As sweltering summer fades into fabulous fall between Labor Day and Old Settlers Day each year, thoughts naturally turn to sports and the heroics of dedicated young people who do their communities proud.

With equal joy, though not as much hype, this also is a time to celebrate the similarly dedicated young people whose similarly praiseworthy contributions make games and parades what they are.

As a former sousaphone player with the University of Kansas Marching Jayhawks and proud grandparent of a member of the “Purdubas” sousaphone section of the Purdue University All-American Marching Band, I’m biased, of course.

But being in band, like being part of any other team, is an important part of education. It teaches leadership and shared responsibility often lacking in such things as our political system, nationally and locally.

Learning to read music improves students’ math and engineering skills. Performing heightens their understanding of how to please others and toughens their skin to occasional, mean-spirited criticism.

Band, like athletics, also provides a pathway for students to advance to what commentators refer to as “the next level.” Two of 62 students in my graduating class made it to Division 1A college bands — a higher advancement rate than for even our most skilled student-athletes.

Band also provides lifelong skills — both practical and personal. Marion has graduated far more professional musicians than professional athletes. Although I’ll probably never whip out my tuba to play carols around a fire at Christmas, people who play instruments often do, and all of us develop an appreciation for musicality that extends to making us better-rounded patrons of literature, art, and design.

Band isn’t easy. Years ago, when brothers Ron and Rod Oelschlager were at KU, Ron was a star running back in the same backfield at Gale Sayers. Rod was a member of the band. The two teams practiced on adjacent fields, often at the same time. Both brothers agreed the band practiced as long and hard as the football team.

Building a band, like building a football team, is a long-term investment. Students start as early as fifth grade. When they’re seniors, they have eight years of experience to rely on.

Great instructors like my own Conrad Steinel and one of his successors, Mike Connell, knew this and realized their assignment was for the long haul. Current instructor Steven Glover also seems to understand this and has been restoring Marion’s band to its former glory by starting young.

With middle schoolers currently leading the way, the band is now marching inexorably back toward greatness.

Supporting bands requires cooperation with class scheduling, sharing of instruments, and continuity of instructional hiring. Parents and community members also play a role by encouraging participation even if few band members see their names on yard signs, hear them in sports broadcasts, or read them in newspaper coverage.

At your next parade or halftime, you can help by acknowledging how Marion has refused to give in to a nationwide trend of dwindling bands and is playing a tune that other school districts should follow.

— ERIC MEYER