<p>Wherever we have gone, parades, Disney, etc., where there have even been "invited" HS marching bands, S has not been impressed by any part of their musicality.</p>
<p>The only thing that intrigued him like crazy was a traveling stage show of "Blast" several years ago, with marching horns and percussionists. It was incredible, both the musicianship and athleticism, but this is a far cry from regular band marchers at the local football game.</p>
<p>But people get offended if I even dared to intimate that marching band wasn't "real" music, for serious musicians, because I understand that it is social, fun and meaningful for kids who participate.</p>
<p>Allmusic,
"Do serious musicians do marching band in college?"</p>
<p>Yes, if they intend to be high school music educators. Also, if they intend to teach at a university that may bundle the marching band duties with that of a brass or percussion professor position. My husband, (a business major) marched every year of college at a Big Ten university. I was a performance major and did not march. Most of our college friends were from the marching band. One of our best friends was a trumpet performance major, played the screaming solos on the field and managed to ultimately get a DMA in trumpet performance. His current university teaching position includes teaching the trumpet studio plus working with the marching band. Obviously one who aspires to be an orchestral musician would not need or desire this experience. In regard to musicality, at least in the Big Ten, it's not as much about the music as it is about the wall of sound and "selling" the show to the fans. Most of the student musicians come from schools other than Music and have a ball doing it.</p>
<p>By "serious" musician, can I assume you mean one whose goal is to have a career as a soloist or a member of a major orchestra? There's lots of musicians out there who are serious about what they do, but aren't on that specific path.</p>
<p>My son being one of them, who not only is in marching band, but also has been in a competitive drum corps ("drum corps" is a misnomer, as it includes brass as well as percussion) for the past two summers. He absolutely loves it, and plans to audition for some of the top corps in a year or two. The largest (Div. I) and best corps are an entirely different animal from your typical high school marching band. S is also in his school's award-winning jazz band and trombone ensemble, as well as in a garage band (actually, a "basement" band).</p>
<p>So he has no intention of going the "serious" route, but is planning on becoming a music educator and is looking for education schools that also have strong performance programs in the areas he interested in.</p>
<p>One other thing that maybe you all can help out on, though. We're just starting to look at colleges, and this thread brings up a question that I hadn't thought of yet. For colleges that have marching bands along with music performance and music ed programs, just what is a typical relationship between the music faculty, the concert band programs, and the marching band? Are the marching band directors and instructors usually in the music dept., or hired independently? Never thought to ask before!</p>
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<p>any performance majors ever play intercollegiate sports>></p>
</blockquote>
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<p>Well...my kids did swimming and tennis in high school. Musicians need to be careful about their sports. They can't afford to injure their hands. </p>
<p>I'd like to clarify something. I do know that marching band on the college (and high school) levels is a wonderful experience for those who want to be part of it. It fosters camraderie, time management, spirit, working as a group...and is just plain fun. For many, this is a very very worthwhile activity. I know many students who have participated in marching and pep bands in college (none I know are performance majors and most are not majoring in music at all). It was a great way to keep playing their instrument, make friends and have fun. </p>
<p>TwinDad, I can only comment on DS's school. The marching band is not comprised of music majors and in fact at this point there are no music majors in it. The marching band faculty are not members of the music faculty. They are adjuncts who do the marching band only. DS's university also has all campus ensembles and the conductors for those are not regular music department faculty. I'm not saying that is the way it is at all colleges...but it is at DS's. I know other schools (some of the Big Ten schools) where the marching band faculty is full time doing marching band and pep bands. Those are huge programs.</p>
<p>Momnipotent: Music Performance and Intercollegiate Sports? My guess here is that unless the student has insight into the abililty of violating the space/time continuum, and therefore should really be a physics major, it's not a practicle reality in the vast majority of cases. </p>
<p>Son is a DIII soccer player at a school that made the NCAA Sweet 16 last year in the playoffs. When comparing his time comittment to soccer and my D's time comittment to practice and school work at a conservatory, I couldn't see a path that would allow the two to co-exist, especially when factoring the travel days for away soccer games. I'm sure that some people have managed, but this would definitely be a really small, dedicated and sleep-deprived minority.</p>
<p>TwinDad: We did ask the question "Can performance majors be in the marching band" at all the schools we visited that had a marching band, including a couple of Big 10 institutions. The unanimous response was, "Oh, only Music Ed majors and non-Music majors have time for marching band. We dissuade the perfromance majors from participating. but if you REALLY want too..."</p>
<p>"serious musician" may not be the most specific description.</p>
<p>I took it as TwinDad put it. Someone intending on becoming a soloist or member of a major orchestra. One likely to attend a conservatory or top university music school.</p>
<p>I would think the percentage of those, fitting that description that are in Marching band late in HS or participating in a major sport has to be extremely low. Just my guess from what very little I have observed.</p>
<p>Those headed for Music Ed are very likely to be in Marching Band, and they maybe serious musicians as well.</p>
<p>Re: Sports...when DS went to his New England Conservatory Audition...some students were selling T-shirts that said "NEC Athletic Department". We should have bought one. There is NO athletic department at NEC.There is only ONE athletic event at NEC...the annual (if it gets scheduled...I guess there was one last spring) volleyball game against the music students from BU.</p>
<p>Ultimate frisbee seems to be <em>the</em> sports overlap for many musicians...at least among the many, many musicians my son knows (we don't know many football players LOL!).</p>
<p>And truthfully, the potential hand or wrist danger (son had one broken wrist, when he was a young pianist at age nine...and it was still a problem) makes playing most sports pretty moot.</p>
<p>I am surprised about all the negative comments about marching bands. I find that marching band music is not bad if you have the proper attitude and also dB 29 or higher rated earplugs and about a half mile of distance.</p>
<p>Some performance majors play tennis at Oberlin. When son2 met with the coach at Oberlin he told us about a voice major who played #1 on the women's team and two double degree wind players who played on the men's team. They also ran an article on the website a few years ago about a double degree major who played on the football team.
Oberlin is not a DIII sports powerhouse so perhaps the school's philosophy on sports is something to consider. A persussionist from our town is auditioning this year as a performance major who is also a recruited soccer player. He has spent the last year visiting DIII schools where he can get a B.Mus., talking to coaches and taking lessons to find the right teacher who will allow this. He found three good possibilities and would be happy at each. Some instructors just plain said no.</p>
<p>Allmusic--to get back to your original question that started all this, the responses on this thread (funny and otherwise) would seem to indicate that marching band would not necessarily be pursued or even especially beneficial for a music performance major. However, marching band is one of the more visible musical activities for the vast majority of people who aren't immersed in the highly competitive and narrowly focused world of performance. I expect that's the reason you get the question--kind of a "music is music, right?" reaction.</p>
<p>So no, I don't think your son is likely to be missing anything important to his career by avoiding marching band. Kids who are in it because they want to be, however, can get a lot out of it, musically as well as socially--depending, of course, on the level of their interest, their commitment, and their instruction. And the situation for music education majors, like my own son, is different than for strict performance majors. He's much more likely to end up getting paid for directing such a group somewhere down the line!</p>
<p>"No, they don't have the time for it," is the most accurate response in the entire thread. A "serious" musician, if you're going to be strict about the term, will be spending most of their time in college in a practice room. Everyone else's list of reasons seem like the excuses they used as kids to trash a program they just weren't interested in. The idea that marching band actually makes you a worse musician, especially in high school, is laughable. Unless you/your son/your daughter comes from a school with poor instructors and an awful program (they do exist, unfortunately), the experience is positive, musically AND socially. And has been mentioned, of course, high school concert bands and choirs are not necessarily the pinnacle of musicianship at every school either. If your goal in life is to be a famous musician or member of a symphony orchestra, then the activity probably isn't for you. But that should have gone without saying.</p>
<p>The power of entering the fall of your freshman year in a completely new kind of school where you know practically no one, then having 100 instant friends to help you and guide you is worth a good deal as well.</p>