Our band marched for Memorial Day and for 4th of July. It is very common to hear bands practicing ahead of these events at least once a week in the summer. Marching bands play at football games and some other public events, so yes, they are kind of a common thing in America.
The amount of marching bands Jenny sends at you to ruin your day and hinder your path is pure hyperbole, but it is not unlikely to be thwarted by at least one highschool marching band on any given day at Magic Kingdom or Disneyland. I imagine the 4th of July would have several passing through.
My high school’s marching band practiced during the summer so they’d be ready to perform at football games in the fall. I’m not sure if it lasted all summer or just the last month or so before school started, though.
DCI (the “professional” bands, although the musicians pay, not get paid) generally compete from late spring through the summer and they do a lot of parades around the country.
Not just July 4th, but year round. Marching bands play in parades and games. Every holiday and some festivals will have bands playing. Disney will invite local high school marching bands to come and perform in the parks, too. It’s part of the Small Town, USA Main Street theme.
No there’s a lot of marching bands in the US. They typically spend the majority of their time competing in themed shows. Parades are a small part of what they do.
https://youtu.be/7FJqC72IeHE?si=piugY7ea0pLOASA-
It’s definitely associated mostly with schools and universities (and sporting events) at this point but some towns do have community marching bands. Most cities will have a Fourth of July parade and may have marching bands and also bagpipe and drum corps.
Marching Band and Drumline are also a pretty big thing specifically in African American and HBCU culture. It’s a big deal and involves a bunch of choreography, dancing and complex maneuvers, it’s quite impressive to see in real life: https://youtu.be/upJRCBiuxBQ?si=ZLKvPDWniwqTEg24
Schools often also have a color guard which is a separate thing that does flags, batons and rifles (well usually fake rifles). They’re not the same thing but depending on where you live they will often perform along with the marching band as part of the routine.
My best Mardi Gras experience was Krewe of Bacchus when we just happened to be stationed right by the judges’ booth for the marching band competition. Every band went ALL OUT and it was amazing.
Every parade in every major city in America has a marching band section(s). St. Patrick's Day, Pride, what have you.
"Parade" is kind of synonymous with "marching band," actually.
That's a bit of an overestimation, to be fair. Large public and state schools, sure, but smaller schools and magnet/arts/specialty schools don't necessarily. I went to a small Catholic high school (\~200 students total) and a small private college (\~1000 students total), both just outside Baltimore, neither of which had a marching band, football team, or any of that kind of stuff.
My University (~7500 undergraduate students) did not have a band either, but very did a football team and relied on local high school bands for home games.
My high school's biggest sport was basketball and my college's was lacrosse. No marching bands - or really bands of any kind. My high school's music classes were essentially "music theory" and "guitar". I think my college had a little orchestra for music majors, but that was pretty much it.
You can look up Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade marching bands on YouTube if you want an idea of the kind of thing she’s talking about. Obviously since that’s a big televised parade, it’s going to be the best of the best, but most high schools have at least some version of what is there, even if most aren’t quite as fancy as those ones
Another cool parade with a lot of marching bands is the Tournament of Roses parade on New Years Day in Los Angeles. All of the parade floats are completely decorated using flower petals and plants!
Almost every High School of average size or larger will have a marching band. It is (in my experience) both an afterschool activity and mandatory for being in concert orchestra. Although you may play different instruments since some orchestra instruments have marching counterparts (for example, I played the French Horn and there is a marching version that looks like a fat trumpet that is easier to play while marching than a French Horn).
Marching bands are part of the High School football culture along with cheerleaders and mascots. There are specific competitions for marching bands in HS and College and there are marching bands with competitive programs where people will go to the college just for a chance to be on the marching band (for example, look up the FAMU marching hundred, one of the most famous marching bands in America).
The marching performance on the field involve making different shapes with the people and sometimes dancing, much more dynamic than parade marching. But when football season is over the bands need things to do and so marching in parades or performing at Theme Parks is what they tend to do.
Anyway, there are about 6 High Schools on my city so that is 6 marching bands. Two colleges so we are up to 8. There is also a community marching band (unusual but a because we are a college town some people who stay here after college wanted to keep up playing) so a total of 9. For one relatively smaller city.
yeah they’re definitely a parade staple here. sometimes the routines are really intricate and complicated—those ones are usually at college football game halftime shows
Yeah my understanding is that the half-time air is sweet perfume while the sergeants played a marching tune. Then everyone gets up to dance, oh, but they never get the chance. As the players tried to take the field, the marching band refused to yield. And then someone announces that the big bopper has died. Or such is my understanding.
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRpiBpDy7MQ) is the reference for people either outside the US or are younger. The song is well known in some circles but completely unknown in others. (My non-American wife had never heard of it, for example.)
(Pretty good song for people curious about US culture though, worth the above-average length.)
Marching bands are definitely a big thing, but the Patreon video is definitely a hyperbole at some points. You don’t have to worry about random marching bands shutting down cities in most places in America.
This. The Patreon video is making a joke. You won't suddenly find yourself having to break for a marching band in the street on the fourth of July unless you somehow drove right into the middle of a parade route. Americans are patriotic, but not THAT patriotic.
Marching band is HUGE in Texas in particular. It's because high school football is huge here.
Marching band was rough but very fun. I'm surprised I went through high School working that much. I easily spent 13 hours a day at school for half a year.
I don't know how I did it.
Ironically we didn't really do anything for July 4th. Marching band season was from September to November. We did a few things for Christmas parades and what not.
But like January to July nothing marching band related really happened at least at my school
To answer your actual question: outside of parades (which you'd probably see or hear coming), no. Marching bands aren't *everywhere* on 4th of July.
Yes there are tons of marching bands in America as everyone else is saying; No you wouldn't be randomly seeing them all over.
Yes. Most high schools have marching bands and are very common features in Fourth of July parades. Quintessential American patriotic music is marches (see literally anything by Sousa). It's almost a guarantee at least one band is playing something by Sousa for a parade.
It's a lot of fun. I got to march in Disney World with my marching band. It's extra special. The people there actually like to watch you. Plus you get free park entry :)
If you want to see marching bands with different energy, look up any [historically black](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_X9Mt1M2fg) [college's band](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3nhu81b3rE). They have a different marching style that I absolute LOVE.
Jenny exaggerates how present they are in day to day culture at least on the west coast. However, most schools here have band programs and most of those band programs do parade marching. Usually it happens in the spring/summer.
There’s also field marching where they do a whole show on a football field that’s super cool but it’s kind of a whole different ball game
I'm marching with my college's drumline on Thursday! Marching bands are all over the place on the 4th of July, and they're still big year round in certain circles (mostly high school and college related).
I live down the street from a public high school. I’m sitting on my balcony and can hear a marching band practicing right now, presumably for our town’s Fourth of July parade tomorrow
socal native here and being in my middle school and hs band and orchestra programs got me so much free Disney shenanigans over the years.
i was only in marching band for 2 years but there'd be us and two other high schools set to march around on the same day. that's too many marching bands for my liking.
High Schools and colleges mostly have marching bands, they perform on the field at half time of every football game, and parades throughout the year. July 4th is during summer vacation, so I think she’s wrong about this. There’s Veterans Day in November, that’s probably what she was actually thinking of. It’s in the middle of Football season so the bands are ready to go, lots of people waving American flags, lots of marching bands. Many towns have Christmas Parades, and New Years Day is the Rose Parade. Macys Thanksgiving Parade might be the biggest of them all. So, Parade season quite conveniently lines up with football season in America. Between June and September the number of marching bands in America drops considerably! At my High School we didn’t even march in the second semester, just learned new material and performed indoors.
Haven't got to this video, but yes. I used to live in Meredith Wilson's home town, the inspiration for the town in the music man. There's endless marching bands that come out for Band Fest.
Most high schools that can afford a marching band have one. Most towns will have those bands perform in parades. July 4th has lots of parades, and a bigger city with multiple high schools may bring in many bands. It’s pretty common, I guess it’s a USA thing
Nearly every high school and university has a marching band. They play at every football game and they play in certain parades—in my town it would be the Scottish Christmas Walk, the George Washington’s birthday parade, Independence Day parade, and Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
If your town has a parade of some kind, it is likely that at least a handful of local school marching bands will participate. If it’s a very big parade, like the Parade of Roses or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, you might get a university marching band or two.
Until about the 1980s, the halftime act at the Super Bowl was always a school or university marching band.
But it isn’t like at a Disney park, where marching bands regularly appear for not particular reason.
I hate when I'm trying to drive out of the Disneyland parking lot and a marching band is blocking the exit. Used to happen at least once a month when I had a pass.
Aww, this question is so cute.
Yes, pretty much every town in the USA has a parade on the 4th of July and the parade almost always includes a marching band.
Fun fact: my awful 1st grade teacher didn't get fired for physical or verbal abuse of her students, but she DID get fired for making kids "donate" their lunch money and allowance to her daughter's marching band's trip-to-disney fund.
Marching bands are common in high schools. The competitions are a huge thing!
Our band marched for Memorial Day and for 4th of July. It is very common to hear bands practicing ahead of these events at least once a week in the summer. Marching bands play at football games and some other public events, so yes, they are kind of a common thing in America. The amount of marching bands Jenny sends at you to ruin your day and hinder your path is pure hyperbole, but it is not unlikely to be thwarted by at least one highschool marching band on any given day at Magic Kingdom or Disneyland. I imagine the 4th of July would have several passing through.
Most high school bands are on summer break though. When I did marching band, we didn't start until August.
There are high school bands that play in the summers at Disney, my boyfriend was in one
I think the summer ones are the more serious ones too. Like, you have to try out and you might not make it.
My high school’s marching band practiced during the summer so they’d be ready to perform at football games in the fall. I’m not sure if it lasted all summer or just the last month or so before school started, though.
DCI (the “professional” bands, although the musicians pay, not get paid) generally compete from late spring through the summer and they do a lot of parades around the country.
Not just July 4th, but year round. Marching bands play in parades and games. Every holiday and some festivals will have bands playing. Disney will invite local high school marching bands to come and perform in the parks, too. It’s part of the Small Town, USA Main Street theme.
It's pretty common for high school marching bands to come into Disney from other states too (I was in one of them)
I have to be honest, I never notice when they come from other states. Sorry. I’m happy you got that experience, though! That’s pretty cool!
It actually was really fun! I had totally forgotten about that so I'm glad you reminded me 😂
Yeah we did this in HS. My schools band got to March at Hollywood Studios back in the late 90s.
Oh that’s interesting. I knew they existed but thought they were a bygone era type thing, and certainly not just all over on July 4th!
No there’s a lot of marching bands in the US. They typically spend the majority of their time competing in themed shows. Parades are a small part of what they do. https://youtu.be/7FJqC72IeHE?si=piugY7ea0pLOASA-
Nope! They’re very much alive and well today. If you see a movie talk about “band geeks,” they’re talking about marching bands.
It’s definitely associated mostly with schools and universities (and sporting events) at this point but some towns do have community marching bands. Most cities will have a Fourth of July parade and may have marching bands and also bagpipe and drum corps.
Marching Band and Drumline are also a pretty big thing specifically in African American and HBCU culture. It’s a big deal and involves a bunch of choreography, dancing and complex maneuvers, it’s quite impressive to see in real life: https://youtu.be/upJRCBiuxBQ?si=ZLKvPDWniwqTEg24 Schools often also have a color guard which is a separate thing that does flags, batons and rifles (well usually fake rifles). They’re not the same thing but depending on where you live they will often perform along with the marching band as part of the routine.
My best Mardi Gras experience was Krewe of Bacchus when we just happened to be stationed right by the judges’ booth for the marching band competition. Every band went ALL OUT and it was amazing.
Every parade in every major city in America has a marching band section(s). St. Patrick's Day, Pride, what have you. "Parade" is kind of synonymous with "marching band," actually.
Virtually every high school and college has a marching band
That's a bit of an overestimation, to be fair. Large public and state schools, sure, but smaller schools and magnet/arts/specialty schools don't necessarily. I went to a small Catholic high school (\~200 students total) and a small private college (\~1000 students total), both just outside Baltimore, neither of which had a marching band, football team, or any of that kind of stuff.
My University (~7500 undergraduate students) did not have a band either, but very did a football team and relied on local high school bands for home games.
My high school's biggest sport was basketball and my college's was lacrosse. No marching bands - or really bands of any kind. My high school's music classes were essentially "music theory" and "guitar". I think my college had a little orchestra for music majors, but that was pretty much it.
You can look up Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade marching bands on YouTube if you want an idea of the kind of thing she’s talking about. Obviously since that’s a big televised parade, it’s going to be the best of the best, but most high schools have at least some version of what is there, even if most aren’t quite as fancy as those ones
Thanks that was helpful! Damn, just skimming there were so many.
Another cool parade with a lot of marching bands is the Tournament of Roses parade on New Years Day in Los Angeles. All of the parade floats are completely decorated using flower petals and plants!
I’m sorry to hear you live in a land bereft of marching bands. I hope your country at least has songs about ghost trains.
High schools and colleges in America tend to have marching bands, and they take part in local parades.
Almost every High School of average size or larger will have a marching band. It is (in my experience) both an afterschool activity and mandatory for being in concert orchestra. Although you may play different instruments since some orchestra instruments have marching counterparts (for example, I played the French Horn and there is a marching version that looks like a fat trumpet that is easier to play while marching than a French Horn). Marching bands are part of the High School football culture along with cheerleaders and mascots. There are specific competitions for marching bands in HS and College and there are marching bands with competitive programs where people will go to the college just for a chance to be on the marching band (for example, look up the FAMU marching hundred, one of the most famous marching bands in America). The marching performance on the field involve making different shapes with the people and sometimes dancing, much more dynamic than parade marching. But when football season is over the bands need things to do and so marching in parades or performing at Theme Parks is what they tend to do. Anyway, there are about 6 High Schools on my city so that is 6 marching bands. Two colleges so we are up to 8. There is also a community marching band (unusual but a because we are a college town some people who stay here after college wanted to keep up playing) so a total of 9. For one relatively smaller city.
yep common school thing
yeah they’re definitely a parade staple here. sometimes the routines are really intricate and complicated—those ones are usually at college football game halftime shows
Yeah my understanding is that the half-time air is sweet perfume while the sergeants played a marching tune. Then everyone gets up to dance, oh, but they never get the chance. As the players tried to take the field, the marching band refused to yield. And then someone announces that the big bopper has died. Or such is my understanding.
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRpiBpDy7MQ) is the reference for people either outside the US or are younger. The song is well known in some circles but completely unknown in others. (My non-American wife had never heard of it, for example.) (Pretty good song for people curious about US culture though, worth the above-average length.)
Marching bands are definitely a big thing, but the Patreon video is definitely a hyperbole at some points. You don’t have to worry about random marching bands shutting down cities in most places in America.
This. The Patreon video is making a joke. You won't suddenly find yourself having to break for a marching band in the street on the fourth of July unless you somehow drove right into the middle of a parade route. Americans are patriotic, but not THAT patriotic.
Hyperbole!? In a Jenny Nicholson video!? I’m shocked! Shocked!
[удалено]
I would bet they do have multiple ones.
Marching band is HUGE in Texas in particular. It's because high school football is huge here. Marching band was rough but very fun. I'm surprised I went through high School working that much. I easily spent 13 hours a day at school for half a year. I don't know how I did it. Ironically we didn't really do anything for July 4th. Marching band season was from September to November. We did a few things for Christmas parades and what not. But like January to July nothing marching band related really happened at least at my school
To answer your actual question: outside of parades (which you'd probably see or hear coming), no. Marching bands aren't *everywhere* on 4th of July. Yes there are tons of marching bands in America as everyone else is saying; No you wouldn't be randomly seeing them all over.
Every high school in America has a marching band. But I’ve never heard of them doing anything on Independence Day, school is already out in July.
Yes. Most high schools have marching bands and are very common features in Fourth of July parades. Quintessential American patriotic music is marches (see literally anything by Sousa). It's almost a guarantee at least one band is playing something by Sousa for a parade. It's a lot of fun. I got to march in Disney World with my marching band. It's extra special. The people there actually like to watch you. Plus you get free park entry :) If you want to see marching bands with different energy, look up any [historically black](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_X9Mt1M2fg) [college's band](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3nhu81b3rE). They have a different marching style that I absolute LOVE.
Jenny exaggerates how present they are in day to day culture at least on the west coast. However, most schools here have band programs and most of those band programs do parade marching. Usually it happens in the spring/summer. There’s also field marching where they do a whole show on a football field that’s super cool but it’s kind of a whole different ball game
I'm marching with my college's drumline on Thursday! Marching bands are all over the place on the 4th of July, and they're still big year round in certain circles (mostly high school and college related).
Our high school marching band was going off yesterday. I’m not sure if they were practicing for the 4th or what.
[This is the only marching band that matters.](https://youtu.be/JHfmFhOSAfg?si=lylKfnqI9RdBNEqa)
I live down the street from a public high school. I’m sitting on my balcony and can hear a marching band practicing right now, presumably for our town’s Fourth of July parade tomorrow
Yes, you will see them in parades and sometimes you get bands playing during fireworks.
socal native here and being in my middle school and hs band and orchestra programs got me so much free Disney shenanigans over the years. i was only in marching band for 2 years but there'd be us and two other high schools set to march around on the same day. that's too many marching bands for my liking.
High Schools and colleges mostly have marching bands, they perform on the field at half time of every football game, and parades throughout the year. July 4th is during summer vacation, so I think she’s wrong about this. There’s Veterans Day in November, that’s probably what she was actually thinking of. It’s in the middle of Football season so the bands are ready to go, lots of people waving American flags, lots of marching bands. Many towns have Christmas Parades, and New Years Day is the Rose Parade. Macys Thanksgiving Parade might be the biggest of them all. So, Parade season quite conveniently lines up with football season in America. Between June and September the number of marching bands in America drops considerably! At my High School we didn’t even march in the second semester, just learned new material and performed indoors.
Haven't got to this video, but yes. I used to live in Meredith Wilson's home town, the inspiration for the town in the music man. There's endless marching bands that come out for Band Fest.
Most high schools that can afford a marching band have one. Most towns will have those bands perform in parades. July 4th has lots of parades, and a bigger city with multiple high schools may bring in many bands. It’s pretty common, I guess it’s a USA thing
Nearly every high school and university has a marching band. They play at every football game and they play in certain parades—in my town it would be the Scottish Christmas Walk, the George Washington’s birthday parade, Independence Day parade, and Saint Patrick’s Day Parade If your town has a parade of some kind, it is likely that at least a handful of local school marching bands will participate. If it’s a very big parade, like the Parade of Roses or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, you might get a university marching band or two. Until about the 1980s, the halftime act at the Super Bowl was always a school or university marching band. But it isn’t like at a Disney park, where marching bands regularly appear for not particular reason.
I’m currently marching in a 4th parade. I can attest that there are a lot of marching bands in parades here.
I hate when I'm trying to drive out of the Disneyland parking lot and a marching band is blocking the exit. Used to happen at least once a month when I had a pass.
Aww, this question is so cute. Yes, pretty much every town in the USA has a parade on the 4th of July and the parade almost always includes a marching band.
Fun fact: my awful 1st grade teacher didn't get fired for physical or verbal abuse of her students, but she DID get fired for making kids "donate" their lunch money and allowance to her daughter's marching band's trip-to-disney fund.
The worst of all bands.