A cult is a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc. A cult can also be a group with the same beliefs. Based on this definition marching band would be considered to be a cult. Even though cults are usually considered to be a bad and illegal thing marching band is fully legal. I believe the reason it is very legal is because marching band does not come out and say that it is a cult, therefore most people do not believe that it is. However, after reading this paper maybe you might change your mind on whether marching is a cult or not.
There are many ways that you could think of marching band being a cult. Usually, a cult will have a leader. They are the ones that control everyone that is in said cult. In marching band our leader would be our own specific band director(s). A band director would be in charge of everyone to make sure they obeyed the rules and commandments. They are usually very demanding and ask you be entirely committed. They would enforce the fact that you must always step with your left foot first and that we must work extra hard to deserve a water break. There are also other rankings that some people may earn in your time in the cult. There is the position of drum major where you can be put in charge of helping the leader during a cult meeting. A cult meeting in this instance would be a marching band rehearsal. The next position below drum major would be section captains. Section captain’s main role in their position is to make sure their own individual section is following the rules of those above them. There are no other positions where you have authority but there are levels of the commoners. Those people would be anyone who does not have a main role. The certain levels are basically divided by grade level in this instance. So, there would be freshman, sophomores, juniors, and of course seniors. As a senior you would have what we call seniority, which means that you have more power than a freshman but not necessarily more than a section captain. There is also a level that goes into a gray area and that is what we call alumni. An alumnus is someone who has since graduated from high school. While alumni once could have been toward the top of being in charge in their time, they are not anymore. However, they will always be considered to be a part of the marching band they just will not have the same amount of power as they used to have.
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Another way you could consider marching band to be a cult is that if you are on the outside a said cult you really don’t know what happens on the inside. Three weeks before school starts you will start marching band camp and in these three weeks you will form a bond with the people in the band program. To the point that when you start school you will have a ton or friends and you will consider them to be your second family. You will always have your inside jokes of not wanting to go to practice but still wanting to go to practice at the same time. You would also have music that only people in the marching band would be able to play.
Yet another reason being in marching band should be considered being a part of a cult is that once you are in the cult, if you try to leave or break away from it, you are in a way shamed. If you were to leave an actual cult you would be banished and anyone in the cult would no longer be your friend and you might get killed. If you were to drop out of marching band you would always have people questioning your reasons for quitting and you could no longer enjoy the great parts of being in the marching band. You would lose the family you had earned and all the inside jokes that you became a part of. Say you were an alumnus and after you left you dishonored everything marching band related. For instance, you graduated and all you did was make fun of everyone who was in the marching band, you could no longer consider the marching band to be a part of your family. You lost the trust you once had with them.
The final and I think the most reliable reason why marching band is a cult is that you are working toward a common goal or interest. A major goal would be to continuously get better after every performance that we do. Whether that performance is for a competition or just a normal Friday night football game half time performance, we should still always be working towards are next show being better than the last. Our last performance is a competition most band kids refer to as VBODA, here in Virginia. VBODA stands for Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association. Basically, it is the biggest and most important competition. This is where the bands will find out their final assessment of the marching show of that year. The goal is to receive a 1, which also named superior, this is the highest rating that a band can achieve. There are also three other ratings that can be achieved: a 2, or excellent, a 3 or good, and a 4 or poor. Most bands usually tend to either get a 1 or a 2 though. Another small interest in some bands would be to have a ton of water breaks. Most of the kids in band can relate to wanting as many water breaks as you can possibly get. The band director however does not want as many water breaks because it would cut in to valuable time that we could be rehearsing. Since the band director makes the rules, you tend to only get a few water breaks, rather than a ton. The overall goal throughout the entire season though is definitely to create long lasting memories while still putting fourth all of your effort for the band program that you are apart off.
Bibliography
- Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. “Dictionary”. September 10, 2019 https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cult?s=t
- Kelli St Clair. “Why Are Marching Bands So Cult-Like?”. May 31,2017 https://www.quora.com/Why-are-marching-bands-so-cult-like
- Sirin Kale. “What Is Life Really Like When You Leave a Cult?”. March 24, 2016 https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/30523/1/what-is-life-really-like-when-you-leave-a-cult
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