Marching Band Section Leader

[jessk]

I've been chosen to be the flute/piccolo section leader. I currently play piccolo. There is also going to be an assistant/co- section leader who plays flute. Our band, as far as I know, has never done this before. We are going to have around 25 in the entire section, including 10 piccolos.

I guess my co-section leader and I get along fine; I sit a chair above her in concert band and I think she feels that she deserves my spot. We are pretty friendly but there is always that subtle undercurrent of competitiveness between us. I'm a little concerned that she will try to override me or take charge even though I am supposed to be the main section leader. I just want to get along and make joint decisions so that we can have a great, cooperative section. I don't know exactly how the relationship dynamics will be because I've never seen more than 1 section leader in the band.

How does this work??? What should we do together, what should I do by myself, and what should she do by herself? Should the flutes and piccolos ever split up during sectionals? We will all have the same part and all the piccolo players are returning marchers anyways, so I don't really see any point. We'll definitely both be setting the other flutes/pics so we can get it done twice as fast. Have any of you ever had more than one section leader, and if so, how did they divvy up responsibilities? How well did it work? What were the problems? Any other advice regarding leadership would also be greatly appreciated. Thanks!