General News

 By: Miles Cloud 09-02-26

 Our school’s marching band has eighteen members. Compared to other schools, we have the fewest students participating. According to Senior Marching Band member Ven Pierson, “The number of members we have fluctuates quite a bit over the years. From the Class of 2027’s freshman year to now, the number of members has gone from forty to twenty to thirty-two to now eighteen.” Next year will likely be less than that, since Seniors will have graduated. 

Marching band is a great way to make friends, be active, and participate in a school activity. Also, some colleges look at what extracurricular activities you’ve participated in. It would look good on a college application. Learning to play an instrument could also be a fun hobby to pick up! Aside from that, it is just a fun thing to try. If you join our school’s marching band, you can also participate in parades. Our school also does pictures for the marching band. So for Seniors, you would get a banner to take home this year. You can also make new friends in marching band. Do you struggle with social skills? Many of us, during quarantine, lacked the opportunity to develop our social skills. Marching band would be a good way to improve them. Communicating effectively is important for us in adulthood. So why not join something that could help us strengthen that skill?  According to the article “The importance of Marching band” published by the Lions of Michigan All-State Band, “marching band helps boost cognitive development through the improvement of memorization skills, concentration, and listening abilities.” Cognitive abilities are things like listening, perception, or attention to detail. These are important skills, just like Social skills. 

There are some cons, or maybe not; it depends on how you view it. If you join the marching band, there are some things they do over the summer. Like band camp. You’ll have to learn how to read the sheet music. Milo House had told me, “It’s hard to read the sheet music.” Though I can’t confirm if that is true or not since I don’t do either band or marching band. Another con is performing in the heat. We’ve had a few heat advisories these last few months, so I can imagine carrying around an instrument would be less than enjoyable. However, if you like to attend the football games, the band goes to them! You can attend and get a free ride if it's an away game. 

Marching band also has a lot of academic stress as well for some students. It is time-consuming. Depending on which classes you take at Lisbon during the school day, you may go home with a lot of homework and not have any time for marching band. If you work, there is a chance you’ll have to call off some days. Maybe you do other school activities like Basketball, Art club, Spanish club, or are on the football team; you will have to sacrifice some of that practice time for marching band as well. There is also a financial cost to being in the Marching band. For example, you’ll most likely get hungry at the games and have to buy food while there. In some schools, there is a uniform and instrument fee you pay before joining. There is also the issue of choosing which instrument is right for you. Someone may find the trumpet to be easier for them than the flute. Or someone may think the drums are better than the tuba. There are a lot of instruments to choose from if you join the marching band.

Our school could use more members. So if you think marching band is right for you, then sign up!

This year's current marching band members

Photo Credit: Lindsey Peterson