Helpful! I wondered this every time I put on my band uniform. No, this was never prescribed in our band (nor were many things, to the chagrin of my drum teacher and me, who both bother to lace our shoes correctly, wear the balmoral correctly, etc.). (I usually have my jacket buttoned, or if we're not wearing jackets it's a waistcoat, so it doesn't usually matter, but my drum teacher prefers to leave his jacket open; he feels it moves less awkwardly when flourishing. I tried both and find it's awkward on me no matter what-- a man's jacket on a person who is not a man and is neither shaped nor sized like one will do that-- so I leave it buttoned as I feel it looks more formal (and helps to hide the fact that the kilt is also too big...).)
As far as knots go (this also is up to choice of the band members), I use the Trinity knot. To be honest, it is too large of a knot for me and I'd be better served by a half Windsor, but I like the look of it (and if your tie is patterned, you can adjust the knot for a nifty look; ours has a pattern of tiny Saltire flags and if careful I can get a flag on each part of the knot). And I imagine it also takes up a bit more "tie real estate."
Here's tae us - / Wha's like us - / Damn few - / And they're a' deid - /
Mair's the pity!
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