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IT IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!! ESPECIALLY THE RUNNING AND WARMUPS AND THE SIT UPS AND THE PUSH UPS AND THE SWEAT AND THE PAIN AND THE ADRENALINE AND ALL OF THE OTHER STUFF THAT HAPPENS DURING...OH EVEN THE TRADITIONS ARE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry...i had an all caps moment
as for the tips....i cant say anything cuz i play clarinet...just drink lots of fluids and NEVER EVER look at the ground!!! that i can help you with...you should never look at the ground otherwise you will get in big troble...also pay attention to directions and help from section leader and drum majors, cuz it looks bad if you get a bad attitude when they are just trying to make you a better marcher......one more thing on your first time marching...take big breaths and relax, cuz it is a great experience and...its better then a rollar coster (so i hear since ive never been on one...) with all that adrenaline its awesome! oh and at contests put your all in it and when you see the crowd reaction you just cant help but be giddy and hyped up....marching is the most amazing thing you could do in band....it takes your breath away sometimes....(no pun intended....maybe a little...idk...)

YEEEESS!!!!!!!!! I was JUST like you. I wanted so bad for 8th grade to be over so I could be in marching band! I play alto sax too. It's so nice to see that you are so excited for this. It's not hard to march with an alto sax, so I'm gonna give you advice and tell you some stuff aboud band, just because I love it.
My band has a ton of traditions, and band is such an awesome experience. At my band camp, the seniors claim a freshman, and we have freshman initiation. Freshman get blindfolded and led into the woods at night. It's supposed to be scary, and for freshman it is. For me it was. When we get into the woods deep enough, blind folds are taken off, we're surrounded by tiki torches and we're by a creek. All the freshman sit down and seniors tell their amazing stories, it has them in tears, and us in tears. Let me tell you, that it is an awesome thing to hear their stories, and then to hear that their seniors told them stories, and that this has been the tradition for years and years. They tell us that we're not only part of the current marching band, we're are part of every past class, and group of people that have passed through that band. It's so sentimental. Cadences, to me, are something that stays in your heart and something that unites the hearts of the band members. When we begin our march from the high school down through the town to the field, the adrenalin kicks in when we come to attention and lift off to the cadence. Marching band is truly something that you'll remember for the rest of your life.

Band is most deffinatly a family. You are going to see people in ways you've never seen them before, gross, sweaty, smelly, dead tired, possibly even barfing, sick, happy, sad, and dissapointed.
Be sure to NEVER tell a senior or any upper classmen what to do, in my band this is never aloud, punishishable by running, push ups, trash duty, or a good old yelling at, and you'll lose the respect of the seniors. Remember, you're at the bottom of the totem poll.
Also, since you're new, you're bound to be off step all the time during the beginning. To get back on step, just kinda do a little skip thing, you 'll get back with it.
Another thing, since band is a family, don't be embarassed in front of upper classmen, they were in your shoes once too. Also, I'm not sure what kind of cadences you guys play, but my band has special moves, triple time, skips, kicks, and other things, but if you do have those, do not be afraid or embarassed to do them. You'll have so much more fun in marching band if you let loose a little bit.
On the field, it's really easy to forget the fundamentals, roll stepping, sliding, back marching. Try your hardest to remember all of them, because without them, it will look sloppy.
This may sound silly, but make sure you always have knee socks, it's a part of my undernieth uniform for my band, but I dont know about yours, but your heels and feet are gonna kill after your first game, so to avoid heel blisters and rubbing be sure to have knee socks.
Another bit of advice to you from me is to NEVER eat chinese before a game, you can never eat chinese early enough before a game. Some of us made that mistake....a few of us were running to the bathroom, before, during and after the show. sweatdrop It's good to never eat alot before a game anyway, but stay away from chinese.
The largest piece of advice to give you is to stick with it, work hard, show respect. Even if you don't enjoy it at first, marching band is a great big, awesome family, who shares the same feelings, the same reason for sweating, the same reason for enduring pain, and the same reason for passing down traditions.

Marching is fun! I play flute and alto sax I march wif my alto tho! I wanted to quit so bad after band camp it is super hard at first but just tough it out! the first day our drum major made us do over 900 arm circles all at once! I hurt so bad!! My first show I made my section leader calm me down!! I was so scared but we did great! our school is all bout football so no one actually watchs us except our parents! one of our trumpet players had a solo he was amazing! Hes on my friends!!!!!!!!! lol We put 500% in a marching contest we got 1st! my opion its hard but it all pays off afterward I cant wait until band camp!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! We have contest to make it fun ohhh and when marching wif the alto before comps suck out the spit! Its so disgusting but one of the other altos made me! It helps tho! I almost puked ugh! lol mrgreen ninja