Marking Time

I marched in the band in High School and College.  I was on the drumline both places.  I had the great fortune to march under directors that believed a band should move not “park and bark.”  There are several styles of marching but both bands I marched in used the traditional military style.  We marched an 8×5 step – which means you take 8 equally measured steps for every 5 yards travelled.  If you are moving North and South on a football field you will “hit” the yard markers in step, uniformly every time as one solid unit – IF everyone is marching correctly.  You practice this step in the North – South direction so you get the feel for the equally measured distance.  Once you know that feel you can move in other directions on the field and still be perfectly uniform.  This is how you form the shapes and designs on the field without flaw.

Learning a new show takes time, patience, and dedication.  Most High School bands will learn one show per year.  They will learn one song to march to and then stand still or “mark time” for all the others.  A couple of weeks later they will march to two songs and stand still or mark time for the rest.  By the end of the season they will have learned to march to all the songs – IF they are not a “park and bark” band.  In college, we learned a new show for every home game.  And not just any show, difficult designs like circles and flowers along with difficult music like Malaguenia.

The “park and bark” band is one that will make a shape then stand still while playing music in that shape.  Then they make another shape and stand still.  They are not fluid, they are not continuous, and they usually are not musically talented either.  You get a lot of brass and blaring.  I guess some folks like that.  I don’t.  I think the band should move and move continuously.  That isn’t to say they never stop but they shouldn’t stop for long and they should “mark time” while they are stopped.

Marking time is like running in place.  You are lifting your legs in time to the music as if moving across the field but you are remaining in one spot.  You can mark time with a low march (raising your feet only), a high march (feet to your knees), a half-time march (one foot moves every 2 beats instead of every beat giving a type of slow motion effect), or fast time (one foot moves every half beat giving a fast forward effect).  The idea is to keep moving even when you aren’t moving.  Being on the drumline I did a lot of Marking Time.  The drumline in a High School band usually stays together as a clump and only moved up and down the 50 yard line.  In college we stayed together but not as a clump.  We didn’t venture too far off the 50 yard line but we still made shapes and designs like the rest of the band.  But most of the time the drumline is stationary and marking time.

Now every Friday night in HS and every Saturday in college I was prepared for the show.  I knew my music, my visuals, and my route on the field.  I knew when to move, when to stop, when to turn, when to mark time, and when to march.  I knew when to crash the cymbals, choke the cymbals, hold the cymbals for the snare drummers, and when to flash and wave the cymbals.  But you never would have known that the moment my feet hit the sideline waiting for the drum major to whistle us off to start the show.  EVERY SINGLE PERFORMANCE – I was scared to death.  I believed in that moment on the sideline that I had forgotten the entire show.  My heart would race, my knees would knock, my throat would get dry, my hands would sweat.  I just knew that I would turn the wrong way, crash when I should choke, fan when I should wave.  I was a petrified mess.

BUT – in 8 years of marching I never once missed a note, a step, a turn, a visual, nothing – I never flubbed a single moment of a performance.  My body went into memory mode and the show just happened.  I cannot remember most of the shows, even after stepping off the field I couldn’t remember what had happened.  I can’t “see” me marching.  There are 4 very vivid memories while marching but that is it from all the shows I performed.

Now this blog post isn’t just about marching and my experiences in band.  There is a point to all of this.

I am no longer in a marching band but in my life I have always felt that movement is better than “park and bark.”  I want to be about something, doing something, making things happen. I don’t want to be one of those people who stands on the sidelines or even in the mix that just stands around complaining and not doing something.  Even marking time is better than a park and bark attitude.

However, I never like marking time.  In standing still yet still moving I was afraid I would lose count and not step off at the right time.  It was easier to remember turns and hitting a mark when moving not standing.  I get this way in my life too.  I like being busy, I like having a plan to follow, I like knowing where the mark is that I need to hit.  It is when I do not know what is next or when I have been marking time for too long that I get anxious, antsy.  But what gets me more than that is the 2 bars before the step off.  That anticipation of moving from marking time to making that step.  Those 2 bars of anticipation can kill ya if ya let it.  Don’t lean into it, don’t anticipate it, don’t miss it – there is an exact time to move.  You can’t go early, you can’t go late, you just have to go when the chart and music say go.

Transition points in life are like those last 2 bars of marking time.

I am about to finish my paralegal certificate.  There is so little of the program left that I could count it down if so inclined.  I am in a sense marking time.  The anticipation and anxiety are building.  And as they build so does the fear.  What if I miss the step off?  Is the transition to another spot to mark time again?  Is the transition to another point on the field, to another design, to another tempo – will I half step, full step, low step, or fast step?  What is next?  Is there anything next?  Something has to be next – there is always something next in the show, even if it is the end you have to march off the field.

As I did in so many marching band performances – I will Mark Time – I will count the measures – I will anticipate the step off – I will be afraid – and hopefully like all those shows before – I will execute flawlessly when the Marking Time ends.