When I was in high school band, we made a rule of never playing when our side had the ball. We watched it very carefully, and we'd pay attention to when a new play was about to begin.

And when I was in fifth grade I recall Haysi had a marching band of 12. We called them the dirty dozen. They competed at all the same competitions we were in.
I have also seen bands so small (fewer than a dozen), in Kentucky, that they didn't have a drum major - they needed everyone for playing power.