M is for...

M is for marching band! More specifically, the Fabulous Marching Cavaliers of Princess Anne High School ... Yes, our full name was the FMC, and yes, we would kick your butts for harassing us about it.

I marched all four years of high school, and was Brass Captain for both Junior and Senior years. We had a pretty awesome band. We were often called the PA Track Team because we'd move about the field so much compared to our competition. Trust me, it's a lot harder to play, let alone sound good, when on the move :P

Though it was grueling, sweaty, and borderline abusive (much like any high school sport), I really enjoyed my years marching. You are instantly bonded with your bandmates, mostly from survival camaraderie: stand out in the August sun for 40+ hours a week with the same people and you all have a common bond. Keep standing out there through the snow in November (our championship tournament was in Pennsylvania), and you are friends for life. As much as I enjoyed it while it lasted, however, I was glad that W&M didn't have a marching band!

Me and Burr, 2001

So these are all pictures from our old uniforms, which were white-based (obviously). Our old band director retired and the new director wanted us black-based, so for my senior year we were in different uniforms... but I have more pretty pictures of us in the whites, so that is what you get. Personally, I think the whites were much more stylish, with the big red capes and the bright blue jackets, but the blacks FIT. SO. MUCH. BETTER! It wasn't even a close race. The pants are really overalls (so they cannot fall down in the middle of the show!), and the whites were just shapeless "Farmer Johns," as we called them. But my black pants gave me curves! Woot! I love well-fitting clothes. And black shoes are much easier to keep clean than white ones are. And as cool as a big cape is, it pulls at your collar and makes your jacket ride lopsided; the much smaller and sadder capes that went with the blacks didn't have that problem. So, overall, though they lacked style, the blacks were better designed.

Me and De, 2001

Brassline, 2001 (yes, I am in there, and yes, I do know exactly where)

Mid-show, the famous "Park & Bark" pelvic thrusts (or for non-marchers, the spot where we stand still and play really loud for effect), 2001

ROCK ME, PA!