Annually, American public and private school students take to football fields to perform with a marching band. For most schools, whether it be for competition or purely entertainment purposes, the marching band has become a staple of American secondary schools. Although a great deal of research exists regarding the various artistic aspects of the marching band separately, there is a significant gap in the literature pertaining to marching band and its effects on those who interact with it. This study evaluates if and how a high school marching band show, themed in a social justice message, can elicit change.

Change was explored by means of Constructivist and Transformative Theories, while using Arts-based Research practices to explore how participants interacted with art. Through 38 structured interviews of performing member students, nonperforming students, and faculty of the school, data were collected. Data were transcribed using NVivo Transcription and then refined. Data were coded using concepts described in Saldaña (2016) and included Descriptive Coding, Concept Coding, In Vivo Coding, Process Coding, Pattern Coding, and Theoretical Coding.

The analysis of the results indicates how a marching band show was successful in motivating performing member students to initiate social change. The analysis of the results also indicates that the school community was positively impacted by the theme of a marching band show. The conclusion of the study is that presenting a marching band show themed in a social justice message can elicit social change among performing members and more generally, the school community.