Hey! I have a slight Dilemma… I have a passion for band, but recently I’ve been thinking that it’s best that’s i quit. Because to me band just takes up too much time and I wanna do other things. But I love playing my saxophone. I’ve been playing it for about three years. I still have a passion for it… I was hoping someone would be able to help me decide what to do… Thanks, Jamie
Playing in band in college is totally different from high school. Why not try it for a year? If you pass the audition (and you do have to audition - check the website, I think they were last week), it will give you a way to make friends immediately and have a group to hang with. My husband played tuba and I was in color guard (back then that unit was only a year or two old). We had a blast! Reserved seats for every game…never a worry about what to wear to a game…transportation included to one or two out of state games…you get to go to the SEC and other championship games, where others have to pay thousands of dollars for tickets…or at least you get to go to a bowl game! Why not?!? Roll Tide!
Are you in college now? I, too, found that college marching band took too much time. It becomes your whole social life at college, and I didn’t want that. But in HS I found I had more options for the level of participation.
Auditions for the Million Dollar Band are very competitive, so there are no guarantees, but there’s no way to know unless you try out.
And I will say this, it’s been my observation that the demands of something like MDB force students to be disciplined in other areas of their lives, to the benefit of their academics. And just because you commit for one year does not mean you’re obligated to continue. My son had two different roommates who left MDB after two years for different reasons. (And another who opted not to try out for the band even though part of the appeal of UA, I believe, was the MDB. He wanted more free time. Sadly, he ended up losing his scholarship and his folks made him come home.)