My Kid Joined Marching Band, Now What?

First of all, congratulations for allowing your child to join the North Andover Scarlet Knight Marching Band—welcome to our community!

Many of us spent most of the first year in various states of confusion trying to wrap our heads around our child being in marching band, let alone high school. We banded together with other first-year parents and formed friendships, just like our kids. We hope that this little guide helps you prepare for the year and consider contributing your pro-tips for future band parents. 🙂

What’s so great about Marching Band? There are numerous reasons why joining marching band is a solid choice for both your child, and you. For some it is seeing their child’s self-confidence skyrocket; while others it is the friendship network. Walking into school on the first day already knowing 45+ other people helps make the transition easier. Over the course of the season, you will find your child’s playing ability and pride really shine through. They will learn valuable lessons to prepare them for the “real world” and life after high school. 

We hope this guide makes your marching band season a little easier. Just remember, you are not alone. Reach out to other parents. We are in this together! ❤️ 

Music Parent “Ask Me Anything” Sessions

Come meet other music parents and “Ask Me Anything.” Ask anything that you’d like to learn more about, and learn about NAMA!

• Wednesday, August 13th at 5:00 PM at the Courtyard

• Monday, September 8th at 6:30 PM at the NAHS Library

You can also email us at NAMA any time: info@northandovermusic.org

Sign up to receive email updates from NAMA on music in our schools.

Who’s Who In the Band

Band Director – Chris Nelson. You may know him as one of the band directors at NAMS. He is now the primary director of the Scarlet Knights Marching Band and we are lucky to have him!

Assistant Band Director - Justin Smalley. He is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the all of the band programs at the high school. He is taking on a smaller role with the marching band this fall, but you will still see him around.

Staff – Extra staff hired by the director to help the band who are experts in particular sections of the band and color guard. For example, the “percussion tech” is an adult with experience marching percussion at all levels of the activity.

Drum Majors – These students are the lead conductors of the band. Once “rookies” just like your kids, they are now upper-classmen and conduct the band during the marching season.

Color Guard Captains – Leaders of the Color Guard. The Guard doesn’t play instruments, they throw flags, rifles, sabers, and contribute to the visual effect of the show.

Section Leaders – Each group of instruments in the band are called a “section”. Each section has student leaders, who help lead rehearsals in their sections.

See who's who in NAMA on our contact page…

Assorted Tips

Marching Band Camp

• August 11th - 15th: Week-long, all day marching band camp (9:00am - 5:00pm approximately). Lots of water, sunscreen, comfortable clothes, shoes and hat are highly recommended.

Cheddar Up

• This is the platform our booster club, the North Andover Music Association, uses as our storefront. Here is the link: Marching Band Store It has have must-haves such as Dinkles, NA polo shirt, gloves, and more. The polo is needed by their first in-school performance August 27.

• Some expenses are mandatory, such as the uniform fee; some are optional, such as the student-designed “show shirt”. Please email info@northandovermusic.org if you have questions, including if you need assistance with these fees. NAMA exists to help with this, and arrangements are confidential.

Items Not available through NAMA

• Black socks for marching band. Get a few pairs, you won’t be disappointed!

• Lyre to hold sheet music during parade and a small sheet music holder (Does not apply to percussionists)

• “Concert Black/Professional Black” - this is concert dress if your child participates in Wind Ensemble or Symphonic Band. The Marching Band won't use this outfit. Black pants, black shirt, black dress, black shoes. The first performance for these ensembles is in November.

Schedule

• Marching Band is a time commitment for both your child and you. Get to know the other parents during this time. You never know if you can create carpools & friendships! Twice a week during the season, the rehearsals go until 9pm.

• The full schedule is in the Marching Band Schedule. For the 2025 season, we have 4 home football games, 5 NESBA competitions, and 2 parades! Each event will have volunteer opportunities so be on the lookout!

Watching your child perform

There are three venues the marching band performs in. 

• NESBA Marching Band Competitions (4 competitions, plus Finals)

  • Competitions are the primary performance venue for the band. Marching Band competitions are judged on several characteristics, and each band is given a score. It's a little like how figured skating is judged.

  • HOME COMPETITION: Saturday, October 11th North Andover plays host. NAMA are looking for help running this large all-day event. It’s our 14th Show and we need help for it to run smoothly—we will train you on everything you need to help. Look for emails with more info! 

  • Each competition is a fundraiser for the host school's music programs, and thus charge all attendees for admittance. There are a very limited number of volunteers for each band who are admitted free.

  • NAHS does not perform at every NESBA competition. See their official site for more information about the entire season.

  • Many competitions feature exhibition performances from local collegiate marching bands, so kids can see what band looks like at the next level.

• North Andover home football games (4 regular season games in the 2025 season)

  • You may enjoy the football game, you may just be there for the halftime show, or maybe a bit of both. Don’t worry that many fans aren’t as into the halftime show as you are. Find and make friends with other band parents to sit with so you might be able to hear the show over everyone else. These are a bit like practice for the competitions.

  • Band families who attend pay admission to football games, unless they are one of the limited NAMA volunteers.

• Parades (free to the public, if that's not obvious)

  • • Tuesday, November 11th - Veteran’s Day Parade, 9:00am - 1:00pm

    • Saturday, November 29th - NA Santa Parade, 11:00am - 2:00pm

    • Monday, May 25th, 2026 - NA Memorial Day Parade

• Want a sneak peak at the show? 

  • A good time to catch it is at the end of their weeknight rehearsals. Come a little early and see their progress. The competitions are where you will get to see the fruits of their labor.

Marching Band Uniform

• Your child will be fitted for a marching band uniform during a Saturday morning practice in early September. It is a heavy uniform kept in a big garment bag. Hanging the uniform after performances is your child’s responsibility. Finding a place to put the bag in the house is sometimes the biggest task.

• In 2025 each marching band student will need to purchase a special Show Shirt to perform in, for the “Liftoff” Show. They can be purchased in the CheddarUp store. These are only worn during competitions.

• Color Guard uniforms will be ordered based on the design chosen by the Color Guard. Each Guard member will be fitted for a Rain Jacket during the Saturday in September fitting day. Color Guard members do not need dinkles, gloves, etc. Check with the Color Guard Captains for this year’s needs!

Remind

• Please make sure to join the Remind App for parents (and that your student joins the Student Remind)

  • Parents Class Code: @hf7e9k

Volunteer

• There are multiple volunteer opportunities throughout the marching band season, please sign up!

• Artistic? We need you!

• Love crowd control? We’ve got the event for you (our home NESBA competition)!

• Miss riding a school bus? No worries...we can make that happen!

• Looking to expand your friend group? We’ve got your back!

Glossary 

(Band Lingo Explained)

• Shako - Hat worn during competition

• Plume - Feather adornment attached to the top of the shako

• Dinkles - A brand of marching band shoes

• Mellophone - Marching French Horn

• Sousaphone - Type of tuba used for marching

• Percussion - Any striking instrument, not just drums

• "The Pit" or "Front ensemble" - the non-marching musicians positioned on the front side line, typically percussion, but increasingly includes electrified instruments such as keyboards, bass guitar)

• "Drumline" or "The Battery" - the percussionists that march on the field. NAHS uses snare drums, bass drums, and tenor drums.

• "The Cadence" - a percussion-only piece the drumline uses to march the band in parades and sometimes on and off the field.

• "Color Guard" or "Auxillary" - dancers, flag throwers, and rifle throwers

• NESBA - New England Scholastic Band Association - the organization that enables our students to compete in Fall Marching Band events. (pronounced “Nez-buh”)

• Adjudicators - the judges at NESBA competitions

• Coordinate books - small index card booklets that hang off your shoulder that the band writes their dots in

• Dots - your band child’s position coordinates during certain points of the field show

• Candy grams - snack/treats to be given to performers with notes of encouragement/praise. Raises money for NAMA to put back into your child's musical experiences.

• DCI - The "major leagues" of marching band is Drum Corps International which is quite impressive. In 2025, New England was well represented. The World Champions were the Boston Crusaders, in their 85th season. The Open Class champs were New Hampshire's Spartans. 

Performance Etiquette for Parents

Our band participates in multiple competition events at different schools (ours included) throughout the area. The size of the band determines the division they compete within. Divisions here are not like school sports, where school population size determines division, and typically division I is better than division III. In NESBA competitions, it just means a band has a certain number of members. The smallest groups are in division I and the bigger they are the higher the division.

The competitions are all run by NESBA - The New England Scholastic Band Association, and hosted by schools in our area. Regardless of the location, all band members must be dropped off at NAHS. They leave and arrive together on the school's bus. Make sure your performer has everything they need, as once you drop them off at NAHS you won’t see them until after they’re done performing. Unless you decide to chaperone the bus! We need two parents per bus to manage the band. (Really, we need a shadow for this position :).

When parents attend competitions, you'll want to bring cash (although more take digital payments these days), and possibly something to cushion the bleacher seating, to enjoy the show. If you get there early you can buy a candy gram for your performer or food for yourself. There’s often food provided by the hosts from the local shops in the area. When a group begins its performance, it's customary for all foot traffic in the stadium to halt movement, so make sure you grab what you’ll need or use the restroom before a school starts playing or you’ll be watching from the sidelines until that school is done.

NAMA has some t-shirts, hats, cushions etc. for purchase. As a parent, I have them all because when we attend these competitions, you want to make sure our kids can see and hear us. The support is felt throughout the whole stadium. Showing up counts, make it heard! Come to the shows! Cheer LOUDLY for the performance—it helps the scoring and the morale of the student musicians!

Get ready for a year of musical fun for both your child and for you! You may just surprise yourself with how much fun you actually have!