Is Marching Band Ruining Music?

Boy, am I going to catch heat for this one...

Recently, a colleague of mine posted a picture of a marching band excerpt to Facebook asking for strategies to help her student learn the excerpt. This student is one of those kids in band programs across the country who is the best of his group but lacks fundamental training and a baseline of skills. We all know those kids. I was one of those kids when I started playing bassoon. I couldn't play my chromatic scale and didn't know what flick keys were--but I was principal in the San Bernardino County Honor Band in 2003!

In looking at my friend's post, it seemed odd to me that she had tagged me in it. "Hmmm," I thought. "I'm not a clarinetist...what help could I possibly be?" Then I saw the excerpt...

The opening to Le Sacre du Printemps...for marching band...


It suddenly made sense why I was tagged in the photo with about 10 other bassoonists.

This brought up a lively debate on the merits of this work and how to teach a student to play something they aren't ready for (not to mention play something that wasn't intended for their instrument). Until, of course, the band director of said high school chimed in. He came to the defense of his program, igniting a series of comments which spoke to exposing kids to this type of literature and how marching band is a fundamental tool in the aid of musical development...

...which got me thinking---is it? Is marching band a fundamental tool in the development of musicality, musicianship, collegiality, etc...? I was in marching band all four years in high school. I've seen marching bands do big shows (one year, an 875 piece band marched Pines of Rome). But just because we can do things like this...does it mean we should?

I think there is a place for marching band in the world. Especially in the West, it seems, marching band is a cult-like phenomenon which obviously can't just go away. But I think getting students to play things they can't/shouldn't (e.g., a high school clarinetist [or anyone for that matter] playing one of the most difficult bassoon excerpts ever on a football to the box) is a detriment. Have new music commissioned specifically for the marching band idiom. Do really awesome shows that are designed for the field to teach kids about blend, power chords, whatever---just leave concert hall music in the concert hall. I don't think we'd ever see "Jock Jams, presented by the New York Philharmonic"...so let's not watch as things like Rite of Spring are thrown on a football field.