When you think of a marching band, you probably picture extravagant instrumentalists and the impressive color guard being conducted by the drum major. You probably never think about the people working behind the scenes of the action. Those people, the band managers, make the band run as smoothly as it does. The Clarion had a chance to ask four of the (many) managers Emily Estes, Rachael Konyak, Bella Schwarz, and Jack Farnum a few questions.

Clarion Writer : What are your duties as managers?

Emily: This year’s theme is social media, so we have to move the phone prop to the field before each performance and take it off after each performance. We have to bring the pit instruments to the field or load them onto the bus. Pit instruments include the marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, and drum set. They’re all quite heavy and difficult, especially to load on to the bus. I’m in charge of working the soundboard. We also have to set up the microphones very quickly before each performance, then quickly take them down at the end.

Clarion Writer : How long are you at practices/games/competitions?

Rachael: We have practice every Tuesday and Thursday from 5:30-8:30. However, we usually don’t leave until 9, because we are still bringing things up from the field, taking some of them apart, and putting them inside. For away games, we are here after school and don’t get back to the school until 10-10:30. Pit and managers usually don’t get home until 11, though, because they have to unload the bus. For competitions it’s the same way, except since competitions are on Saturdays, we have to be at the school around noon.

Clarion Writer : How long do your duties usually take?

Jack: It takes about twenty minutes to bring everything out that we need, and about forty minutes just to load the bus. It takes about 10 minutes to drag everything down to the field, but it takes a little longer to bring everything up. You need a good ten minutes just to prepare to bring Jarvis up the hill. Jarvis is this big piece of wood with wheels that we put the drum set and pretty much everything else on.

Clarion Writer : Some band members may believe that your job isn’t as important as performing with the band?What do you think about this?

Jack: The band is the body and we are the bloodstream. The band wouldn’t be alive without us.