<p>I ask because people are always perplexed when I say that my son doesn't do marching band (marching band is not a big thing, at all, at his high school, I should add), but is involved musically in his school from morning till night otherwise! </p>
<p>We know kids from other towns, other parts of the country, who got to "Band Days", "Band camp", "Band competitions" for marching band. My kid doesn't think highly of the form of music, since he says it is mostly horns blowing too loud, and that you don't have to be a very good musician to play in a marching band.</p>
<p>Do serious musicians do marching band in college? Son is only interested in one school that even has a marching band, and I am certain he wouldn't choose that over ensemble work. Was just curious what other people's kids have done (or students themselves), to see if his thinking is way off base.</p>
<p>None that I know. Some that intend on a music eduction degree and teaching HS or College band might. </p>
<p>But I am not aware of any serious wanna be performance majors that would waste the time on Marching band.</p>
<p>But I bet there are a few. I did come across one or two that like the social aspect enough to do it for a year or two playing a different instrument so to not mess themselves up.</p>
<p>Be in marching band as a Jr or Sr when you intend on pursuing a performance degree seems like a very poor idea.</p>
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<p>Do serious musicians do Marching Band?>></p>
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<p>NO!! When DS was visiting colleges, he had a very funny conversation with one of the music adcoms at a medium sized private university. The adcom said "we no longer have a marching band. Our music department felt that it was detrimental to the playing of those majoring in music, and the university at large does not have enough musicians to support a marching band." My son WANTED to jump up and down and kiss the feet of this adcom because he hated anything having to do with playing his instrument while marching around in usually unsavoury weather. But he politely said "Oh". It made us chuckle later.</p>
<p>I was in marching band for all four years of high school, partially because at my school, marching band wasn't optional - all band members were required to march.</p>
<p>Marching band did have its benefits - it was a wonderful group of kids; being on drumline vastly improved my sense of rhythm; it provided a nice break from bassoon after getting home from a summer camp/festival, except for senior year, during which I arranged with the band directors to have plenty of time to practice for auditions, competitions, etc. during marching season.</p>
<p>I found that if I managed my time properly, everything worked out fine. And I will insist that, at its highest level, marching band is a viable art form.</p>
<p>BSN...being on the percussion line did NOT screw up your lips for playing the bassoon. For DS...the blasting at the top of your lungs in cold and rainy weather did NOTHING for his trumpet playing...nada. Also we knew double reed players who were required to play in their marching bands and were REQUIRED to play another instrument with a totally different embosure (sorry about that spelling). In one case, an oboe player played the trombone. There was NO benefit for this student (who had to learn the four notes she needed to play for the marching pieces...oh...and borrow a trombone). Yes, marching band is a very good social experience. I would argue, however, that it is not a worthwhile experience for many serious players. AND personally, I have an issue with it being a required part of the music curriculum for concert band players. This means that they spend their entire fall quarter doing marching "stuff". Let's face it...marching band music is not very challenging, and does little to improve the ensemble quality for a concert band.</p>
<p>Maybe we can think about this the other way around: you all think that the best musicians don't join marching band because of the easy music and the bad musicianship. What if the marching bands have easy music and bad musicianship because the best musicians don't join them?</p>
<p>I know for a fact that the best musicans at my school often join the marching band - maybe because they have a better chance at getting solos. I also know that our directors focus a lot on musical quality. I have seen many marching bands that are more than just horns blowing too loud...and I have no choice but to assume that they have some "serious musicians" in their groups.</p>
<p>thumper1 - I was merely giving my experiences. I never implied that playing a different wind instrument, or playing one's native instrument, in a marching band would be beneficial. I was only pointing out that there are certain elements of marching band which can be useful to a serious musician.</p>
<p>I live in Texas where football is king, but that includes everything that goes with it, including cheerleading and marching band. I think marching band is the "athletics" for artistically talented kids. It teaches teamwork, sportsmanship, accountability, leadership, work ethic, etc., that the sporty types cite as the reason for spending tons of money on athletics. Maybe it doesn't challenge the serious musician musically, but there are other valuable lessons to be learned.</p>
<p>University of Ciincinnati, (Cincinnati Conservatory of Music) discourages its students from participating in Marching band because of both the significant time element and because they want the students to focus on CCM training and events. Despite that, there are a few CCM students in band. </p>
<p>Frankly, I see a lot of benefits to kids: more practice on different pieces helps add to a musician's repertoire plus, as noted above, the social element is really great.</p>
<p>I should note that some colleges either give 1 credit for band, which is a nice easy "A," or they give some scholarship money. Thus, I don't see to many negative with it.</p>
<p>Yes, I think there are some good musicians in marching bands.<br>
Yes, I think it hurts some musicians - especially the over-blowing.
I also think it benefits some musicians. A percussionist friend was heavily into marching band, majored in music, is now touring with Evita (or Aida, or some such -can't remember.) </p>
<p>S did one year of marching band. I did 4 years - and loved it. (But I was not a serious musician, either.) I made him "try" it. His teacher made him quit. He is a horn player, who marched with a mellophone, and yes, it messed with his embouchure. He had fun; he also was wayyyyy too busy that year, and ended up sick. He didn't miss it once it was gone. His band class practiced marching music 3 days of 5 during marching season. He went in a back room and got an extra hour of private practice in. </p>
<p>He refused to even consider any college that had a marching band.</p>
<p>My trumpet player hated marching band. Fortunately his high school only did it for two weeks every other spring--preparing for a parade in the big city. He also hated pep band, which was required for band members. He said both messed up his playing the rest of the week, due to playing too loud and to trying to hold a trumpet on your lips while walking (especially uncomfortable with braces).</p>
<p>He was very happy to get away to college where he didn't have to worry about pep or marching band.</p>
<p>Thanks for reminding me, Band TenHut. While I was in high school, I saw marching shows with music from New World Symphony, West Side Story, Shostakovich 5 and 10, Petrushka, Rite of Spring, Firebird, Beethoven 9, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor, John Adams' Harmonielehre, The Planets, Scheherezade, Rhapsody in Blue, Barber's Piano Concerto, Marriage of Figaro Overture...I always thought it was a great way to introduce kids to the great works.</p>
<p>I have a horn player also, whose embouchure was also messed up by playing mellophone (even with the horn mouthpiece adapter) in marching band the first two years in high school. She said that all other embouchure issues aside, the notes were in slightly different places on the mellophone - it's a different instrument - and that affected her ear and lip both during the season (which was also audition season for orchestral groups), and for quite awhile afterward. Then there's the real possibility of being whacked in the mouth by another person on the field, etc, not to mention overblowing injuries.</p>
<p>When D was taking lessons at major horn studios before college auditions, one teacher told D that one time a (horn) student in that studio begged to be in marching band. The teacher said that the student could do it, but that the teacher would be at every game, close to the field, and if the mouthpiece went up to the horn players mouth even once, she'd be out of the studio. The teacher was half joking, but only half joking. So, it's an issue with more than a few horn players, and many horn teachers discourage really serious hornists from playing mellophone in marching band. Not sure how they'd feel about them being in the drumline for the season, though. (Disclaimer: This is not an anti-marching band post, but a report about reasons why many serious horn players do not want to play mellophone in marching band.)</p>
<p>It was optional, thankfully, at our son's HS.....and he opted out, loudly. Made him appear quite uncooperative to the band directors and cost him some awards he probably 'might' have received.</p>
<p>Wouldn't consider it in college. Besides, he's way tooo busy with other rehearsals. practicing, to fit it in.</p>
<p>No, serious musicians don't do marching band. My son refused to march in high school and although marching band was an "activity" and not required, he was under heavy pressure to conform in the early years. Eventually, they accepted that he was not going to march. Here are a couple of his reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Wind players will have to rent a cheap instrument to march with so as not to ruin their real instrument. This causes much delay in progress due to different touch and mouthpiece feel.</p></li>
<li><p>Marching practice, usually 2 or 3 hours per day after school and all day for the latter weeks of August, takes up way too much time, which is a problem for both serious musicians and serious students.</p></li>
<li><p>If you have a director who likes to travel to festivals, that again takes you away from your music and studies for several days at a time. Add on various community parades and any event where you could conceivably add band music.</p></li>
<li><p>Marching band music is not challanging and it is just a bunch of instruments playing as loud as possible. No finess at all.</p></li>
<li><p>While not a problem for everyone, marching band precludes the student from playing a fall sport. Some music students enjoy a change from music practice rather than more music via marching band.</p></li>
<li><p>Marching band = fund raising. The endless hoagie sales, making hoagies on Saturdays, delivering 100 required hoagies and other fundraisers are a waste of time, but required by most bands. Unless the kid drives, this means parental involvement, too. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>While lots of kids like marching band, and some even try to take up an instrument at the last minute so they can go on the "fun" band trips, it is not a group for serious musicians. Understand, I am not knocking marching band as an activity. However, from what we see here, marching band is more of a SOCIAL EVENT than a musical event.</p>
<p>OK, I'll grant that "marching band is more of a SOCIAL EVENT than a musical event," but I will take the contraposition that "serious muscians" can and do enjoy marching band as that social event. In D's school marching band is mandatory during the football season (fall only), and she just loved it for the fun and excitement. </p>
<p>At our HS, band practices are during assigned class time, they only do home games and there were no competitions involved, so participation in band hardly detracted from any serious practice time, unless you count the 3 half-day "band camp" days just prior to the beginning of school. As soon as the regular, home football schedule is finished, usually around now, the "marching band" class time becomes Honors Wind Ensemble and the serious music starts. </p>
<p>Yes, we did buy a plastic clarinet for this and other outside performances like Disneyland and community band. She claims that since she has kept to one brand of horn for all of her clarinets, there are few differences amongst her Bbs (the collection has already started), especially since she uses the same mouthpiece and ligature on all of them.</p>
<p>Needless to say, there is no marching band at her conservatory this year, but she adored it and would never have considered not doing it if it were optional.</p>
<p>This decision all comes down to what your HS expects, what the musician plays and what makes sense. Obviously, it's not going to improve a student's repertoire or playing. If they are "serious" then they can usually figure out what "compromises" they may be making in their technique or embochure to compensate later on. However, I wouldn't downplay the importance of at least ensuring that they get out a few Friday nights or Saturday afternoons away from the practice room to be teenagers...</p>
<p>Thanks, Zep. You gave me the courage to confess that my son spent four years in a high school marching band. </p>
<p>He's now a freshman at a conservatory and none the worse for his marching days. In fact, he learned quite a bit about time management, setting priorities, performing under less than optimal conditions and making compromises. He did it for all the reasons kids participate in high school activities -- You have fun, you meet people, you belong to a group. He was a musician who participated in all the musical activities at school: jazz band, pit, wind ensemble, honor bands, and marching band.</p>
<p>Is it for everyone? No. Is it good for the lip? No. Did he play a good instrument? No. (He used his mouthpiece and a school trombone.) Was it fun being the drum major senior year? Priceless.</p>