Many mornings this fall I faintly hear the drum beats of a marching band. It brings back memories. No, I am not hearing things in my head. The high school is just down the street.

In my school days, I played clarinet in the band both in elementary and high school. The only time we got to march for anything in elementary school years was in parades. Not only did we have to memorize the music so we could play and try to stay in a straight line while keeping your feet marching correctly with everyone else, but we had to march through a hazardous minefield of horse droppings. The town where I grew up in the west probably had twice as many horses in each parade as people, floats and cars. We looked forward to being in the high school marching band someday because they usually got to lead the parade– ahead of the horses!

In high school, the band also marched at half time on the football field in the fall. But I am sure what we did would look like we were standing still compared to this band:

What creativity!

Do you have marching band memories? What instrument did you play?