I was interested in playing the clarinet in the Michigan Marching band and I was worried about the initial audition…how difficult is it to make the band? I would consider myself an average player but i come from a very noncompetitive high school where we dont really do chairs. How many try out vs how many actually make it into the band out of the 400?
It all depends on how many seniors are leaving their spots open for the different instruments. Last year there were 11 clarinet spots so my daughter was lucky to snag one. I would say you have to be a pretty good player. After you get in the band you still have to try out before every game to even make the field performance. I would give it a shot because if you get in the band you will love it. Everyone has a chance, you just need to take it 
!
I’ll take a crack. First, checkout this old thread on the MMB, it was the one I found most informative when my son was looking at joining.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-michigan-ann-arbor/1132802-u-m-marching-band.html
I also highly encourage checking out the MMB site, there is lots of information there:
https://www.michiganmarchingband.com/audition-information
Marching band has a summer camp that starts the week before classes, so you will be there before move in day:
https://www.michiganmarchingband.com/season-schedule
The bands stays in West Quad for band week so most likely you will have to move again on the regular move in day. We had to move my son to his dorm across campus on move in day. We basically just had him pack enough stuff for the week and then brought the remainder of his things on the regular move in day.
I can’t comment on how hard it is to get in for clarinet - my son is in the drumline so the audition and practice schedules are completely different. My son’s HS was not particularly competitive, but he was section leader there. Most MMB participants don’t seem to be music majors and for whatever reason there are a large number of engineers (my son is an engineer as well).
The MMB is definitely time consuming, but as long as you manage your time it is doable. Normal home game days are long and there can be a few road trips a year (the band typically attends ND, MSU, OSU away games) as well as a potential bowl game (the went to the Peach Bowl this year).
My absolutely loved every minute of the season (although the summer camp was grueling). He actually didn’t know what to do with all his time when MMB season was over!
Go Blue!
@ckd022 how has it been between the engineering schedule and band? Just curious because my student also might be interested in band but as an engineering student, it seems like practices and performance schedule could be pretty tough. I don’t think that he could do drumline because he actually gave up drums this year to study and do sports in HS, but he told me that he misses the drums and that he hopes to pick it back up. Not sure you can pick drums after a year off and make a band corp as amazing drumline at UMich, but wondering about other drum positions?
@3js3ks thank you so much! I am worried because it doesnt seem like a lot of seniors are leaving. Overall i consider myself to be a good player but i dont know what their standards are. Does it seem like many players dont make it into the band?
The Michigan marching band has a very vigorous practice schedule, 20 hrs a week.
@WeirdNerd13 I think there are maybe 3 clarinets (sticks) graduating this year. But who knows if any underclassman may be dropping out, some people don’t participate all four years. There are 36 clarinets in the band.
@3js3ks do they ever take more than 36? because it seems unfair to only accept 3 (assuming no one else drops out)
@WeirdNerd13 my husband just told me there are actually 9 sticks graduating, so your chances aren’t terrible. They don’t even need 34 players (the actual number, he’s a better band parent and knows everything), they only let about 24 play each week at the football games. Start practicing an impressive audition piece and give it a try! .
@NorCalmomof3 A large percentage of the band is made up of engineers of one type or another (probably close to 50%) so from a workload perspective it is obviously very doable, but the students do need to manage their time well.
The drumline is more involved from a time perspective than the rest of the band sections. For auditioning to the drumline, the following is from the MMB website:
Drum Tech is a class held once a week for 2 hours in the evening January through April for drumline members and prospective members, include many HS seniors who have applied to U of M.
My son met with and auditioned for the percussion instructor on his admitted student day tour in February while still a HS student. He attended one Drum Tech rehearsal on spring break and also went to all three multi-day drumline summer camps discussed here:
https://smtd.umich.edu/mmb-drumline/audition.html#summercamps
Most drumline members are from Michigan so this isn’t a big hardship for them, but being out of state as an incoming freshman will be more difficult. That being said, my son told me at least of couple of students that didn’t try out from drumline as freshman are choosing to do so as sophomores.
During the FB season, the band practices every weekday from about 3-5pm with another potential sectional practice once a week for 2 hours (MMB can be taken as up to a 2 credit class, but doesn’t have to be for credit if it would push a student to credit overload). All day Saturday on home game days is pretty much booked end to end. The band practices before the game, marches to the stadium, plays during and after the game, and marches back to their home building.
Like all the other sections, how many “open” positions for each instrument changes from year to year, but you can get an idea of how many positions for each instrument there typically are from this link:
https://smtd.umich.edu/mmb-drumline/roster.html
Sorry that is a lot of information, but there is definitely a lot to digest. I remember my confusion well from just about this time last year!
I just noticed my estimate for the percentage of engineers in the band was a bit high. According to the MMB webpage, the COE is only 37%: