I've spent more time than I care to think about this season helping build, move, repair, and curse these things. We built 26 of these suckers, they are 8.5 feet wide at the base, and just a hair under 15 feet tall with the "arms" and cost around $500 each when it was all said and done :



When we disassemble them for transport, it takes a crew of at least a dozen of us, and the frames alone take up an entire Penske rental truck:


They start out at the back of the field, and at various points in the show are rolled around to different positions by mostly freshman kids (1 to 2 on each prop) who have bulked up a bit over the season from the sheer size/weight of the things.



I don't doubt the contribution to the visual component of the show, but when did this start? I was in in HS in the early 90's and we didn't have any of this and I really don't recall any other bands in our area doing it either, so when did visual overload become the norm?

I have a senior in the band and it started around 3 years ago. Only a few bands had those kinds of props. Now everyone has an 18-wheeler and rental trucks to move all their crap.

Central Texas has some of the best bands and they all have giant props now.

You can blame this on Bands of America. BOA judges on different things than Texas UIL.

My school's band hasn't been infected with props yet

It was the late 1990s or early 2000s. We would do fabric on PVC pipes and we had 8th graders move them around. Basically these types of things take the judges eyes off of mistakes in the marching fundamentals.

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You can blame this on Bands of America. BOA judges on different things than Texas UIL.

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That makes sense. We didn't start competing in BOA until my senior year and I can see that as an influence.

I will say that not ALL bands at area on Saturday had large props but all of the ones that placed in the top half of the final rankings did. Our props were nothing compared to some of the ones we saw, though though I will say that some looked a bit more logical from a sheer mobility standpoint though. (Some were flat out ridiculous though)

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and cost around $500 each when it was all said and done

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Money well spent. It's just really hard to find quality Giant Rolling Jazz Hand Pyramids for any cheaper than that these days.

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Money well spent. It's just really hard to find quality Giant Rolling Jazz Hand Pyramids for any cheaper than that these days.

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We had discusses this at length on Saturday and concluded that they were not jazz hands, but spirit fingers.

Also, why is the other side of the stadium empty? Are those bleachers haunted? Ebola quarantine?

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We had discusses this at length on Saturday and concluded that they were not jazz hands, but spirit fingers.

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I'd say you have some of each. The ones aiming down are definitely Jazz Hands. The upward-facing ones are more spirit finger-oriented. The ones in between are some unholy union of the two.

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You can blame this on Bands of America. BOA judges on different things than Texas UIL.

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This. Disliked BOA years in high school, we never did props like OP though.

It's a band competition, not a football game. The band plays to the pressbox side, so sitting on the other side would be a terrible viewing perspective. I speak from experience on this as I am sitting on the sideline behind all of the pyramids with some of the other volunteer labor

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I'd say you have some of each. The ones aiming down are definitely Jazz Hands. The upward-facing ones are more spirit finger-oriented. The ones in between are some unholy union of the two.

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I can see that.

Those things are both ugly and useless.

So is this just a technique for schools like Allen to get even more kids on the field?

Those props are like the Illuminati meets Jazz Hands meets Edward Scissorhands.

Allen didn't have props, they didn't have room. Their closing formation was a big block that covered goal line to goal line at 2.5 yard intervals on the from 3/4 of the field with the color guard at the back. That's a lot of kids on the field.

I would tend to agree. When I was in high school (2005-2008) I remember the marching band being massive and it has only got bigger since I graduated 5 years ago. If I remember correctly the freshman don't even march in contest.

FYI, the props in the OP were inspired by something like this:


The show was titled "Samsara" and according to wikipedia:

"meaning "continuous flow"), is the repeating cycle of birth, life and death (reincarnation) within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bn, Jainism, andTaoism"

They had five different movement in the show, birth, life, perfection, death, re-birth. I was really dad they didn't have afterbirth, the props would have been horrendous.

Here is Allen HS mid-show on Saturday with 500+ on the field. I think we counted 28 sousaphones.

Looks about right. And that's without a single freshman on the field!

I went to see my brother's show last week, and I couldn't even see half of the field because of (a) a massive prop and (b) an equally massive drum major stand.

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Here is Allen HS mid-show on Saturday with 500+ on the field. I think we counted 28 sousaphones.

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The parents of those kids must be so proud. I mean what are the odds that their kids were good enough to make a band that is that selective.

Yep my band in high school had about 500. We had props, and we actually got graded down on our lack of too many props and huge drumline features. This would've been 95/96. So it started back then. I remember schools like trinitiy, LD bell, spring, etc. had all these props and stuff. We were a little behind the times on what judges were looking for I guess. I still think musically and marching-wise we were better, but judges wanted a show also.

Blame Drum Corps (DCI). It started there a long time ago.

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Here is Allen HS mid-show on Saturday with 500+ on the field. I think we counted 28 sousaphones.

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The parents of those kids must be so proud. I mean what are the odds that their kids were good enough to make a band that is that selective.

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For the fine arts like band, choir, and orchestra, if you wanted to do it, you got in the class. Allen is a very open school district. Now athletics on the other hand....that's a different story.

Per Allen's wikipedia page, they are back to having freshmen on the field:

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The Allen Eagle Escadrille has always had grades 9th through 12th march during their marching season, though during the 2011 and the 2012 marching seasons only 10th through 12th grades took the field for the UIL show. In the 2013 season, the band reverted to having all four grade levels march all of the shows.

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Here is Allen HS mid-show on Saturday with 500+ on the field. I think we counted 28 sousaphones.

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The parents of those kids must be so proud. I mean what are the odds that their kids were good enough to make a band that is that selective.

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For the fine arts like band, choir, and orchestra, if you wanted to do it, you got in the class. Allen is a very open school district. Now athletics on the other hand....that's a different story.

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Have they turned letter jackets into participation ribbons or do they at least limit those?

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Here is Allen HS mid-show on Saturday with 500+ on the field. I think we counted 28 sousaphones.

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The parents of those kids must be so proud. I mean what are the odds that their kids were good enough to make a band that is that selective.

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For the fine arts like band, choir, and orchestra, if you wanted to do it, you got in the class. Allen is a very open school district. Now athletics on the other hand....that's a different story.

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Have they turned letter jackets into participation ribbons or do they at least limit those?

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No...you have to have at least two years in band, choir, or orchestra IIRC. That may have changed since it was years ago. My friend's brother is in band so I'll ask him later what the policy is now. I bought my own. I received my letter in bowling. I could have qualified for one based on academics but I already had my jacket.

So you have to have 2 years of participation. ...completely different.

When did bowling become a uIL sport?

It isn't. It is a club sport. We just follow UIL athletic rules. If you participate in a varsity sport for at least one year, you earn your letter. You have to pay for your jacket and patches and all that. Not only does Allen do this, but also all the Plano and McKinney schools. Locally at least.

That is just sad.

I remember bowling being a sport club when I was in high school too.

Class of '08 Lamar CISD

I'm hoping my future kids don't want to do nerdy band crap. And flag corps... No way.