#mincemarchingband

(I should really just write this by now hahaha 😭)

-Charles can also play piano and occasionally hops off the field to fill the keyboard position in the pit while Jean is busy doing 20 other things simultaneously.

-Jean is the only one allowed to run the DTX (sound system/effects).

(This rule was put into effect after Hel forgot that the orchestra borrowed said sound system to play the 1812 Overture and as a result blasted the band field [and possibly the next town over] with the sound of a cannon blast. Bevan was incandescent.)

-Charles was once a little Too Eager to get off the field and tripped over the wires and as a result unplugged every electronic in the pit. Jean had it fixed in less than 30 seconds. (This may or may not have coincided with Masterman and Reggie stealing his clarinet stand)

-Shoeshine boy (does he have a name) is Very tone deaf. You can see why this might be problematic. (Sectional is usually just him and Jewell and Jewell is to the point where he would rather teach Steve to march quads while spinning rifle)

-Charles has perfect/relative pitch (which can heavily contribute to bad days)

-Pobil and Juan often trade cases for long walks to warm-up areas, leading to people thinking they play the others’ instrument due to their relative size and stature. Many are shocked when they see Juan on the field with his tuba, and Pobil struggles to hold his embouchure every time (the temptation to smile is strong bc damn look at Juan go- oh shit he just took out Deborah).

(He has also had to stop Masterson and Tar from “seeing if Juan fits inside his tuba case” - he does)

Michael Umbrella

--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?”

“No.”

Cocknies

--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.)

Pobil

--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.

Jewell (FOC)

—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.)

Seraph crew! - drum line

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.)

Bartender

—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.

Ivor

—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).

Shoeshine boy

—Piccolo. You know why. Always needs spare change for the vending machine and isn’t afraid to ask

Fusty Admirals

—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.)

Tub Johnson

—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)

Deborah

—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.

Hel

[Forgot I did this lol pain does weird shit to you]

[catches are a bit Wibbly don’t come for me this was day 6 of sabre after not spinning said equipment since December 2023]

[not pictured: the truly Tremendous amount of bruises on my right arm from wondering if I could still do a turnaround.]

[Hell yeah hilt 6s at the height of a 5- you know that shit is spinning fast when the framerate can’t keep up]

I’m actually so proud of this.

[filmed in one take bc I had 15 min before Fun started]

[balanced my phone on a lightpost]

[also did this with three fingers bandaged bc the hilt of the sabre was broken and I didn’t notice and it straight up sliced my hand bc broken metal is SHARP]

-When Monty first tried to teach Charles a pull/pole-hit on flag (he figured Charles knowing only drop spins was a good enough foundation - he was wrong), said pole/pull-hit ricocheted off a wall and directly into Monty’s face.

(Charles apologized for as long as the bruise was still visible, while Monty had to explain (repeatedly) to others:

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“No, just a flag.”

“What?! Of COURSE it wasn’t MY flag!”)

—-

“I’m so sorry-“

“Charlie-“

“Monty, I am SO sorry-“

“Charlie, please.”

“I don’t even- I’m- I’m so INCREDIBLY sorry-“

“Charlie, if you apologize again I’ll, oh I don’t know, I’ll do something Physically Intense to you.”

“…”

“…”

“…you’re on the ground, Monty-“

“That is completely beside the point.”

“Do you want some ice?”

“That would be greatly appreciated.”

“…

“…I really am sor-“

“That’s it. I’m telling Bevan you’re joining Sabre line.”

“wait- NO!!!!!”

—-

(Tumblr deleted the first one I’m still mad)

-Charles can get overstimulated/overwhelmed sometimes, so no matter where they’re practicing or performing, Monty always scopes out a quiet place away from the insanity and NOISE that comes with band (especially when Masterman and Tar seem to enjoy playing the “who can make the bug boy freak out” game [working title]) for Charles to be able to Exist away from it all.

(Monty is usually the first to notice when Charles starts to lose the plot or is having an off day, just like Charles will notice when Monty is having problems of his own [like injury or breathing or binding safely])

-Monty is Also prepared to help Charles out of uniform IMMEDIATELY post-performance (if needed) because it can worsen the overstimulated situation (it’s already restrictive and scratchy and hot and then you add sweat and Stress and it quickly turns from ‘tolerable? discomfort’ to I Need To Peel My Skin Off NOW)

(Charlie will be practically hyperventilating but also concerned if Monty can breathe properly afterwards to the point that Monty is swatting away Charles’ worried hands while trying to get him in halves)

(They’re both disasters)

-Monty has “accidentally” hit both Masterman and Reggie with his equipment during a full run. Accidentally. Definitely. (The fact that they were making fun of Charles for being excited when a praying mantis landed on his shako is completely coincidental. Or that one time when they hid the stand for his clarinet. Or took his plume. Complete and utter coincidence).

-Hester and Monty have been close since his year one and her year two. His first year, when uniforms were issued to the guard, Monty was excited - only to nearly have a panic attack after realizing he’d been given the “female” version of said uniform.

Hester found him and demanded (gently) that he give her the uniform and let her handle it (with his permission, of course).

Fifteen minutes later she returned with the “male” version of the uniform and offered to connect him with a friend of hers who could help tailor it to his size (Prezzo is a master with needle and thread and often helps alter uniforms).

(The year after that all uniforms were unisex.)

-Hester continuously confiscates energy drinks and 5-hour energies from Bevan.

He protests-

(“Hess-“

“Don’t ‘Hess’ me!”

“Well, between the drill changes and completely reworking the end of the show I haven’t had time to sit, let alone sleep! The director is counting on me-”

“Then I strongly suggest you take a nap on the bus. Unless you’d like to take the field with a sour stomach, I’m sure the heat and your…Beverages, will bring out your best, Drum Major Bevan.”

“…Very Well.”)

-but knows she’s right.

(She made the mistake of giving one to Juan once. Never again.)

-Willie Watkins is the absolute King of the park and bark. He doesn’t know the meaning of the word pianissimo. In his opinion, any trumpet part is automatically FFFFFF

(He’s very loud.)

-Charles almost took out an entire conveyer belt (follow the leader) during a run bc he was in the perfect position during the hold to see Monty NAIL his solo toss and thought it was so masterfully done [read: HOT AS FUC-] he forgot to step off and was nearly run over by Juan and the rest of the tuba line. (Jean witnessed the whole thing and laughed at Charles for like a week. Hester and Bevan ALSO witnessed this from their podiums and had to resist the urge to let the emotional equivalent of a ‘facepalm’ show)

-Monty helps Charles into his uniform jacket before every performance.

-Charles is too bashful to do the typical band-kid move of running up to another person and yelling “do me!”…but Monty has no such reservations. Therefore it is not uncommon to hear Monty shouting from somewhere in the masses: “Charlie! Get over here so I can do you in the corner!” (Bevan did once walk in on them snogging in the birdcage but that was a completely different scenario)

-Charles helps Monty with his hair before competitions. (Monty has A LOT of hair and struggles with most styles beyond his typical bun. He’s quick to get frustrated [because Of Course rehearsal ran over and they had to load the truck and they don’t have a lot of time and he still needs his uniform and undergarments and Spilsbury keeps trying to make off with his flagbag if he’s gone too long and they need to be on the busses in 15 and his makeup isn’t even STARTED-] and stressed. Charles calms him down and promises he can do Monty’s hair on the bus ride for him - just worry about everything else. [He also encourages Monty to Please Eat Something])

-Charles always brings an extra sweatshirt for Monty after performances bc he knows Monty will insist on binding during performance (Charles worries about his health and safety when it seems like Monty never gives himself a break) and will try to get away with keeping his binder on afterwards. Charles gently encourages self-care and offers the sweatshirt as a peace offering. (Post-performance bus rides almost always end with a sweatshirt-clad Monty passed out against Charlie’s side).

To my musically inclined Mincemeat friends (be it instrument/color guard/dance/sing/etc.)

This would most likely be 100% virtual and I have no real plans (yet) but depending on what skills/instruments/people we have, could arrange a mincemeat song for the talent we have and maybe try to have a little fun!

Anyway - I should sleep