Woodwinds march to the tune of their own instruments

Marching band members practice on the upper field in preparation for upcoming competitions.

After a hard day of memorizing positions for their upcoming show, junior Todd Nguyen and the other 20 saxophone players run back onto the field, fingers pointed to the sky, yelling “Unicorn Charge!”

The woodwind section of the marching band is comprised of the flute, clarinet and saxophone players. From charging across the field as mythical creatures to an almost unhealthy admiration of their instructor, Seth Jones, the woodwinds express their individuality through various quirks.

“Our section has a bunch of traditions that are pretty embarrassing,” Nguyen said. “We’re a rebellious, free-spirited bunch.”

The flute players, who, despite being notorious for gossip, have a strong “work hard, play hard” ethic.

“90 percent of the flute section is female, inevitably bringing drama and ‘girl issues’ to band,” junior Cathy Han said, “but we’re definitely one of the more hardworking sections.”

The woodwinds have a strong admiration for Jones, who is “arguably the most important man in the world,” according to junior Kevin Chen. “As clarinets, we try to model our behavior after our beloved instructor,” he added.

In addition, junior Maya Nag feels that the clarinet section is known for being the largest, and possibly most friendly, section of the band.

“We’re also referred to by Mr. Jones as ‘my people,’ because he majored in clarinet performance at Carnegie Mellon University,” she said.

The weekend before band camp starts, players in the section host a “clarinet party” so members can get to know each other before the true season begins. During the year, they bond through their secret-buddy system, where members draw names out of a bag to give another member a $5–$10 gift on the day of competition.

Similarly, the flute players have “flute bags” for each competition, where one grade level is responsible for providing candy and drinks for the section on the ride to their competition venue.

“Despite being a 30-person [clarinet] section, we’re pretty close,” Nag said.

The “saxbros,” as Nguyen refers to his fellow players, are “known for being trouble-makers” because of the frequency with which they are yelled at by Jones.

Because sections are in the same place for the majority of practice, most band members agree that they are closer to their section-mates than to others in band.

“We’re all one big family,” Han said. “The flutes are just my brothers and sisters.”