My First Day of Marching Band! (Storytime w/ EMC) 

The first day of band I was told that as a girl I was not allowed to the play the drums. I was heartbroken as I “drummed” on every surface I touched. I went on to play the trumpet, French Horn and Mellophone. I am 61 years old and just bought my first drum set. I’ve watched a lot of drumming RU-vid videos and bought the rudiment bible. I plan on taking lessons. I maybe terrible but I finally did it.

Good morning! This is video 121 of me asking for a drumline gym made out of various marching percussion instruments, such as the tenor barbell, and bass drumbbells.

We should all know by now EMC was an unstoppable supernatural paragon of drumming ability from the day he was born He's hiding his power

I’d like to let you know that I’ve found the first metal band I’ve ever seen with a flub drum. The singer played the flub drum and timbalitos. They’re called Trollfest.

My first day of marching band. Well, I joined my high schools marching band the summer between 7th and 8th grade. My middle school didn't have one. I wasn't eligible to be in the drumline, but I was able to be in the honor guard. So my first day consisted of learning how to march, how to hold 1/2 of the school's banner, and how to hold a state/national flag. Then the summer between 8th and 9th grade I was in the drumline, on bass. I ended my tenure with the marching band the summer after graduation for a total of 6 years marching, with 5 in drumline. Ended as drumline captain, playing tenors.

I had no idea that marching band was competitive on my first day. I thought it was just some parades or something. It was a pleasant surprise i guess, but I wasn't ready lol

As somehow who hasn’t watched your content since like 2019 (man I’m old), it’s nice to see these storytime stories again

Strong quad player look vs weak snare drummer is so funny LOL. Like the 2 Cool Percussion drum set rack on wheels in the background.

My first day of marching band practice, I walked in to rehearsal and the band was playing “Hey Ya” by OutKast. I thought it was the coolest and loudest thing ever.

I am so old I don't remember all the specifics of my first day of marching band. I do remember that we had two days of freshman band camp before the rest of the group came in. The idea was to catch us up to speed with the returning kids so we (ideally) wouldn't hold the group back as we got into marching shape. These days were all marching basics, no instruments, so it was a surprise to get into full-band rehearsals and learn I was the only freshman saxophone. The downside was I had no one to commiserate with during sectionals about having to learn so much new stuff. The upside was that my section had a junior drum major and two section leaders plus the bulk of the band officers, so all the new stuff I was learning was way more than any other freshman did. Like, to the point that I won a band-wide drill-down during that first week. I think it's the earliest a freshman had ever done it. Pretty sure the drum major was trying to get me out with a command I had no business knowing yet, one my section leaders said we probably wouldn't do. But it only confused the upperclassmen still in, and they had to chase after me to tell me I'd won after they all realized, "oh dip, mo did the thing and none of us did."

i remember my first day of practice, we didn't even have drums on just marching and my back hurt. but i stuck with it and ended up playing tenors for many years. the shot of the the snare complaing about back pain next to a tenor player is all too real

Story time! I’m in 8th grade this year, and I had the opportunity to join my schools marching band for percussion. I decided not to, since I wasn’t interested in marching back then, but I got really interested in it around october. So, I begged the director to let me join my schools WGI Winds group in percussion. Since I was one of the only ones there who didn’t do fall marching band, I had no idea what warmups were, so I had to figure out the warmup routine, across the floors, and sectionals. We didn’t have a “what the heck is happening class” because everyone there knew what the heck was happening! It is now 3 weeks from championships, and I’m happy to report that they gave me Vibes 1 (no marimba’s in the show). I’m just happy that i figured it all out… To clarify: my school has no indoor percussion since all of our eggs are going into Winter Wind’s basket.

I am actually the first class at my high school! (I'm a junior rn) But my first season we didn't even march. The drumline just stood there the whole show. It sucked because my back also killed me (I was on snare) but I think it was good we didn't march because we could focus on technique, and so by my sophomore year I had taught myself quads, and that is what I march now 💪

“oh this [snare drum] is so heavy, why did nobody tell me this would be the heaviest thing ever” As a freshman tenor drummer this got me rolling 💀

I was in Twp marching band from 1998-2002. I vividly remember the first practice with the entire band, we did a drill in which the entire ensemble was marching in a circle and would change direction by doing touch and goes. I had no idea what I was doing and had a tech following me around trying to keep me from wrecking the whole circle.

Guys gather around the campfire, Eric uploaded a new storytime!

Video 3 of our quest for the ultimate tenor flub line! My idea would be to take apart a set of tenors. Each of the drums would go on their own carrier or stand. Each player would get their own notes like a bass line or like normally play a set of tenors.

I marched at brick memorial 2001-2005, Been to your school a few times, crazy we may have crossed paths lol im 37, awesome content, keep up the great work.

Love your story telling. Go Navy!

I played tuba all through high school. I was lucky enough that both of my siblings went to the same school before me, and were also in band, so I had contacts, and the tuba player that was already there kind of showed me the ropes before I started freshman year. It was a good time, but we did have a set we simply referred to as "The Death Set". It was 4 8-to-5 steps back, with a hip-switch towards left field around the quads. It was a trial by fire for me, and I definitely had to apologize to the quad player more than once. Turns out, they don't appreciate a sousaphone bell to the head.

Good morning!!! I approve this

I love EMC storytime

I had dreams of being in a marching band in high school but my school didn't have one so i never did it. Now I enjoy living these dreams vicariously through your youtube channel, which is all of the fun but with none of the effort or back pain!

Drum line of only different pitches cowbells

Ooh, I do like a good storytime. Manny's expression towards the wimps around him will never get old, lol. He does not suffer fools gladly! I never did marching band myself, because in 8th grade, the two junior highs in my city got together to play Mission: Impossible and YMCA at the high school's football halftime one Friday night, and we marched onto the field, stood there and played (I was on trumpet), then marched off. I hated it. I hated it so, so much that I swore I'd never do it again. I loved concert band, though.

Similar story here.. we walked over from my junior high to percussion camp where we met the hs drumline for the first time and got to try the instruments out. I showed up with SD1 concert sticks and we played 8’s, where I proceeded to whack the absolute crap out of the drum because I was nervous. Main difference is I got cut and played cymbals my freshman year

I’m marching bass 1 in 5 days and I can’t wait

Drum go boom!

Washington Township represent 🔥

Hello from one of the neon kids from WGI!

I started out on bass. The worst part is that I couldn’t hold my bass drum after our lunch break. So, there I was with my drum on a stand while everyone else was doing just fine. I ended my senior year on the tenors and the squad leader for the drum section at Springfield North High School in Ohio. I miss those times.

MORE STORYTIME

I'm in a marching band in the Netherlands. More like a brass band actually. What a shock it was at the first reheasal with everyone haha! I learned the traditional grip at the beginning so I became very good at it, bit I still can't do the fast thumb thing with my left hand😂 Also love the way how snare drummers need to march sideways with the crossing legs.

Interesting video

My 1st day of marching band, I was unsure about marching band so I came in 4 days late to clinics they gave me the pit or drumline question which I had no clue what either of them where. I ended up getting thrown on Bass Drum and It was fun. Its now my sophomore year and I now play Timpani in front ensemble.

I remember my first day I couldn't talk when I was wearing the quads because it was so heavy lol

I had to learn how to read basic music, because it had been 2 years since I had done anything school wise, because I went homeschooled, then came back, so there I was, put on bass drum, and it was pretty cool. I was eager to learn and I did really well, especially compared to the other bass drums, who wanted to be on something else and didn't really care. I wanted to be on something else, too, but I understood how it was, because I was gone for so long, and I had to get used to it. Now the year has ended, and I, as well, am moving to quads, because I love it, my brother played them, and my best friend plays them, and I'm learning really well. Cya!

My first day of marching band was like 8 months ago lol I dont march drumline (or even touch percussion instruments) so this story is interesting to listen to

Thanks for the remainder that playing in the school band is not all that bad if you have a great music teacher and not one that thinks you're no good. Which I did when I started out, the first music teacher I had told me you have no musical coordination and move on! But I never gave up stuck with playing percussion until I decided to move on myself because of work and money!! But I wish I could go back and play in a band!!

I just met EMC at Springford High school!!

So my first marching band practice was during the second week of band camp. I wasn't able to get my physical signed by the doctor because they were worried about putting me in 90 F weather when my resting heart rate was about 100 bpm. I started the second week because the band directors were like "ay, we need you" so I said "aight bet." Keep in mind, our band camp days were about 12 hours long (8:00--20:00). I started on cymbals, since every other instrument was filled out. Before we got actually cymbal straps, we used the sleeves of last year's uniform (they were spandex-like shirts) and they were near impossible to hold. As soon as we moved to actual cymbal straps, I got moved to snare. The old snare player quit cause it was apparently a lot on her schedule (I get it completely, some days I just slog through Indoor Drumline practice), which was fortunate for me because I hated cymbals. Everyone who played snare for like the past 3 years was afraid to use traditional grip, because they don't really teach it in my band. I just learned it myself, and I'm still not great at it. Tricks are still kinda hard to pull off, and I can barely hit left handed rim shots. Now I gotta be captain because I'm the only one capable of playing all the instruments we have (even though I've only been doing band since Sophomore year, now a Junior). I think they're giving the option to choose whether or not to do competition band stuff and football game stuff, rather than having to do both. If that is the case, I'll probably just to football games.

I found this pretty interesting to say the least. My first day in marching band started with seeing the tenors. All I knew was they were 6 drums stuck together and looked like fun. I thoroughly regretted that however once I put them on and had to start marching with them. Eventually they put me on Bass 5 instead and I enjoyed that. Unfortunately, for the winter season I was cut from bass line 😢 and moved to pit. (This is my first year and we’re going for open class champions for a 2nd year)

My first band day i didnt play anything and was marching terribly, it looked like i was dancing rather than marching, i went on to play the surdo, where i was beating it so hard the leather ripped open, then i started to play the trumpet, where it sounded like it was farting initially, but then i got the hang of it and im still playing it to this day.

I’m on alto sax and actually my rookie season was my seventh grade year and I caught on pretty quickly and I didn’t do too bad

Beast mode

I didn’t march Township but I taught there in the summer/fall of 2001 😊

THE QUADS GUY IS SO REAL LMAOOO

emc im am in seventh grade and i made the marching band and indoor drumline as a bass drum

I remember the first time I put on my bass drum, I thought I was gonna die😂

My first day of band camp was odd, not to mention I was actually a few days late for band camp😅 but when I got there, they had already mostly assigned instruments so I was just stuck in pit and was put on vibe. I hated it with a passion because I wanted snare but I kind of grew the hang of it and got better. But right before we went into full band camp(we also had sectional band camp days) I was pulled out due to certain reasons🥲 so I wasn’t in marching band this year(freshman year) I was sad but in the middle of the year there was indoor season, I wanted to try out for tenor(even tho I had absolutely no experience💀) but no shocker I didn’t make tenor, but guess what I was put on…vibe. Ofc I was, I was pissed but what made it worse was I had to start off our show. But I also got used to that and thought it was cool. Now that season is over and it’s almost the end of the school year I need to decide what I want to do for marching next year. I cannot figure it out cuz I really like battery but for my grade I’m really good on marimba. So I don’t know which to choose😭 Also sorry for such a long story😅

I honestly don't remember much about my first day of marching band. Leading up to it though, I had been playing the alto sax for a little under two years. In my district, you can start doing elementary school band in 3rd grade, but I wasn't in the district until 5th grade, so that's when I started playing the alto. My marching band is grades 7-12. About a week or two before the first rehearsal of the year, I remember being told that I should join marching band. I don't think I told my parents I'd join marching band until like an hour and a half before the first rehearsal. In the first rehearsal, we just went over basic marching technique and played some exercises and a little bit of the show music. I did my high school's marching band all six years and I've done two years in college and planning on doing it again next year! I was also in my high school's winter percussion ensemble for four years, doing pit. Making the decision to join marching band in 7th grade was the best decision I have ever made in my life!

My son just had tryouts for middle school concert band. I’m a drummer obviously I’m here, and my wife is a pianist and played clarinet in concert. My son’s best instrument was percussion, he knows how to hold the sticks and he knows basic rudiments. He wants to play trumpet…😢 and yeah, going from my 5a/747 sticks to the hardimons was tough at first.

We don't have legatos or 8 on a hand, but we do have 6 8 7, which I think is the equivalent. Starts with 4 bars of 4/4, 4 bars of 3/4, then 2 bars if 7/4. 8th notes

I was lucky enough to start marching this year and I’m in 8th grade so when I get to high school it won’t be as hard to learn how to march

My first parade I marched in I played cymbals. Half way through, right in the middle of a song, I heard a child exclaim excitedly "Look mommy, her zipper is open!" Sure enough, my zipper was wide open, and with my hands full of cymbals and mid song, I could do nothing to remedy that. I had to wait til the song ended and then tuck the cymbals under one arm while marching and somehow fumble with my zipper all before the next song started. It was traumatic for a 12 yr old kid. I did accomplish getting my zipper closed, but it tainted my first marching experience.

This Dude Is A Funny Nut! I Get A Kick Out Of Him

you should do your first football game and competition

So I didnt start band until last year in 9th grade and i was put on marimba in like a beginner percussion type thing so i didnt start marching band until this year, and I was honestly kinda trash But our teachers explained things that I needed to know and taught me 4 mallet technique for the first time and during indoor season Ive gotten really good. More detail on the actual first day: I was given music for vibes and theres was a 6th note run at like 100 bpm and o struggled to figure out the notes hard It took me for ever to get caught up too cause I didnt join until the last day of band camp, so I hadnt learned any of the music But I eventually got it.

1:46 The first high school on the second list is my high schools rival

LOS BANOS!!!!!

It was the same way with me when I was playing snare

I still don’t know how but I was picked to play snare my freshman year then moved onto a quad my sophomore year and finally the trio my junior/senior years. The worst part of playing snare was we used slings not harnesses to carry them and you always ended up getting a huge bruise on your leg where the drum kept smacking you. One pair of trios I had were rototoms and the frickin’ frame was so heavy I thought my back was going to break.

I literally did one day of band camp and quit. I don’t really regret it lol but maybe I should’ve done it? I did cross country instead and that was still lots of fun.

First day of marching band, I thought I knew everything. Ended up getting typical freshman award at the end of the season....

I literally marched world class and had no idea why front ensemble was called pit 💀

I can only imagine how hard traditional grip must’ve been at first. My band played matched but as a right handed person my left hand is already a bit stupid, so throwing a new grip on top of that? Oof.

No marching for us. We were the sit in the stands “pep” band. This was good for me as I would not have made it. Everyone in concert band was required to do both so onward we went just fumbling along.

my ,first day at band i was planning to be bass drum but the trainor made me band leader i was not ready bruh

I didnt do band in middle school so I was starting from nothing. They were going to have me do rack in the pit, but appearantly we lost a 5th bass drum player (line of 6) so they took me and one one other kid on rack and decided to face us off against each other. He was a decent bit better at playing than me, but he couldnt hold the drum 😅 so I got the spot

This is video number 9 of me asking you to make a bass drum a snare drum, maybe snases?

my first day of marching band i literally could not mark time

Yippie

My first band is actually a i don't know what's the move in the drum major move it's so hard

next vid: fenor drums (flub tenors) if possible

Hey i need some trad grip help. so when i naturally go to it my palm faces at like a 110 degree angle, and someone told me it has to be a 90 degree angle. is that true?

donu ahve snare classes?

Well, we almost had a fight with Washington Township locals in 90. Does that count?

I think everyone thought double stroke notations meant buzzes at first

Day 1 of asking you to somehow make a marching marimba (or xylophone)

Ours was 8 on a hand then 8 on the other hand and then 16 on the first hand, then swap Note: I’m on summer brake and not in high school yet, I’m talking about what I did at rookie camp

Day 1 of asking for you to do a review on the pearl snare harness

As an instructor from the Netherlands, I'm really curious about how the learn the first marching basics, does anyone mind to share their ideas? Are there any theory books about this?

Michael Jordan of marching band lol

If you would've watched videos of Buddy Rich, you would've known traditional grip.

Your high school drumline wouldn't happen to have been taught by a dude named Scott Daley, would it? My high school drumline used the same legatos exercise when it was still being taught by him.

hi

Oorah

Marching snare would’ve been awesome for school, i only marched bass and was section leader my second year, fast forward half a year after that and our snare r complaining about a piece being hard, Me the bass drummer: “really, i sightread the snare part with minimal errors” I’m moving over to snare for the rest of the season and i told the drum tech, “if u want to change the snare part do it for the other 2, i can play it” Also our tenor part is shit i already rewrote part of it for our tenor player because there were some cross overs for like 2 and 3 as well as a descending triplet measure which i said just make it some multi stroke passage so u can actually play through it

Video 239 of asking for a Video of you playing exactly 69420 Notes 181 to go

I am actually in marching band well, not right now because marching band is happening yet, but i'm in my school marching band Though I play trumpet so what I'm not doing. The exact same stuff that you would be

Have you ever marched cymbal each hand is so heavy

Indoor Percussion leave a like 😂

This is video #61 of requesting Eric to do another "Behind the Gock Block" Episode. 🔥🥁🔥 At least Manny McMann is in this video... Close! But it is not the same as "Behind the Gock Block!"

I'm not a marching person, or have any musical knowledge at all. I watch Eric because he makes fun videos. Can someone explain why he didn't manage to get a spot in the Old Guard? Is it: 1. politics and who you know/recommendation, 2. others were just better, 3. something else? Because he has mad skills, so I'm wondering what is the reason?

😮

Lego tenors???

Day 100 of asking for sleigh bell tenors

Oh storytime! I love storytime!!! I'm going into my freshman year this fall and going to do drumline too. Very good video to prepare me for the physical challenge. But god damn those marching snare drums do sure look heavy. (oh and btw, what are tenor drums and marching bass drums?)

My first day of Marching Band Freshman year of high school, my friends told me that i should join marching band, and i was like "ehhhhh" because the band lowkey sucked. After some coaxing i ended up joining and i joined percussion. Our school did not have a drumline... EVER. there was only a pit because there were always like 8 percussionists. i was on the xylo and had no clue of what i was doing. i just went along with the flow. i didnt even know anybody there and long story short i am now percussion captain and we have a drumline now (i marched snare) PS we still suck ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7HsAmsUAmCU.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Aq6wmcFw53w.html for those of you who actually read this, these are my first two shows

use all the trnor you have and play you,er introl