Marching Band Auxiliary: Fill & Download for Free

Color Guard traces its history back to the military guards; a regiment’s flag, known as the colors, was guarded by elite soldiers in that force.Over time, that tradition turned into military drill teams, which you might see if you have ever participated or seen JROTC or a similar group.Meanwhile, military-esque marching bands started evolving into the corps-style bands. During that process, auxiliary members became very important on the field, acting as performers to convey the story.For half of the year, they perform with a performance marching band. Their job is to turn a musical production into something visually stunning, and convey the music in a way that even a deaf man could hear through dance and visual effect.The weighted 6 ft. flags, sabers, and mock rifles are the basic tools that they use to do that job, although other props might get used as well.Phantom Regiment head cam, a video from the performer’s point of view during a rehearsal run-through. Their show is the 2016 show, “Voice of Promise.”Any individual performer has to learn a choreography, timing, and sets (set locations on the field that they go to). The choreographer will match the style of the dance, flagwork, and visual moments with the musical style, articulation, and musical moments. Put all of that together in a single show, and it turns into something amazing.Here’s some samples:Phantom Regiment’s winning 2009 show, The Red Violin.The Blue Devils, with their gold medal 2014 show, Felliniesque.The Bluecoats, who won their first gold in 2016 with a splash, Down Side Up.Color Guard also performs Winter Guard shows, which is a standalone performance during the marching band off season.Black Gold, an independent guard, with their 2017 show, One.CGT Dallas, another independent guard, with their 2017 show, Dual.Wakeland High school and their 2016 show, We’ll be Just Fine.The last two were choreographed and directed by the current director of my former high school!

Drum Corps International bands, typically considered “professional marching bands,” use brass instruments (mellophones, trumpets, sousaphones, trombones, etc…) and percussion (snares, tenors, bass drums, pitched instruments like marimba and vibes, auxiliary, and sometimes marching cymbals). More causal marching bands will incorporate just about anything, high schools will usually include the wood winds, and colleges can go either way, often excluding pitched percussion.

During marching band season in eighth grade (our school starts offering and encouraging marching band then,) nobody told me that we all had to use the same specific type of sticks and color of stick tape, since I was in charge of the auxiliary instruments. Our then sponsor for drumline, who will just be called H, never spoke to me unless he was yelling at all of the drumline, even going so far as to ask me why I was there, and saying I was unnecessary. But, he never told me what sticks to use, so I grabbed my pair from home. These were no ordinary sticks, and I thought I was clever to use duct tape on them. However, the only duct tape I owned, as a 14 year old in THAT phase of life, was camo tape. So, I walked to practice that day, thinking I was so cool. And nobody told me I was in the wrong, so the first four games of my marching band career, I was wearing a super spangly, "americolor" uniform, with camo sticks, while everyone else has their red, white, or blue sticks. So, imagine that person, with a marching band helmet on, standing with a cowbell, tom several toms, and cymbals, with camouflage sticks.I thought I was cool, and I now want to punch younger me in the face.