17 Signs You Were A Band Geek

The phrase "band geek" might sound like a derisive label, but to those who wore the chinstrap proudly, it can just as easily be a term of endearment. If you spent even a few years of your teenage life marching across a football field or bellowing notes from the dark corners of a stage, you're likely to count yourself amongst the fortunate "band geek" masses. Here are 17 signs you are that individual:

1. You have no tolerance for people who can't tell the difference between a woodwind and brass. Get on our level, people.

2. Your desk drawers are still somehow filled with chipped reeds, valve oil or drumsticks. Just like your cases, backpacks and pockets.

3. Years of practicing embouchure has made you an excellent kisser. IYHO.

4. Your Pandora and Spotify histories are still filled with band favorites. Sometimes you need a little Karel Husa or Antonín Dvořák or Alfred Reed.

5. Instruments define your concept of high school cliques. The clarinets vs. the bassoons vs. the percussionists. Then there was jazz band and chamber ensembles. It was a complicated world.

6. You've emptied a reservoir of human spit in public. Oh, spit valves, how necessary and revolting you are.

7. Bus rides aren't bus rides without pounds upon pounds of tubas and percussion equipment tumbling around. Road trips need a little danger, right?

8. You're no stranger to early -- EARLY -- wake-up calls. Marching band practice just doesn't make sense unless it's occurring only moments before sunrise.

9. Years of marching band has made you nimble on your feet. Forget ballet or gymnastics, all you needed in your formative years was a few (or hundred) early morning marching band rehearsals to master the art of a roll step.

10. Walking in lines has never been the same since, though. Sometimes you just can't help but linger closely behind someone whilst mimicking their every move. Life is a constant drill book.

11. You sympathize with show ponies. I mean, this head gear? Really?

12. You roll your eyes at people who think flautists are always women and trumpeters are always men. Leave your gender stereotypes outside the auditorium.

13. Many of the hard surfaces around you are covered in small divots. Old percussion habits die hard.

14. You know this isn't chapstick. That's not to say you haven't experimented.

15. Your dreams are still filled with band directors approaching podiums. Band, hut!

16. When you think back on high school, sometimes you forget you did anything but play in the band. You know you went to class, but nothing seems as memorable or important as the hours you spent with bandmates.

17. And you never found this joke particularly funny.