Whenever I heard the steady click-click-click of the metronome during the Biddeford High School Marching Band practice in the fall, I found my feet falling into cadence as I walked my dog past the field.

Old habits die hard.

The recent budget decision to cut the marching band program at Biddeford High School hit home for me ”“ and undoubtedly also for the current students and countless others who have ever identified themselves as “band geeks.”

In 2000, the Lewiston High School marching band, of which I was a part, swept the district final competition ”“ meaning that we took home first place in every category, from drum major to music. I can still remember standing at attention on the University of Maine football field, tears of joy streaming down my face as the awards kept coming to our school. Nothing compares to that feeling ”“ and it still brings butterflies to my stomach whenever I recall that night.

Would it have been the same if I had been marching for a neighboring school’s band, as the Biddeford students have been offered the chance to do? I don’t think so. To me, that would have been like asking a BHS football player to use his skills on Thornton Academy’s team.

For those of us who aren’t particularly athletic, marching band is a way to play on a team, in a physical way, and compete. Drill instructors holler orders when you’re out of step, your fingers freeze during evening practices in the fall, and the music must be memorized and perfectly executed in time.

Forming shapes on a field while performing music together is a strange combination of dance-like precision and theatrics. It certainly wasn’t something I wanted to do. For my first two years of high school, I resisted my friends’ pleas to join the band, since marching band was mandatory for any concert band member. No way was I going to wear a dorky outfit with a feather in the hat and march around on the field! But by my junior year, I missed playing an instrument so I caved in to peer pressure and decided to give it a try.

I’m sure glad I did ”“ and I hate to think of other students not having that opportunity at their own school. Representing your school in such a physical way is an integral point of pride, as any athlete will tell you, and that pride forms the core of the community. Skills are honed, friendships are formed and self confidence built in this type of activity.

The pride of representing the school in public carries on well after students have graduated, as evidenced by the alumni who return to coach and mentor students in a multitude of activities. Biddeford’s marching band was no exception.

The marching band system has changed since 2000 ”“ actually, right after 2000 (which I think may have had something to do with Lewiston’s infamous sweep!) The Maine Band Director’s Association chose to eliminate the competitive nature of marching bands, favoring a star system instead, so bands compete against themselves. It’s a shame that they decided to do away with the competition, but I find it hard to believe that marching band students aren’t counting their stars against the other bands’ anyway.

It was only last fall that I spoke with the BHS marching band members in preparation for writing a preview for their fall show. The camaraderie, dedication and pride they all took in the band was evident ”“ as was their parents’. But there was frustration, too. The parent volunteers with whom I spoke knew that Biddeford didn’t think as much of its marching band as it did of its sports teams ”“ they had only to look at the band uniforms, which are a couple of decades old ”“ and they were disappointed at the small number of participants. Still, they said the community was strongly supportive of the band’s fundraising efforts.

I can’t help but think that BHS has several musical students who feel the way I did about marching band. Given the choice, of course they weren’t going to join, based simply on the stereotypes and perception of the activity. If only BHS had instated mandatory concert band/marching band participation, like my high school did, they could have had the numbers to justify funding the program.

It’s easy to cut a program that affects fewer than 20 students, especially in a budget year as tight as this one. But perhaps the town leaders will remember the band when times are a little less lean, if they can come to the realization that a city’s high school marching band is a source of pride for many more than just its participants.

— City Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski, a proud member of the Lewiston High School Class of 2000, can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 322 or kristenm@journaltribune.com.