The press box

The press box is a key point for marching bands all around the country and everywhere for that matter. There are some judges who sit in the press box, there are also some on the field. Since the ones who go around on the field watching us are so close to us, it is usually pretty hard, and rare for them to miss stuff that we mess up on, but in the press box it is a little easier since they are so far away.

 

Now I’m not saying they really judge, I’m saying that the judges in there need to hear you play!! In many of the John F. Kennedys marching band show every year, at least one time every year we have a visual where we either face the press box or lean back so we are playing right to it.

The judges in the press box or no lesser or better than the judges on the field. It just is a matter of where the hosting school places them, or wants them to be. One weekend, at one competition a judge could be on the field, as a marching style and technic judge and the next weekend at a completely different competition the exact same judge could be in the press box as a music general effect judge, or vice versa.

 

Facing the press box gives more of a musical impact to the music general effect judge who is sitting in the press box. Facing the press box during a big hit in a song, gives it an even bigger sound and makes it sound bigger than when we are just playing and facing the side line, like usual, because the sound goes up higher and spreads more.

So all in all, almost every good marching band director uses this in their bands favor. Some bigger bands might not need it as much because they have more people, and sometimes have more people playing so they might already have a lot of sound. But you got to remember, not every one on that field is playing all the time during the whole show.

I feel like smaller marching bands would use this a lot to their advantage, since they are already down on the amount of people and players on the field they might have the marcher face towards the press box more often to make their sound, sound bigger. Which sound is a big part of the score of a marching band.