Christmas Parades -_-

Frostbight8 · December 2013

I've been playing the alto saxophone for about 7 years. As a high school student, we are expected to march in just about every parade, even ones that aren't in our own town! Now, I don't do marching band, just concert band, so I only have a handful of parades/marching under my belt. In the past we have conveniently gone on vacation. XD This past weekend we spent in two different towns. Both were extremely cold, and the things we can wear underneath the wool uniforms is limited. Needless to say, everybody froze. One town had many people who were.. Not thinking straight. One group continually yelled "Yeah! You play those saxophones, yeah!" At the time it was kind of scary, but looking back it is sort of amusing. Another town often told us how "horrible" we were and a few even threw in some "bad" words. Now, this weekend we have parades in our own town, but there is a bloody snowstorm coming! Our town is infamous for holding parades no matter what the weather is. I've already invested 50 bucks in a new Under Armor to wear beneath my fleece turtleneck. XD Also needed some new toe/hand warmers. I have to wear relatively thin gloves so that I don't press the wrong keys. Moral of the story? Christmas parades are fun to watch, but they aren't fun to be in when it's cold! Do we have any others on here?

MrClean · December 2013

Here here! I've done marching band and color guard/flag squad, and even though marching in 20 degree weather is never fun, I was much happier in the neck to ankle wool marching uniforms than in those frilly flag costumes. At my college flag girls weren't even allowed to wear under armor bottoms just the tops with tights it would be soooooo cold!

Frostbight8 · December 2013

Yikes! I hadn't considered the color guard! Even though a lot of my friends do it, I never really noticed what their dress code was. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think they were wearing the wind breakers that marching band members are able to buy at the end of the season. At least the band is allowed to wear special knit hats, instead of the usual shakos! What instrument did you play?

MrClean · December 2013

Our band wasn't allowed anything special, at least not on the outside. If you wanted to bundle up you just had to wear whatever you could fit under your uniform

The only thing color guard got extra was the knit headbands to go over our ears, and on the off chance that one girl didn't have hers nobody got to wear them! In wind ensemble I played e flat, b flat, bass and contrabass clarinet, and piccolo depending on what was needed... I played clarinet in marching band, and all us wind instrument players had to wear these thin white gloves with the fingers cut out...I loved marching band but I'm glad I'll never have to do that again

Cherokeezbaby · December 2013

Oh my gosh! I have done parades since I was young (like 9 or 10). My first parade was when I did cheer/dance/tumbling and they had us in as little amount of clothes that they could (even though my mom complained along with the other parents and nothing was done) and it was going to snow later on that night. We had to dance when we stopped and do tucks, back hand springs, and cartwheels the rest of the 5 miles. It was horrible! My sister and brother were in it as well, and were young enough to just hold the sign (luckys). The rest of the time I have either been riding a horse or riding floats, but I could wear what I wanted (within dress code). That usually means one of my long sleeved western shirts over some Under Armor, roper jeans, and my boots.

Alabama · December 2013

When I was in band, if it was below about 40 degrees, most of the band just marched. Woodwinds didn't play at all. The cold temp would put instruments out of tune, especially flutes and clarinets, and the band would sound awful. The only instruments that actually played the entire time were drums. If the rest of the band were playing, we'd have to act like we were and finger the notes, but Mr. Rodney better not hear a note from you. LOL

Frostbight8 · December 2013

bryson wrote:

Our band wasn't allowed anything special, at least not on the outside. If you wanted to bundle up you just had to wear whatever you could fit under your uniform The only thing color guard got extra was the knit headbands to go over our ears, and on the off chance that one girl didn't have hers nobody got to wear them! In wind ensemble I played e flat, b flat, bass and contrabass clarinet, and piccolo depending on what was needed... I played clarinet in marching band, and all us wind instrument players had to wear these thin white gloves with the fingers cut out...I loved marching band but I'm glad I'll never have to do that again

Ahaha, I held a clarinet for someone the other day, and I noticed how easily it could be dropped while marching! Made me grateful for alto sax neck straps! They're talking a high of a balmy 16 degrees for Saturday!

Cherokeezbaby wrote:

Oh my gosh! I have done parades since I was young (like 9 or 10). My first parade was when I did cheer/dance/tumbling and they had us in as little amount of clothes that they could (even though my mom complained along with the other parents and nothing was done) and it was going to snow later on that night. We had to dance when we stopped and do tucks, back hand springs, and cartwheels the rest of the 5 miles. It was horrible! My sister and brother were in it as well, and were young enough to just hold the sign (luckys). The rest of the time I have either been riding a horse or riding floats, but I could wear what I wanted (within dress code). That usually means one of my long sleeved western shirts over some Under Armor, roper jeans, and my boots.

The first parades I ever had to go to were the Memorial Day parades, which tend to be a lot warmer! I wouldn't mind riding a horse in a parade, actually sounds fun! Was it one of your horses!

Alabama wrote:

When I was in band, if it was below about 40 degrees, most of the band just marched. Woodwinds didn't play at all. The cold temp would put instruments out of tune, especially flutes and clarinets, and the band would sound awful. The only instruments that actually played the entire time were drums. If the rest of the band were playing, we'd have to act like we were and finger the notes, but Mr. Rodney better not hear a note from you. LOL

Haha, see our L.D. is the opposite! He doesn't care how the notes sound, as long as you play! Truth be told, I start fingering along pretty quickly, my thumbs freeze! Poor trumpets, they can get stuck to their mouth piece!

Cherokeezbaby · December 2013

Yep. I have three horses that I actively ride in parades.

Howdy, Stranger!

Christmas Parades -_-

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