<p>I'd love to have an insider's opinion of Northwestern's band program. How time consuming/intense is it? Should I join as a freshman or wait until I've adjusted to the college? Also, how common is it for non-music majors to participate in wind ensembles and such?
I play saxophone and I'm from a school in Plano, Texas with a very competitive marching band.</p>
<p>I’m also curious, and a fellow sax player, haha. From a fairly competitive marching band in California.
From what I’ve heard, it’s pretty common for all majors to be in the marching band; the other ensembles, not as much, because the top ones are open to music majors only.
I would be an engineer at Northwestern, but I’d still love to continue music, especially after having lived with it for so long during high school!</p>
<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>Glad to hear you’re interested in the NU Marching Band! I was a member for four years (2005-2009) and as an alum I still live in the Chicago area and attend games, etc.</p>
<p>First off, I’d point you to the NUMB website ([Northwestern</a> University ‘Wildcat’ Marching Band](<a href=“http://numb.northwesternbands.org/]Northwestern”>http://numb.northwesternbands.org/)), which has info, links, videos and pictures, contact information, etc. Here’s the gist:</p>
<p>A vast majority of NUMB (like 94%) are non-music majors – and in fact there is a robust engineer population – so you’ll feel perfectly comfortable. Rehearsals are held four days a week (with the guard and drumline rehearsing on the off day) for two hours. MWF, rehearsals are outside from 4-6pm, and Thursdays they’re (usually) indoors 7-9pm, followed by a spirit session (which is the FUN part you don’t want to miss). Throw in the typical 7am-5pm game day, as well as at least one weekend trip as well as a free trip to whatever post-season bowl that Northwestern attends. It is definitely a time commitment, but it’s manageable. A lot of members are double majors and/or heavily involved in other activities (student groups, dorm government, fraternities/sororities, etc.).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t give back my four years in NUMB for anything. If you join as a freshman (which I definitely encourage), you will attend band camp for a week before New Student Week, which basically means you’ll start at Northwestern already familiar with 150 other faces. You’ll be among the most boisterous, fun, school-spirited group on campus. I made some of my very best friends – including one of my current roommates – in NUMB; it’s an incredible bonding experience.</p>
<p>As for non-NUMB ensembles, there is a Concert Band that is made up of mostly non-music majors. Anyone can audition for any group, and if you’re really good you might get into jazz bands or Philharmonia or Symphonic Band. There are a lot of other non-music school options on campus too: There’s a student jazz collective as well as a music fraternity and music sorority that run a number of their own groups (jazz bands, instrument ensembles, etc.). Not to mention the 8 billion a cappella groups on south campus alone. In short, there are a lot of ways to make sure you keep playing, inside or out of the music school.</p>
<p>I know this isn’t your thing exactly, but check out the trombone section’s website ([NUMB</a> Trombones](<a href=“http://groups.northwestern.edu/boneheads/]NUMB”>http://groups.northwestern.edu/boneheads/)) for more of an idea of the spirit and stories of the band. NUMB prides itself on tradition – both as a representative of the university and as a group of goofy college kids. It’s the kind of group where if it’s raining during rehearsal, instead of giving in to being cold and ****ed off, everyone shrugs and jumps around in the mud. You only live once, and you only (probably) do college once. Joining NUMB is a really great way to find your legs at Northwestern and to invest yourself in a fantastic and worthwhile group of people.</p>
<p>Good luck to you both!</p>
<p>Thank you so much! That was really helpful 
Maybe you can answer this question as well- is it possible to take classes in (and maybe even minor in) the music school if you got into the WCAS? I’m interested in the music cognition minor they have to go along with my intended cognitive science major.</p>
<p>Check out the non-music major ensembles like Philharmonia. Music major and non-music major ensembles all outstanding at NU.</p>
<p>is it clique-ish like the band at my high school?</p>
<p>also, does it skew the people you hang out with to be all band-people?</p>
<p>lateparty, I’m definitely looking at concert ensembles, too. I actually prefer concert season to marching season, but if I want to make friends early, I guess NUMB is the way to go.
What’s the audition process?</p>
<p>@sparkler14
there is no audition process unless you want to be on drumline. But if you want to be in the band, you will be in the band.</p>
<p>@IamJAMMIN
like Juneau09 said, band will give you a foundation of friends before everyone else arrives, but that will skew things only if you let it. It’s not hard to have groups of friends who aren’t in NUMB.You most likely just won’t spend too much quality time with them fall quarter because of time commitments. Also, NUMB is definitely not cliquish, at least from my experiences.</p>
<p>A few more questions:
–where do we stay during band camp? are we allowed to move into our dorms a week early? do we have to stay at a hotel or something??
–Where are rehearsals held?</p>
<p>@sparkler14
We get our own dorm for band camp. Last year, we all stayed at Sargent. You do get to move into your own dorm a day early, which seems a lot less stressful than on move-in day.</p>
<p>Rehearsals are held at either the field hockey field, or at Long field- a recreational field on campus. On thursdays we practice at the indoor practice facility used by the football team</p>
<p>oh my gosh that’s so far away from the dorms I wanna live in… :\ hope i don’t have to lug my saxophone all that way every day because I don’t think trying to ride a bike up there carrying an instrument would work out very well.</p>
<p>The walks to long field/field hockey field are too terrible, but there are shuttles that you can take. The whole band hops on a few buses to go to the indoor football facility</p>
<p>I’m hoping there was a typo and you meant to say “aren’t” too terrible… ?</p>
<p>aren’t. lol my bad…</p>