I am currently a freshman in my schools marching band. I am in pit/front ensemble so I do not march.I play aux percussion because upperclassman do the mallet instruments. Next season, I am considering marching with my tenor sax because I feel as if I am missing out on something. Should I do it? I am afraid that marching will be to hard especially switching as a sophmore, what should I do?
I think you will do just fine. I marched with an instrument and later switched to flag core. Life is full of slightly scary things and uncertain changes, but usually it all works out. March on!
You should be fine, but just realize it can be difficult for someone new to saxophone to play the notes and keep marching in time accurately! Once you realize that beats 1 and 3 are left and 2 and 4 are right it’s pretty easy though!
@MPC6789 Until you march in 3/4 or 5/4 or odd sets 
OP, I know plenty of people that joined marching band after freshman year and they did just fine. You’ll have to put in extra effort but it’s definitely worth it.
Okay so I am in marching band and I absolutely love it and I have a lot to say on this matter! :)) I quit a sport to join band after never having played an instrument before, and honestly, learning to march in time and play memorized music WELL is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. And it’s still hard! Especially with weird sets. But oh my goodness marching and performing is so rewarding. I love it so much. And yeah marchers get the short end of the stick a lot, and Pitt (at least in my school) gets a LOT of free time and never gets blamed for anything (probably just my school lol), but I can’t imagine not marching. As much as it can SUCK, it’s awe-inspiring. To watch the show and realize that you and a bunch of others highschool kids were able to memorize complicated pieces of music, body moves, tons of coordinates, counts, and play and March with proper technique/look and sound good, is incredible. It’s art!
I know the Pitt is important but to me, the true effect (affect?) of marching band will hit the marchers and drum line the most. So GO FOR IT! 
Plus you don’t have to worry about being good or not at saxophone. Yeah it helps, but I had been playing Mello for like 3 months when I joined, and been reading music for 5. Lol one kid showed up halfway through band camp asking to join and play sax when he had never played before. If you aren’t where you need to be, band camp will whip you into shape! You will be fine and have a great time! :)))
Thanks! I think I am going to go for it. I started tenor in June and will play it in the school concert band for this school year, so I will have some background. You are right about pit getting free time…it’s so boring and I feel like I am missing out!!
@darren2015 hooray! You will do so well!!! Plus you have plenty of time to practice sax! Yeah pit is cool and all but it is called MARCHING band ;))). Ah it’ll be great! Tough AF, but great!