idr what grade it was but i saw the concert band perform at one time and that urged me toward it. band here is 4th block in the high school...so in 5th grade during 7th period i sat by the window and could see the band field from where i was at..i watched them practice all the time and thats what got me into band over all. i got because up my uncle has played a set for as long as i can remember and i've always found them to be the bomb so.

i agree use an indoor stick
so if you use Aungst...use the green aungst indoors
if you use hardimons...use ralphie jr.s
if you use scojos....use scooters
if you use hannums...use pics (hard to keep clean music wise)
^^^thats just for VF sticks im unfamilliar with other brands

Kk, a little update.
Band camp, we only had about 18 people. We got in only 3 freshman.
Today we had the first day of school, and I was seriously so relieved. It looks like we have about 40 people, which means almost half the band is new. I don't think we could have gotten any luckier.

Man, and I thought my band was small. We have got about 70-75 people in the band, including colorguard (5) and percussion (25)

Good luck with your season!

25 percussion! thats huge
At camp we only had 8 in battery and 2 in frontline now for marching season we have 9 battery and 5 frontline and for winter it could be anywhere for 9-11 battery and 9-10 frontline, as for the band the directors say its around 80 but it looks more like 30 to me.

Right now, our entire band is about 35 people..I think. we have 4 in the pit, 7 on the line, and I don't know exactly how many wind plays we have, but it's not a lot. And we have no saxomophones. (I hate them saxomophones)

I've had quite a bit of experience with small bands. My freshman year in HS, we had 28 - no tubas. It was fun, if mainly because we didn't know any better. By my senior year, we had about 90.

I came back to my HS and taught drums from 2006-2008. We started with 7 in the band, ended with about 25. At a Texas 4-A school. We finished last year with 3 snares, 4 basses and 2 tenors.

Basically, we kept things focused on the trees, rather than the forest. Your director can (and usually will) make life easier by programming music and drill that better suit a small band. Remember to work on the things you *can* control, rather than what you can't.

Have fun - take every opportunity to perform, whether it be rehearsing outside during school hours or a scheduled trip to a middle school. Don't worry so much about what the middle school kids think - get out there and perform. Play the odds - there's bound to be at least *one* kid, no matter what or how well you play - that thinks that's the coolest thing they've ever seen. But they won't know it unless you go play for them!

I'm also the caption head for a 12 member drum corps, and have some experience with that end of it as well. (Of course, we have the advantage of not competing, so we can book gigs more appropriate to our size.)

Heck, one of these days I'd love to play in a *really* big group, just to hear what it'd be like.

Mike

Just a reminder that even a small drumline can throw down:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOvBYpgTvQg&feature=related

holy crap at them basses

Yeah, that's some cool stuff.

Update: This is my band this year. We're almost at our third week of playing together. We just had our parent performance and it wasn't that great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpOJHBJffac

EDIT: No, we don't have any saxomophones. =] Also, I don't think the basses even played most of their parts. Lame.