Anonymous #1 5w

i remember being shouted at for sitting when we were practicing a part of a song that i didn’t even play during… no, we weren’t on the field marching, it was just sectional time

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Anonymous #2 4w

in band it was mental and physical torture 😭 i lost count of how many times we had members pass out or faint during practices and performances. ambulances had to be called, seizures were had, and we were just supposed to ignore it. i just about had a heat stroke (band moms were tending to me) and my band director was pissed at me for having to rest

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Anonymous #1 4w

one girl developed a HEART CONDITION bc her body was pushed to the limits. she literally had to come to practice wearing a heart monitor

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Anonymous #2 4w

Band is insane. At my school a football player died due to water being withheld as a punishment at practice. After that all coaches were required to attend heat stroke sign lessons and they redid the laws around how long we could go without water and how hot outside was before we had to stay in. Our band director wasn’t considered a coach so he didn’t go. Withheld water for an entire 5 hour practice that we were illegally outside for (heat index over 100° we had to stay in. It was 110°)

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Anonymous #2 4w

Also kept us outside after lightning alarms went off once. Didn’t let us in until lightning struck a tree about 20 yards away and WE all said fuck you and left. He also made us do a body move drill (choreography) that requires a scissor squat so many times I was nearly dragged off the field (knee problems). A student had to stand up, turn around, and yell at him “NO! YOU’RE HURTING US”. I also frequently collapsed and was taken to the hospital via ambulance for heat stroke once :)

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Anonymous #1 4w

I completely dislocated my knee at lower state comp my first year. Band parents couldn’t carry me so they used one of the prop golf carts to transport me to awards. They needed to work so my dad got to sit with me when I won my first major comp. It was amazing. they drove me out to the field after awards to see my friends too. Amazing memory. Except my band director screamed at them for hours over taking care of me like that. So they got a an official medical cart for anyone else who got hurt :)

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Anonymous OP 4w

yep that sounds like band 😭 i hope that director gets fired if he didn’t already. i developed joint pain from overuse and one of my friends has a permanently disfigured spine from a broken drum carrier. i remember having to carry people off the field multiple times from injuries and heat-related issues

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Anonymous #1 4w

my director was in DCI and he treated us like we were in it too

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Anonymous #1 4w

Omg mine I don’t think was but we had enough students in it he acted like we all were. I auditioned for Crusaders before covid shut it down and I aged out. We were in massive debt trying to be dci jr. I loved my band and loved our shows but god we were just kids man. A lot of us have life long pain bc of it. But that’s ok we got our director fired (long story) and he moved to a music school. Though last I heard he works at a Publix meat counter

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Anonymous OP 4w

lmfao after that he deserves nothing better than publix. yeah our shows were great too, crazy production value and we were loved by everyone except the state champions (who were told to be mean to us)

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Anonymous #1 4w

OK WAIT SAME??? Only reason we never came in first was bc they literally paid for lunch for the the state judges every year 😔 we have the same experience fr

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Anonymous OP 4w

yeah they always paid off the judges 😔 they always won the big cash prize every year and we barely scraped by. we slaved away working for the state fair just to afford to wash our uniforms once a year 😭

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Anonymous #1 4w

We just had like $500 band fees and volunteer band parents only 😭

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Anonymous OP 4w

i never had to pay band fees bc they knew i was poor but also their best bass drum player >:D

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Anonymous OP 4w

out of curiosity, what state are you from? it’d be crazy if we were in the same competitions

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Anonymous #1 4w

SC. You?

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Anonymous #1 4w

Also when we couldn’t afford band fees they made us get local business sponsors 😩 there was no way out

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Anonymous OP 4w

WV, so not the same comps, but crazy we had similar experiences. we also had a lot of sponsors and had to do those annoying ass fundraising packets 😭 the school gave us zero funding but the football team ofc had a million dollar field funded by the governor himself

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Anonymous #1 4w

They ever make you sell mattresses? Or worse…dance on the street in the mattress costume 😭 ofc we also had band fruit (BAND FRUUUUIT), and we also had to volunteer for concession hours. Every sports event at my school only had concessions bc band parents and kids worked for free, we paid for all the shit too, as a fundraising event. And we still had to split profits with the football team

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Anonymous OP 4w

oh yeah i remember working the concession stand at football games. i refused to do basketball games bc it got wayyyy too hot and stuffy in the gym. we mostly sold bedsheets and fuzzy socks of all things. thankfully i graduated a year before they did the applebees fundraiser and had to play outside of our local applebees 💀

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Anonymous #1 4w

You’re fucking kidding

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Anonymous OP 4w

i wish i was 😭 they played at our walmart’s grand re-opening after being remodeled to beg for donations too

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Anonymous #1 4w

NOT THE WALMART (ps sorry #2 for doing this under your comment im sure your inbox is not happy rn)

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Anonymous OP 4w

yeah fr sorry #2 😔

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