Belonging in a high school marching band community: leadership, mentorship, communication, and positivity in building communities of practice

Abstract

American high school marching bands provide an ecosystem of belonging within the high school environment. Marching bands can vary in size and purpose, but provide students with friendship, social opportunities, identity formation, and leadership and life skills opportunities. In this study, I sought to explore the social environment around a high school marching band using a community of practice (Wenger, 1998) framework. The framework allowed me to discover how marching bands operate socially, and how bands produce a family atmosphere within their program. Qualitative methodology was used with myself acting as teacher researcher (Kincheloe, 2002). Focus groups and interviews provided the data which was transcribed and analyzed for themes related to the social innerworkings of the ensemble. What I discovered was that communities of practice fostered a sense of belonging in the students who were participants in themarching band, and that belonging strengthened the community. The cyclical nature of belonging and strong communities of practice was supported by strong leadership, meaningful mentorship, intentional communication, and an overall positive experience, which all resulted in the family atmosphere many marching band members reported to experience (Matthews, 2017). These findings indicate a need for band programs to evaluate their social structures, how they train and model for their student leaders, how they produce effective communication in the face of conflict, and how they create powerfully positive interactions among all members of the ensemble.