Contributions and limits in school marching bands of João Pessoa

an analysis from experiences of former members

Abstract

Marching bands are educational activities present in the daily life of several schools. They provide opportunities to make music through instrumental practice, being capable of referring several of their students and former students to a future professionalization in music. However, not everyone pursues music as a profession or enter an undergraduate course in the field. Therefore, this article presents a snippet from a qualitative master's research whose objective was to investigate the perceptions and experiences of ten former members of marching bands from João Pessoa (PB) – who did not follow higher or professional studies or a career in the field – regarding their musical education paths. To learn about the respective musical training of these former members, narrative interviews were used and, as a source of complementary information, the semi-structured interview. The final analysis was constructed through the intersection of the subjects' reports in dialogue with the studies in the area of ​​education and music education. Therefore, this article presents and analyses how participation in school bands can bring several contributions that are part of the memory of its former members until today. Besides, it discusses some limits present in the musical practices of these groups that were revealed by the former members. Thus, I hope that this study can contribute to the understanding of bands as significant spaces in the lives of their participants, evidencing the necessity of reflect and rethink about some of its educational and musical practices.