The counting helps preserve the flow of the patterns the band is forming and also cuts down on the chances of being smacked upside the head by someone else's instrument. How silly of me. It is, in fact, marching season. If you don't believe me, just ask any of the thousands of high school band members across the area for whom Friday night doesn't mean the slapping of pads and the pulling of hamstrings. For them, the four quarters of grunting and bodily collisions on the field simply serve as bookends to their mission.
Halftime is show time.
But even that is not enough. Bands also gather for marching contests, where they can dispense with such trivialities as a football game and get down to the real competition. Let's see those pansy Gatorade-swilling types try to play an instrument while marching backward on their tiptoes and with their heads turned at the most peculiar angle. It's akin to increasing a student's scholastic load with a course that eats up better than 15 hours a week and, every Friday, imposes a dress code. But kids commit themselves to this with a stunning single-mindedness, even at the risk of grades slipping or the estrangement of friends who just don't get this whole band thing.