GEMidwest: In Brief
Diversity Matters
If you were an AI model trained to examine the General Effect Media YouTube channel and you perused the comments for a while – as a way of investigating this newfound world and familiarizing yourself with its cultural norms, perhaps – you might assume that the world of competitive high school marching band is grounded near-exclusively in the states of Indiana and Texas. Here and there may be hints of Oklahoma and Florida, the occasional Ohio or Kentucky. You might even come across the ramblings of parents from a state that isn’t one of those and, as you have become accustomed to the status quo of this world and know its customs well, pause for an incredulous, algorithmic nose-exhale at the foolishness to insist that anyone should care about a band from Mississippi or New Mexico, where they don’t even have real band.
I don’t have a great solution for those slighted Mississippi or New Mexico band parents other than to say that you are valid and I love you and please send me your t-shirt order forms. I can reach out with as caring of a tone as possible (for me) to tell all of the parents and band members east of the Appalachians and west of the Rockies the same, as little as band happens out there. I do love you. All of you! But I’m not coming out there to talk about you.
I used to really enjoy flying before my spinal cord started self-destructing, but as many of you have probably known for years, the airport is a special hell for disabled people. This unfortunate fact makes me a bit concerned about my future attendance at BOA San Antonio and Texas Marching Classic. Lucas Oil Stadium is a cool six or so hours from my house, which isn’t bad, but while I’m headquartered in the basement of my childhood home in central Missouri, I feel the most inclined to stick within the state and the few states around it. Excluding, of course, Indiana and Oklahoma, where the existence of ‘good band’ has never been under debate. But the emphasis on Texas and Indiana by General Effect Media and every other voice in the marching arts is warranted – that’s where the biggest audience is. So, on these states the focus will stay.
That is why I’ve taken on a new venture: band coverage without the conversation-dominating states. A new, free land, where we who have not seen multiple bands from our state in Grand National finals at once can be acknowledged and honored.
I’m calling it GEMidwest. I’ve been really into portmanteaus lately.
Now live on Instagram and Facebook with construction underway on the General Effect Media website, GEMidwest is in its soft-launch phase and will be ready to dive in for indoor season: with some of WGI’s top percussion and guard groups stationed in the Midwest, this time of year is as ideal as possible for GEM to have her corn-fed, camo-wearing baby. And just like a real, fleshy baby, it’s going to take a village to raise it.
Interested in contributing to GEMidwest’s magical debut? Call me and we’ll talk, and by that I mean please email me at hattie@generaleffect.media.
Hattie Bartlett is an experienced marching arts content creator. As a former member of the color guard, she has traveled across the country covering events with GEM, WGI, and Box5, as well as informally commentating via HornRank. In her life outside of the marching arts (which isn’t much), Hattie is a middle school teacher in rural Missouri, something that she considers to be far more of a privilege than a profession.