Figure 2.--HBU believes that Scout bands declined in popularity, in part, because so many boys wanted to participate in school marching bands.

HBU is not sure why Scout bands declined in popularity in the United Stastes. We suspect that most potential participants probably preferre to participate in the bands that high schools promoted. Football is a major part of the American high school experience, bith for the players and the whole student body who attended the games. The band of course was a major part of the pagentry. European schools had nothing quite like this. Many European schools have only minor sports programs. The situatiion varies. English state schools have very weak sports programs, but sport is emphasized by the private schools. The private schools, however, have nothing like American marching bands. Many have none at all. HBU is less familiar with music programs. Scouting had nothing to rival this. American Scout bands even when they did exist did not have band competitions like English Scouts.