Were you ever in marching band? It can be a great time if you like music, and it is a great way to make friends
Yes. I played trumpet. We had a great band teacher. Marching bands have a lot of brass, woodwind and percussion instruments in them most of the time it seems. 
I was never part of marching band but knew a lot of kids who were, I always thought the drums were very cool
Most of them wear military style uniforms with the schools name or symbols, and they are hot if you're outside. 
That does not sound fun, I do not remember uniforms, that would be enough to turn me off form it
It wasn't. On top of traditional parade performances, we had to learn field show at sporting events.
I do remember seeing some of those for our pep rallies and all that, which was always cool. I wish I would have started in middle school
Percussion and wind instruments were used on battlefields too during ancient times.