The Parable of the Marching Band

From Ben Bernards to Elder BJ Bernards, dated November 12, 2007

Hey BJ,

Hope you're doing well. Keep working hard, loving the people, loving your companion, and staying obedient. If you don't know what to do, get out and start talking to people Open your mouth. Make a game of it...get creative. Feel free to play people's guitars or drums -- or share it for a ward / branch / zone conference talent show.

My thoughts for today -- the Parable of the Marching Band. (Heh...you knew it had to come sooner or later, right?)

When I was in marching band, I had high aspirations to become Drum Major. I loved the importance, the power, the respect, etc. etc. I thought it was the most important role in the band...and I was mistaken. The most important role is that of Center Snare. Let me explain why.

Marching bands only work properly when everyone is marching and playing together, in time...right down to 1/128th of a beat. You can't be off by a fraction. You have to march in the right directions, stop where you're supposed to, point your bodies the right way, hold your instrument properly, play 6-10 pages of memorized music, and do so in perfect unison with several hundred other students. Some scientists have listed the number of simultaneous actions being performed during a marching band performance and determined that it cannot be done -- the human body simply cannot do all those things at the same time, let alone do them well. But countless of people, young and old, have done and continue to do so.

The drum major serves as a sort of visual metronome and conductor. They keep the beat, give signals as to how and when to play, and stand in a high, central place where everyone can see them. This does not guarantee that everyone WILL watch the drum major, and there are plenty of marchers that go the wrong way, play the wrong thing or at the wrong time, or otherwise mess up what would have been a beautiful, unified performance...all because they weren't following the drum major.

But the drum major isn't the true leader -- the Center Snare player is. You see, it is commonly observed that musicians in a group will subconsciously "follow" each other's musical cues in regards to tempo, volume, attacks and releases, and so forth. It is very easy to force the band to speed up or slow down, simply by speeding up or slowing down yourself, or to influence others to come in at the wrong time, play at the wrong volume, etc. etc., And if your instrument is easier to hear than others...such as high brass or woodwinds, or sharp percussive noises that are felt as well as heard...then others are more likely to follow your cues. Of all the instruments in the band that can throw off a group, drums are the worst -- musicians will subconsciously follow the beat that they feel / hear from drums more than any other player. In marching band, that means the Snare Line sets the tempo. And in the Snare Line, it's the Center Snare that leads all the others.

But this presents a problem. Sound waves are easily distorted. It is a simple job to follow the drum line's tempo when the marching band is in a closed room, lined up in a concert arc, and everyone can clearly hear and feel the beats. But when the band is spread out across an open air football field, and everyone is constantly moving in various directions, the sounds from the snare line are distorted and the beats are not felt / heard at the same time by everyone around the field. So if everyone tried to just march their show and play their music and only rely on the distorted audio cues, they wouldn't play in unison and the effort would fail.

That's where drum majors come in.

Now, even though they're on a podium and not moving and up higher than the other players, they still have the auditory problems that the other musicians deal with -- the drum major can't rely on the sound of the of the snare lines to set the tempo.

But they can rely on their eyes.

Light travels faster than sound. And the Center Snares feet (if he / she is worthy of her position) are constantly marking the time and moving in perfect synchronization with the tempo.

So no matter where the Snare Line moves, as long as the Drum Major watches their feet, he will be able to set the proper tempo.

And as long as the Band is watching the Drum Major and follow what they see, and not follow the other signals they're receiving all around them, they will be playing in unison. It takes great faith to follow that drum major and keep your eyes on them, but doing so is the only way to guarantee that the performance will be of championship quality.

It's especially difficult when the marchers around you take their eyes of for a split second, lose the beat, or follow a different signal that they're feeling / hearing. As marchers, you have to learn how to work together to maintain proper body spacing to create the visual shapes of the show; you align yourself based on where certain anchor and focus points are, it's the only way to make sure your lines are straight and your curves are not. But if you rely too much on the people around you, and don't follow the drum major, you and those around you will mess everything up.

This test of being able to follow the drum major is frequently pushed to the extreme in a friendly competition we called "The Drill Down". We only did it once a year. Everyone lines up in a big square grid without their instruments, and simply marches around, following verbal orders from the drum major and marching in time to the metronome beat clicked out with a pair of clavy's. It's an endurance / obedience contest to see who is the best marcher and can last the longest. If you make one tiny mistake -- you step off too soon / too late, stop too soon / late, turn the wrong direction, miss a beat, don't keep your arms up at the right angle -- you are eliminated. Those eliminated stand on the sidelines and watch as the pool of marchers gets smaller and smaller, the commands come more rapidly, the tempo increases dramatically, and the overall difficulty jumps by leaps and bounds.

Eventually only one or two people remain standing. When it's evident that they can't be eliminated via a march off, they are put to the final test, to see if they can be forced or persuaded to "break attention", i.e., to crack a smile, blink their eyes, drop their arms, or otherwise stop standing at perfect attention. Everyone that has been eliminated is given free reign to do or say anything they want to force that remaining marcher to break attention, and they will continue until he is broken or the drum major declares him the winner.

In my last drill down, I'd made it down to the final two. One of my good friends was the other marcher, and he was eliminated in a series of tricky calls and maneuvers that I'd barely performed myself. I was left standing there at attention, and the drum major yelled for everyone to "come break me." I stood there at attention as 200 kids ran full speed at me, charging like the glorious Rohirrim at the Battle of Minas Tirith, yelling and screaming and coming to stop within centimeters of my face. I was instantly engulfed in a sea of screaming, gnashing, tormenting pubescent marching band geeks that jostled and swirled and yelled and played their piccolos at high-pitched minor-second intervals (but then, I"m being redundant) -- can you imagine a more ghastly, horrifying, vortex of humanity? Me neither.

They took great pride in trying to break me, screaming in both of my ears at point blank range, trying to do anything and everything to break me. THey even started invoking names of color guard girls I was interested in and pulling at my clothes (I think someone even tried to pants me and see what I would do.)

The only thing I could do was to close down my 'external' senses and focus every bit of mental concentration I had on a single point of steely resolve, far far away in my mind. Everything rolled off me like raindrops, and I felt tossed like a ship on the ocean...but no matter how hard the waves of the marchers crashed, I would.....not....capsize. I simply wouldn't. I had made up my mind that I was going to win, and nothing would keep me from breaking.

The storm lasted forever. My arms and back were burning. My eardrums were ringing in pain from the screaming and yelling. But my mind stayed calm and quiet, and I knew that it would soon be over.

And over it was. The drum major called off the hounds, and the staff members watching quietly came over, dismissed me from attention and congratulated me. I nearly collapsed right there on the field and I'm sure the others cheered and jeered a bit. Practice went on and I didn't receive any award or recognition for it...but I knew what I had accomplished. I knew that when I'd set my mind to stay at attention, I would do it, no matter the cost, no matter the torment around me. A sweet peaceful strength made itself right at home inside me for a long time after that, as I knew what I was capable of.

So, enough of the story. I'm sure the parable is pretty clear.

Who is the Center Snare? And Who is His Drum Major? Or the Assistant Drum Majors or Section Leaders? Who do you look to? Who will you follow? Who will you keep your eyes on, even when those around you try to step off at the wrong time, who march the wrong direction, who play the wrong music? Wherein will you find your resolve when the world tries to crash upon you? When you are "called to attention", would you stand so, even if those around you break and try to get you to break as well? Would you stand alone in the face of all the other missionaries? Would you march to the beat of His drum, even if you were the only person doing so?

I know you would. In the words of Samuel D. Bernards, "You are mighty...because you kneel."

I love you bro. Work it up.
Cheers,
Ben