The “Stay Positive” shirts is a new tradition started in 2013. The Leadership Team gets shirts to remember to stay positive during rehearsals. Photo by Bryan Ames.

By: Eric Matthew Burch

One can imagine sitting at the Blueberry Festival, watching the parade. A  Popsicle has melted in minutes from the extreme heat and the parade has started. The Pride of Plymouth marching band is up first, and they are wearing full uniforms. With sweat dripping down their faces, one might think that this is the hardest part of the activity.

The marching bands meets for two weeks from 1pm until 9pm in the summer. After that, they start doing four hour rehearsals until school starts. Once school starts, there are two, three hour rehearsals per week. Each band member exerts energy while executing physical activity. Band students get a physical education credit as long as they meet the hour requirement.  The question of whether band is a sport has been defined by some.  Freshman John Mills defines a sport as when “you compete for something and you practice all day and night.” While Mills believes that the definition of a sport has to do with how much energy you put out, sophomore Jennifer Sayer defines it as “something that challenges you both physically and mentally.” Bringing in a different aspect, freshman Joshua Hildebrand said that he “would define a sport as something that can be done for competition and requires practice.”

One might wonder about what happens at “band camp.” For example, one might think that the bands could just march in lines for 8 hours nonstop. Sophomore Shawnee Buchert proves that this is not the case. She said, “It’s a lot of constantly doing something and moving around for eight long hours in the hot sun on a hot blacktop. You do some of the same things over and over again so that you can get better at them and improve.” Junior Morganne Kviz has also attended a band camp. Kviz said that the evening 3 hour rehearsals are also challenging. She goes on to say, “We go inside, fill up water bottles, grab instruments, binders and props, pit percussion, and head outside. We then stretch, and do exercises to get warmed up, and then we head straight into rehearsal. He says [to do it again] one more time, we do it ten more times to make sure it’s perfect. We reset, and we reset, and we reset, and we reset again. We put smaller chunks together with other smaller chunks, and end up running over half the show ten times. It’s exhausting, but everyone strives to be better. Mr. Ames or Ms. Wallyn gives us feedback, and we try our best to make it better than the last time. While the practice schedule says 6:00 to 9:00, in reality, it’s 5:30 to 9:30.” Junior Shayla Beagle said that she is not in band, but she has attended a rehearsal because her sister was the 2013 drum major. She said, “Most of the time the students are on the black pavement in the parking lot during the summer practicing their show. Even holding instruments they can work just as hard as someone on the varsity basketball team. Mr. Ames keeps them in line and is very avid with correcting their mistakes.”

The Pride of Plymouth marching band waited to hear the results after their Indiana State Finals Championship Competition. Photo contributed by: Eric Burch

There are those who can argue that marching band is not a sport. Sophomore Jennifer Sayer feels that the only reason that there are those who do not believe that it is a sport is because “[people who think differently than me] don’t realize how difficult and challenging marching band really is since they don’t experience it themselves. They only look at what they know from movies or the “band nerd” stereotype.” Junior Caleb Mikesell said that he does not believe it is a sport because “there’s nothing athletic about it.” Sophomore Conor Matthews has similar feelings, as he says that “it is like golf, anyone can do it and be good at it.” Substitute teacher Shirley Gidley believes in both sides. She said she “think[s] of marching band as an art. Now, it is athletic in the sense of movement, but it is also one of the arts which includes theatre, dance, music/musicals, and the artistic talents.”

The students, who believe that marching band is a sport, had their arguments for the people who do not believe that marching band is a sport. Hildebrand made his case with facts that he found. “People say that it isn’t a sport because it doesn’t require as much physical activity. There was a recent study that I heard about that stated marching percussionists can have as much air intake as marathon runners. Now to give you an idea, percussionists have the least amount of air intake than any other person in the marching band. That means that all wind instruments blow away the amount of air that marathon runners use.” Along with facts, there were those who used ethos to show their opinions. Kviz said, “You try jazz running across the field at a hundred eighty beats per minute with a tuba and tell me it doesn’t involve physical exertion.”

In the end, whether one believes that marching band is a sport or not is truly up to the individual. However, the line in which what one can define a sport may continue to blur for years to come.