Everything you need to know about marching band...

Performances are at home and away football games (usually on Friday nights), parades, pep rallies, etc.  Competitions are usually on Saturdays—some are local, some are not. Parents generally attend both the performances and competitions whenever possible.

At home football games, the band performs their annual show at half time. At away football games parents will sit in the competitors stands, and our band performs facing the home team's stands about 15-20 minutes prior to the start of the game.  During the games (home and away) the band plays music in the stands to keep the crowd going.  Clapping along and dancing with the band helps, too!

​

Band members can go home for a brief time before an away game unless otherwise specified. Oftentimes it is easier to have the student pack a dinner and just plan on staying at school.

At competitions, the Liberty band boosters tend to wear Liberty colors, Red and Black. Buses always transport the kids, so parents either carpool for long distance competitions or drive themselves for the more local events. The competitions are what these kids are working hard for, so they want parental support at these events!

​

Competitions have entrance fees—usually about $10-$20. In addition, students will often bring money to buy snacks/dinner after their performance. 

Even if parents are present at a competition, band members must ride to and from competitions on the bus provided. They are not to leave the competition without written consent of a band director. When they arrive back at Liberty after competitions they are to help unload instruments, have a post competition meeting, and hang up their uniforms prior to heading home. Some of these nights can get late!

​At competitions you will see things like air grams and candy grams sold. Air grams are typically about $1 and are simply messages that you've written to your student that the event announcer reads over the loudspeaker as the band marches onto the field. Usually you will hear things like “have a great competition John” or just silly inside jokes. You write the message, so feel free to get creative! Candy grams are just that—candy that you can buy, write a message that is then attached to the candy, and is delivered to your child after they compete. They are also typically about $1.

​

Each week of Marching Band Season, Mr. Ebersole will email an itinerary for that Friday and/or Saturday that will include times for reporting to school, practicing, breaks, travel, and others. The Saturday itineraries will include Liberty's rough performance time for that week's competition.  Our band could be scheduled to perform at 10am or at 10pm—each competition is different. Sometimes we won’t know our time slot until late the night before, but they are typically published by Wednesday of that week. However, the time slot we are given in advance is only an estimate so plan to arrive at least 45 minutes before our time slot to allow for parking, purchasing tickets, finding seats, etc.

All Liberty High School Band parents are expected to attend monthly meetings, participate in a minimum of 2 band events and 2 band fundraisers throughout the entire year.  The requirements are consistent with every other booster organization. WE CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU and YOU WILL GET MORE OUT OF THIS THAN YOU GIVE!!  This is a terrific way to be involved in your child’s life as they become young adults!