Are you an incoming high school band parent and are not sure exactly what you've signed up for? The Boosters are here to help with our Parent 101.

Marching Band is music, theatre, athleticism and performance presented on a massive 100 yard stage. It is powerful and moving and the process of its creation is life-changing. You and your teen are starting on this four-year journey of creativity, discipline and camaraderie and one of the best times of their life. We welcome you to our band family!

Many of our band and guard students have a tradition of marching band participation, with either parents or siblings who have been involved with band. But some of you are coming into this year blind and we want to share some things that may seem basic to some, but can be intimidating if you have to learn it all from scratch.

High School Band is not Middle School Band

High School Band resembles club-level youth sports more than middle school band. With three weeks of summer band camp followed by 4 practice days after school and weekly (or twice weekly) performances during the fall marching season. The band attends and performs at all football games and will have competitions on 3 or 4 Saturdays as well as a various other events throughout the year. Like club sports, we eat, sleep and breathe marching band during our season from August to November. It is intense, but rewarding for the whole family. 

Encourage your student to follow good hydration and nutrition throughout the summer. Also, encourage them to get out and endure the heat! It takes almost two weeks to acclimate to the Texas summer, and they'll be spending a lot of time outside during summer band. A little prep work now will make it more enjoyable in late July!

Why "JET"?

The name JET Band is a fun and spirited play on the initials of James E. Taylor High School—J.E.T. Just like a jet aircraft, our band is fast, powerful, and built for precision and runs like a well-oiled machine powered by our entire community of students, directors, parents and the entire JET Community. 

Most of our volunteer teams proudly carry this aviation theme:

• Ground Crew keeps everything running smoothly behind the scenes.
• JET Fuel powers our students with meals and snacks.
• Loading Crew ensures our equipment and props are ready for takeoff.

This creative theme not only builds school spirit, but also brings a sense of unity, fun, and identity to everything we do—making the JET Band experience truly one-of-a-kind.

Live by the Calendar(s)

You'll find two calendars on JETBand.org:

• Director's Calendar: The band directors and boosters keep this Google Calendar updated with rehearsal times, performance and contest date and times, due dates, and other information the band director's want to convey. Consider syncing it to your personal calendar, and refer back to it often. It is your guiding star!
• The Booster Club Calendar: At first glance this looks like it contains the same information, but the major difference is this calendar will also contain any volunteer opportunities, booster meeting information, and other things more geared toward the parent/volunteer side of the organization. This calendar is linked to your BoosterHub app, and will populate with events as we add them throughout the year.

Both calendars are equally important! Keep an eye on each regularly, to ensure you don't miss out on any events!

A Word About Rehearsal End Times

When the calendar says rehearsal ends at say, 6:00 this means that the band will stop rehearsing at 6:00. Then it generally takes at least 10 minutes for the students to get back to the band hall put away their instrument and head out to be picked up. Students with larger instruments (looking at your sousaphones!) and percussionists may take longer. Expect to be a bit flexible. If you show up at 5:50 you may be waiting up to half an hour for your student to be ready to go.  

There are also times, often just prior to competitions, when the band is ever so close to finishing a section on the practice field and will rehearse for 5 minutes longer than end time to complete the sequence. The band directors try to be respectful of your time, but just expect that 6:00 rehearsal end does not mean your child will be walking to the car at 6:01. 

Also, make a plan on where to pick up. Some students may be picked up from the practice lot, others may be at the band hall door. If picking up from the band hall, be sure not to block the entrance to the PAC lot, and do not stop in the entrance to the bus circle. A little work from everyone makes pickup go smoothly!

The Bands and the Seasons

Marching Season: All band students and color guard are in the marching band and begin rehearsing in July. Games start in August and generally end before Thanksgiving – unless the football team goes into playoffs. In addition to games, the marching band plays pep-rallys and attends marching competitions and parades.

• Marching Eligibility: Students must have required forms turned in and be academically eligible as defined by the "No Pass, No Play" law. They must attend rehearsal regularly and communicate expected and unexpected absences with the band directors.  

Concert Season: Once football games are over, the band begins concert season in which they play in one of the four concert band classes. All bands will perform in a Holiday Concert and a Spring Concert and the bands will also compete in UIL Concert and Sight-Reading competition in the spring.

Color Guard/Winter Guard: Our visual performance team which uses various equipment, including flags, rifles, and sabres, along with dance, to enhance the music of the marching band show. During marching band competitions, the guard adds to the overall score of the band and is also judged in a category usually called auxiliary. After marching season the winter guard competes and performs in an indoor gym setting.

The Language of Band

Wondering what in the heck your student is talking about after a week of band and guard camp? Here's some common terms you may start to hear:

Auxiliary - Fancy term for color guard. Also refers to more parts of a visual ensemble.

Battery or Drumline - The percussionists who are marching on the field with snare, tenor, or bass drums attached to their bodies.

Bibbers - The overall looking pants students wear with their uniforms.

Drill - The steps and positions the band takes during the show. 

Drum Major(s) - The student conductors leading the band on the field. They also take a leadership role in the governing of the band. Their uniform is usually slightly different.

Feature - A part of the show that highlights a certain group (percussion, color guard, or an individual instrument)

Front Ensemble - The stationary percussion instruments positioned along the front sidelines and the students who play them. These instruments include marimbas, drum kits, electric piano/synthesizers, and misc. cymbals and other hand-held percussion instruments.

Performance Shirt - The blue shirt worn underneath the field uniform. This shirt is also worn for other events throughout the season.

Plume - Feather adornment worn on the Shako with the marching band uniform.

Section Leader - A student leader responsible for one group (usually players of a particular instrument) in the band.

Sectional - A practice for one particular sub-group of the full band. 

Shako - The hat worn by the marching band. Our shako is a visor-style that has a separate decorative wrap that must be velcro'd on. The wrap and the plume are assembled just prior to the half-time show. They do not wear them in the stands at games.

Show Shirt - A colored or patterned shirt worn as the field uniform.

"Staying in your toaster" - Keeping equipment in a vertical plane.

Swing Flag - A special flag used for more basic, one-handed motions. The fabric is usually longer on a swing flag, and the shorter poles are just PVC piping.

Hear another term you don't know? Grab another parent and ask! We'll be happy to decipher your student's new language!

We Need You!

These kids spend a lot of time working on an 8-10 minute show, and thrive off the energy of the audience. Marching Band is not concert band - you're encouraged to cheer loudly, and show enthusiasm!

Understand that your student may come home wiped out. Rehearsals can be intense, but they build discipline and teamwork.

Also - as a parent or guardian of a JET Band or Color Guard student, you are already a member of the Booster Club! The Boosters support the band as a whole in many ways. Your time and varied talents are critical to the success of this band. There are many opportunities, fitting a broad range of talents. Your gift of time, whether big or small, is a much-needed gift throughout the school year.

For more information about the various opportunities available click here.

Contact Us!

We want to hear from you! Do you have questions? Want to get involved? Host a get-together or just want to talk? Please reach out. Our Band is a family and you are a part of it!

All the board members contact info can be found on the Executive Board page.