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HImom
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Posted: Wed Apr 5th, 2006 12:20 am |
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| My son will likely be attending University of Southern California in the fall 2006. He's considering trying out for Marching Band, since he's played the trumpet since 5th grade & is currently in the HS marching band. Would love to hear other folks experiences about the pros & cons of college marching band. He'll be entering school with the maximum 32 AP credits, so he can probably afford to have a fairly light load his fall semester, but will be studying engineering, which is pretty rigorous.
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binx
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Posted: Wed Apr 5th, 2006 07:47 am |
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I think the same benefits of marching band in HS continue in college. It's an automatic social group, which I think is a huge benefit for new students. It keeps kids in touch with their instrument, even when they aren't majoring in music. It gets them into football games.  It seems like it might be a good option for your S, especially if his academic load isn't too big. He can always quit!
My S did marching band only his first year of HS, but entering HS with a ready-made peer group was a huge advantage. He went to a large HS (his graduating class was over 700), and the band made things more familiar, less overwhelming.
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Just_Me
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Posted: Wed Apr 5th, 2006 06:11 pm |
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HIMom
My son is looking into the UCB marching band. It does seem like a big time commitment and he's not sure if he will be able to juggle classes, work/study and band.
I, too, thought it would give him a ready made social network!
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Lynda
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Posted: Wed Apr 5th, 2006 11:49 pm |
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Dear Himom,
I think the Spirit of Troy is one of the best college bands. I have heard it is a huge time commitment. I hear the band director is very strict he is supposed to retire soon-he was there when I was an undergrad. One of my dormates was in the band and loved it. They (the whole band) travel a lot. Europe every other year. Catalina every 4th of July. Every Nortre Dame game, every N. Cal game, every AZ game, every Nat'l campionship. The other games are by year (upperclassmen going to the "better" games) The trumpet teacher who helped my son with auditions told us he had students who had joined the band. He commented there was hazing-we asked no details. The students in the band office were always great. Consider having your son call them with his questions.
Last edited on Wed Apr 5th, 2006 11:52 pm by Lynda
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HImom
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Posted: Thu Apr 6th, 2006 07:07 pm |
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Thanks--hadn't thought about hazing, ugh!  Don't really think it would be a good idea for him to have a huge time commitment with marching band when he's just starting out in engineering. He wasn't so interested once he read about the huge time commitment either, especially since his chronic health issues make his stamina unpredictable at best. Maybe playing for concert band might be something for him to consider--he'll see.
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warblers
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Posted: Mon Apr 10th, 2006 10:43 pm |
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I play the trumpet too.  The rigor of marching band really varies from school to school. DUMB requires about four hours of practice a week, in addition to rehearsals before games. It's not a big time commitment, and the people in band are always amazing/fun. Most did marching band so they could get into pep band (i.e. the basketball games), but you really have a great bunch of people. I haven't gotten involved much with the other music groups on campus, but they seem to have pretty dedicated musicians too. There's plenty of ways to get involved with music at college.
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