One Time at Band Camp...

Band geeks. Every high school has them. You all know who they were in your school, and there's a pretty good chance a lot of you were band geeks yourselves. And if you were, I'm sure you've got a story or two that begins, "One time at band camp..."

When we told Woodwind & Brasswind (one of the stores on Savings.com) about this post, they decided to ask their Facebook fans to share their band camp stories with us.

Here are a couple of snippets:

"One time at band camp, we put one of the smallest kids in a sousaphone case, and we rolled him around. He survived!"

"This one time at band camp in 1979, we were playing football before the start of camp and I broke a freshman's collar bone. Needless to say, the band director was not happy with me or all of us playing football."

It's not only high school kids that have band stories. As dedicated as some high school band kids are, college bands are way more hardcore. With all of the time they spend together, plenty of fun and interesting stories emerge. For example, the infamous Stanford band story (via Wikipedia):

"The Play" refers to a last-second kickoff return during a college football game between the University of California Golden Bears and the Stanford University Cardinal on November 20, 1982. Given the circumstances and rivalry, the wild game that preceded it, the very unusual way in which The Play unfolded, and its lingering aftermath on players and fans, it is recognized as a highly memorable play in college football history and among the most memorable in American sports.

After Stanford had taken a 20-19 lead on a field goal with four seconds left in the game, the Golden Bears used five lateral passes on the ensuing kickoff return to score the winning touchdown and earn a 25-20 victory. Members of the Stanford Band had come onto the field midway through the return, believing that the game was over, which added to the ensuing confusion and folklore. There remains disagreement over the legality of two of the laterals, adding to the passion surrounding the traditional rivalry of the annual "Big Game."

While that story is infamous enough to warrant its own Wikipedia page, there are plenty of less well-known but equally memorable stories...at least they're memorable to the people who experienced them first-hand.

I never got trampled by a football player or rolled around in a sousaphone case, but I have a couple memorable band moments I could share. That's right folks, I am a former band geek. Concert band, marching band, pep band, jazz band, pit orchestra...if there was an instrumental musical ensemble at Rhinelander High School, I was a member. While I may not have fit into the super socially awkward stereotype that pop culture as created for band geeks (which is surprisingly accurate in most cases...), I did spend a decent share of my high school career in the band room and with other band members.

My favorite memory isn't one from band camp (I actually never went, although I got plenty of "American Pie" comments since my primary instrument was the flute...). When I was a junior, our jazz band was chosen to play at Disney World in Florida. We took a two day bus ride from northern Wisconsin all the way to Florida--which was more unpleasant than you could possibly imagine. On the day of our show, we went backstage at Disney World and into some weird underground tunnel place. We walked for what seemed like forever. The guy that was leading us stopped in front of a very small, enclosed room and said, "Alright. Everybody in."

We all kinda looked at each other, wondering exactly what kind of show we were going to be playing from inside this box. We took our seats and after a couple of minutes, the guy said, "Alright folks, have fun!"

Right then, the top of our little box opened and we started moving up! The little box was in fact a stage that was being lifted up to the venue. Once the stage was raised completely, I saw it was really only band parents and a couple stragglers there to hear us play. I know this sounds--"geeky," but that was the closest I've ever felt to being a rock star. If I had been strumming a Fender instead of rocking out on a bari sax, this would make a bit more sense--but whatever...woodwinds were my calling.

We played a killer show though, as we usually did (we were quite good)--and that's one show I'll never forget.

Attention current/former band geeks! Do you have any favorite band camp--or other "bandie" stories? Share them with us in the comments and you could win a $250 gift card for Woodwind & Brasswind.