This is not about football, or even about Ohio. It is about teamwork and citizenship, by way of metaphor. In these days of a worldwide deadly pandemic, rampant criminal behavior throughout government, and creeping climate catastrophy that is visible to the most casual observer, we need to be acting, each of us and all of us, in consistent and coordinated ways to deal with the problems.
But do we still know how to do that? Do we teach it to our children?
Most of school is an individual thing — each student learns “information”, and keep your eyes on your own paper. There are only a few areas where students are actually taught and participate in group activity. Those are sports and the performing arts. In both areas it is even possible for physical injury to happen if you do not do things right. Everyone knows that football can be dangerous, but did you know that band can be dangerous too?
Group practice
Here is the Ohio State University marching band performing their pre-game entrance and famous “Script Ohio” routine, in their usual very crisp military style and with an ungodly number of Sousaphones. Little things: as they move down the field, notice how their right feet land on the yard lines, without the player looking down. Practice, practice. One person doing that wrong really messes up the group appearance, and you will hear about it from your colleagues.
About the 5-minute mark there are closeups of the “Script Ohio” routine. Watch very carefully as many of the players pass through lines of other players a couple times. It is done with no collisions and nobody getting hurt because they practice this a lot, everybody is doing their own part correctly, and counting on everyone else to do it correctly. By the way, those Sousaphones weigh about 40 pounds and good ones can cost $8,000.
I have actually participated in performing this routine in High School, which was very near OSU, and our band director had been in the OSU band. We were not as crisp in doing it as these guys, but no collisions when we did it either. This sort of thing concentrates the mind like nothing else, and everyone has to trust the other person not to flinch at crucial moments.
Note that the OSU band (known internally as “The Best Damn Band in the Land” or TBDBITL) has more members than the entire football team.
Dedication to a cause
Of course a well done group activity also requires hard work and dedication by each participant individually.
Here is a totally different band, doing a street parade through a crowded shopping district in Kyoto, Japan. This is the Kyoto Tachibana Senior High School band, which is 95% girls. (Boys do sports in Japan — girls do band.) They do things that no other band I have seen does. They don’t just march, they dance and skip and twirl all while maintaining perfect breath control and sounding better than many bands do while standing still. Not so surprising when you realize that part of their hours of daily practice includes a one-mile run.
And keep an eye on the girl in the last row playing a flute, with what appears to be a bandage around her left knee. Her name is Hitomi Kanamaru and she was born with the bottom half of her left leg missing. She is doing this entire routine with an artificial leg. This band was invited to be in the 2018 Rose Parade in California, and she did the whole 5-plus miles of it.
This band uses white Sousaphones that are made of fiberglass and only weigh 20 pounds. Still, you want to carry one for 5 miles? And look at the arm position of the flute players. Try holding that position for a while. Now dance while doing that.
Starting in earnest during the Bush administration, school art programs are being cut back, along with civics classes. And with COVID19, group activities have been all but eliminated. Except football, and in some schools, such as OSU, the marching band is even funded by the athletic program, which is how they can afford to have 32 Sousaphones
The needs of the group
I have always been more impressed with group activities done well, than with the acheivements of single people as in most Olympic sports for example. These are skills I am afraid we are losing, especially now when we need them most.
Band. Theater. Ballet. The Military.
Wearing the damn mask. Voting.