sun burnt, my EYELIDS are peeling.”