When I marched in college (a while ago!), we would generally memorize anything we played while marching, and occasionally use sheet music while playing in the stands.

But we also would run...yes, run... down a long flight of stairs when we came on to the field. Imagine someone's lyre coming loose, the guy tripping on it while running down stairs behind you, and then finding yourself with a sousaphone and/or its player on top of you...not a pretty picture.

The position really depends on the band you're playing with. If I remember correctly, we always had them at our sides while marching, and occasionally front and center when stationary. But since we high stepped, there really wasn't another possibility.

If it's your first marching experience, don't worry...it will be ok (just don't get run over).

And it's really not so hard to memorize most of the music...you'll play it enough to drill it into your head for a good long while.

 

Marching band: Play the usual pieces without sheet music, and for a special event on a band stand, without marching the sheets come out for the more involved songs.

 

Avoid bouncy neck straps (e.g. Neotech).

From my perspective, I'd say "Avoid marching a tenor." When the time came to march, I'd pack away my tenor and play bass drum - in high school and college. Tenor just adds to the mud - take a listen from the stands sometime.

 

I marched Bari, don't be such a pansy ; D

But really, you'll get used to it. Also, remember your role. Back to the low brass and don't be concerned with being as loud as them. Blend into their sound and simply contribute.

 

Yes good points thanks.

 

What my high school does is use lyres when we are practicing and having sectionals. But when it came down to parades and halftime, all by memory. You play the music so much its easy to memorize. They also have us have the tenor it front of us. Never at the side. When I first started (I'm sophomore now) I would think about keeping in step and that's when I would get out of step. But I just focused on the music and my feet stayed with me. It comes easier as you go on. Are you on the ends when marching? (We call it being guides but I don't know if that's just here)

 

Get the thing away from your body. Right down the middle, maybe a 5-degree lean to the left if needed, although right down the middle is best. Use an easy playing mouthpiece. Avoid Neotec straps like the plague. Also, the sax harness you see some bari players use are awesome. Just make sure it can fit under your uniform.

Roll stepping is how you march smoothly. Heel hits first on the beat and then you roll through the step rather than plod the balls of your feet and then toes down.

Keeping in line is done by using the diagonals of the people in front of you. If you're in the middle then even better as you have two diagonals to base off of. You should be at the centre of the "V" and both lines in both directions should be straight with even intervals.

 

More important than anything else is: Is the tenor yours or the schools? If it's yours, what is it? I highly suggest against marching anything other than a student sax like an old Bundy or a YTS-23. I had a new pad job on my 26M (pro Conn alto, almost their rarest horn) get ruined in college because the director was a brass guy and didn't give a crap what happened to saxes in rain. In fact, I wouldn't even march a student sax that belonged to you. Borrow one from the school OR try to switch to a brass instrument like the baritone horn for marching band. Schools almost always have baritones lying around... and valves don't care if they get wet like leather pads do on a saxophone.

That might sound extreme, but it literally took me an afternoon to make the switch over to brass (in my case trumpet) for marching purposes. Granted I was a little older, so your mileage may vary, but the sax you save is probably your own.

 

We marched with them centered in front of us, not to the side. As far as music goes we used the flipbooks&lyres during practice, and while we were in the stands, but not on the field during shows. I was really worried about memorizing all the sets and the music at first, but then I realized you practice it all so much you pretty much end up with it memorized whether you tried to or not. Someone mentioned earlier about not marching anything but an old student model, I TOTALLY AGREE. People at my school didn't really seem to care what happened to the instruments so mine has been dropped, stepped on, and rained on numerous times.

 

Marching Band--what memories. When my son first started playing in marching band 5 yrs ago, I bought a 2nd sax for him to use for marching. Once, a trombone player turned at the wrong time, clocked my son and knocked his sax to the ground. 1st dent removal. Later, during a break, guys horsing around, 1 tripped, took out a few horns that were on the ground. 2nd dent removal, keys straightened. Now, after several times getting keys straightened due to careless HS kids, college supplies the marching horn--a Yamaha 52 series horn. As Melissa mentioned, most marching music was memorized and the lyres were used for stand music. His band teacher even made them play their marching music individually once, and if they didn't know it, he sat them out. Funny about college marching. Most of the brass drowns out the saxes, yet the band teacher doesn't allow them to use metal mouthpieces. Says they're too loud. So, my son, and a few others, decided to get Runyon Spoilers and Claude Lakeys. They make even the most open metals sound tame. Melissa, love your pic.