MinceMarchingBand Headcanons Part 7:
--Clarinet. Wants to show up, play, and leave. (Plays the opening clarinet run to Rhapsody in Blue - and ONLY the opening run, at least 4x per rehearsal. The band/orchestra have never officially played this piece and likely never will).
“Remember the visual change on page 13?”
--Literally all trumpets trying to out scream each other. (The gossips of the band. Between these three and the “typing pool” of the guard it’s amazing anyone has any secrets.)
--Flute. Enjoys its intricacies. Is constantly trying to hand his case to someone else (but has been seen carrying Juan’s tuba case for him). Has to keep said case away from Steve because he finds the assembly of the flute quite complex and has managed to put the flute together backwards on more than one occasion. No one is quite sure how he managed.
—Marching captain. Drum captain. No nonsense (Hester and Bevan approve. Monty does not). The ACTUAL center snare (Masterson is full of shit). Also plays piccolo (usually during the ballad) and trumpet (lord help him if he hears another peep from one of the trumpet trio. Willie is also on thin fucking ice). Is the only thing between the Drumline and total anarchy. Probably. (You do NOT want a talking-to from Jewell. He won’t raise his voice. Won’t shout. Won’t belittle or scream. Just very succinctly take you apart until you feel three inches tall, before calling you a good lad, patting you on the back, and sending you back to your spot.)
Lieutenant/Douglas (Charles track)
—Tenors/Quads. Constantly interrupting. Constantly questions everything. Constantly tuning and re-tuning. Insists on running the cadence after every rehearsal. Is about to explode if Masterson says one more stupid thing. Has been made responsible for keeping Steve away from the cymbals.
Navigator/Walker (Bevan Track)
—Bass 3. Always knows what drill set they’re in and what comes next. Always has the instruction/information correct. Knows EXACTLY where his dot is. Knows exactly where YOUR dot is. 100% will call people out (even if he’s not supposed to). Gets impatient when others wander off-task.
Submariner/Bosun (Jean Track)
—Bass 2. Often confused about where they’re starting. Never knows what’s going on. Highly distractible. Is in the center of the bass line for a reason.
Submariner/Coxun (Monty Track)
—Bass 1 (had to be talked out of Bass 5 because they couldn’t lift it). Complains about the weather no matter what’s happening outside. Keeps losing their shako and plume. (Jewell has threatened to glue it to his head.)
—Trombone. Constantly making faces when he’s not playing. Enjoys making “womp womp” sound effects when someone else messes up. Loves trying to make others break while in formation.
—French horn. Since when did we have marching French horns? (Since Ivor joined band, apparently.) They’re still trying to persuade him to switch to mellophone (all attempts have been unsuccessful so far). Can be found frantically writing in notebooks any time his section isn’t being worked with. Constantly on about turning their marching season into his premiere documentary film. Splits time between band and table-tennis (Bevan just loves that explanation).
—Piccolo. You know why. Always needs spare change for the vending machine and isn’t afraid to ask
—On-field judges who are Very old-fashioned and don’t understand all this “dancing and movement! Whatever happened to straight lines and traditional marching?! Why are there boys dancing? Whoever heard of a female drum major? Why are there ladies in the drum line? I say this is all highly irregular!” (It’s not)
(The entire band wants them to shut up.)
—Baritone. Talented and hard-working (but struggles to be noticed among the low-brass). Hangs out with the flutes and tubas. Does not like the words “again” or “one more time”. Eager to perform but complains about his part and asks at least once per day why the mellophones can’t just play the awkward stuff. (Has a weird pseudo-competition thing going on with Charles - no one is quite sure why [least of all, Charles himself, who has never had more than a single conversation with the other boy] and has no idea what went wrong]) Dislikes Monty. A lot.
(Once Charles lost his glasses for ten minutes while in uniform and no one could tell them apart EXCEPT Monty. Nobody liked that)
—The most stereotypical flute/piccolo ever (absolutely LOVES getting to play the descants - Monty [VERY hypocritically] calls her a “show off”). Friends with the guard girls. Monty keeps trying to shove her in front of the tuba line.
—Fuck her instrument she’s fucking cold. Fine. She plays whatever in the pit. She’s cold. Why did she let Ivor talk her into this. (She has tried to shove her frankly massive coat under her [fugly] uniform more times than Jean has fingers to count on to tell her to NOT DO THAT.) She’s cold and wants to leave. Party is at her place later (by invitation only, nerds).
