STEVEN:
The afternoon's sunny; the school day is out,
And it's time for marching band.
Yet something sounds funny; it's awfully loud,
Coming from the marching band.
There's the trumpets, the tubas, the saxes,
And the drummers, with sticks in each hand.
But some people fear and wish they couldn't hear
All the soundsthe sounds of Marching Band.

(Listen, it's dissonant, no? So many various instruments, so many unique arrangements. But, you know, they don't play all by themselves.)
(They don't?)
(No, silly boy. Over there, way over in the band room, lives the mysterious band director. Who is this teacher?)
(Who?)
(What is he?)
(What?)
(How did he come to be there?)
(How?)
(Shut up. And Steven will tell you. It is a tale. A tale of a director and a monster!)

Dark was the night when the meeting was held
To create a marching band.
Some teachers argued, while others just yelled
To prevent a marching band.
But one man had opposed its conception,
From the very first time it was planned!
It was the principal, the municipal force,
Against soundthe sounds of Marching Band.

Principal Johnson longed to purge
The school of all things fun;
Theater, art, you name it;
He made sure it was undone.

JOHNSON:
(A marching band? Never. I vow that you will be dead before there is ever a marching band in this school!)

STEVEN:
(They ran!)

CHOIR:
Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum sibylla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando Judex est venturus

JOHNSON:
(A teacher? *GASP* A band director!)

CHOIR:
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Dies irae, dies illa

SUPERINTENDENT and STEVEN:
(Stop!)

STEVEN:
(Cried the superintendent!)

JOHNSON:
(This man has a worthless occupation. I'm doing the world a favor.)

SUPERINTENDENT:
See there, the PTA member you've killed
To prevent a marching band?
You thought their dream would remain unfulfilled,
To create a marching band?
You can lie to the cops and reporters,
You can claim you just got out of hand!
Just know only a coward thinks they've overpowered
The soundsthe many sounds of Marching Band!

STEVEN:
After many years of filling
Students' hearts with fear,
Johnson found that he was close
To losing his career.

JOHNSON:
(What should I do?)

SUPERINTENDENT:
(Employ the band director.)

JOHNSON:
(What? I'm to be saddled with this uselessfine. Then let him live here in the school.)

SUPERINTENDENT:
(Live here? Where?)

JOHNSON:
(Anywhere)
Just so he's kept locked away where no student could see
(The band room, perhaps. And who knows? Fate works in mysterious ways)
Even this director could yet prove one day to be
Of use to me

STEVEN:
(And Principal Johnson took the director to the band room, giving hima cruel additiona low salary!)
Now, here is a riddle, which may seem tacked on,
Sing the sounds of Marching Band:
In the end, who will win: Teacher or John?
Sing the sounds, sounds, sounds, sounds,
Sounds, sounds, sounds, sounds,
Sounds of Marching Band!