Valuable tools from a marching band career

The days have been getting cooler lately, so I’m getting back to walking the mile or so from my office to the parking lot rather than taking the bus.  During the summer it gets so hot that by the time I make the walk I’m drenched in sweat and not very nice to be around.  But these cool days make for a great 15-20 minute walk to the car to unwind at the end of the day.  Yesterday I wanted to go ahead and make the walk, but 15-20 minutes seemed like too long.  How could I make the walk go faster?

Walking across campus I thought back to my days in the Marching Illini.  Our director, the incomparable Gary Smith, used to say that the quickest way to move a band around a crowded college campus is to march it there.  Nothing makes people get out of your way like 350 brightly dressed college students accompanied by a 30 people banging drums, and being led by someone in a ridiculously tall hat and carrying a large mace.  It even worked marching through Columbus, right through a crowd of Buckeye fans and into the stadium.  I wondered if my own walk to the car could be helped by this marching mentality.  Sure I don’t have the presence of a full size band, but maybe the music alone would keep me going.

And it worked great.  I popped on Street Beats 1994 and started off.  In no time I found myself stepping in time to the cadence and measuring my steps so I hit the line every 8 steps (marching bands often take 8 steps per 5 yards for those of you not in the know).  I was flying through my walk, and when I got to the end of the 4 minute song, I started it over and kept on going.

The one caution I would give to other people wanting to try this is to remember that you are by yourself and listening to music that no one else can hear.  You don’t want to start calling out “Go Illini, Beat the Hawkeyes” or yell out “Big White Spats!” at any point during your walk.  As I was nearing the last third of my walk, the parade cadence ended and the pregame show started.  For a second I considered doing a quick step run on to Revised Entrance #3, but then I remembered that my marching career was 20 years ago and I’d likely draw some stares as well as make myself totally out of breath.  And when Patriotic Medley came on, I had to physically stop myself from doing an Ankle Knee step at one point.  Obviously old habits die hard.

So the end result of my experiment was a success.  I shaved a few minutes off my walk, raised my heart rate a little, and relived some old memories.  Now I just need 349 friends, a cape, a hat and some big white spats and I’ll really be flying!