THE MARCHING BAND NERDS HANDBOOK

Marching band humor is on parade in this short illustrated book.

Band students share their own special type of inside jokes, as shown in Corchin’s collection of poetry, Band Nerds (2020), being published simultaneously. This handbook of “rules” contains one-liners that capture elements of the marching band experience and includes both practical advice and funny, pithy sayings (“It’s a salute, not interpretive dance”; “Trombone slides are not lightsabers”). The book opens with a paragraph titled “Fun,” which explains how important fun is: “If more people were having fun, there would be no reason for hate or discrimination or any other evil….Grab a cupcake and chill out. The world’s lost a bit of its will to have fun.” Despite that simplistic intro—evoking the rebuke that people who object to bias don’t have a sense of humor—this book will prompt some good laughs and reflection on the camaraderie of band. Simple black-and-white line illustrations emphasize the silly humor. A closing poem offers inspiration about working together and overcoming self-doubt. The illustrations show ethnically diverse characters, but there is some humor at the expense of fat people, and one cartoon shows band members vomiting after eating sushi.

An amusing, if flawed, tribute to marching band.