<p>If any of you are currently in the UVA marching band or know people who are, I was wondering if you knew the kind of time that would have to be put into it, and how easy/hard it might be to juggle that with the courses I might take. I'm going to go premed, but I'm not sure what kind of time constraints Marching Band would put on me should I choose to involve myself with it (I play the trumpet)</p>
<p>I know a friend in marching band and she loves it. You have to sign up for the class, so that's part of the time commitment, obviously. Then, you have to attend home games (there's 5 I think, and they're fun so it's not a big deal, and you might get one off i think). Away games they take everyone, but if you have an outside obligation and can't go, they don't force you. I'm not so sure about competitions, but she's never mentioned them so I don't think they do them. I suggest emailing someone in it and just ask what's expected of you. They'd be happy to tell you to either interest you further, or make sure you don't get in over your head.</p>
<p>My friend in the trumpet section has been in the marching band since first year, and it's a huge time commitment with nightly practices and traveling with the team. He is an Aerospace Engineering major, but he still has time to do his work. It's not easy, but he gets it done.</p>
<p>My D is an incoming 1st year. She is also on a premed track. She has signed up for Marching band. For weeks without home games, there will be 2 times/week practice (6-8pm). For weeks with home games there will be 4 times/week plus game day. There are 6 home games this year plus a mandatory away trip to Maryland game. Clearly a major time commitment but everyone we talk with about the band loves it so my D decided to give it a try.</p>
<p>The band will start practicing a full week before school so he/she needs to be in Charlottesville by Sat. 8/18. The band will pay for all expenses.</p>
<p>They told us they expect about 240 members for the band so it will be awesome.</p>
<p>on home game days, you literally spend the whole day with the band.</p>
<p>about 10 hours of practice every week, sometimes more, sometimes less.</p>
<p>Easy A though.</p>
<p>And believe it or not, there's a fraternity for marching band folks too!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.virginia.edu/marchingband/%5B/url%5D">http://www.virginia.edu/marchingband/</a></p>
<p>crazyadad pretty much nailed it, but as a member of the CMB I thought I'd reply as well.</p>
<p>I don't find it to be terribly time consuming, and I am involved around grounds outside of the marching band (ADAPT and Resident Staff being the big two). </p>
<p>Non game weeks (football team plays away) are almost boring because we only hit the field twice, and yes for only two ours. Weekday rehearsals are very short. The mindset is basically to show up, get it done, and get back to whatever else you need to do. </p>
<p>Also, you play the trumpet? I'm a part of the Trumpet section leadership, if you have any more questions or would like to get to know the section a little better, check out our group on Facebook. I think it's called something like: The most incredible CMB trumpet section, or something wacky like that (I didn't make it :P )</p>
<p>This is UVa. The Director and program realize that we are all driven, aspiring young people who are taking rigorous courses and are highly involved. Also taken into account it the fact that the woverwhelming majority of us aren't music majors. </p>
<p>When we do have back to back game weeks (home games) it tends to get really busy, really fast. But let me tell you, it's fun and totally worth it. Imagine three home games in a row, three completely different shows. Yeah things aren't going to be perfect like in high school, but you get a great sense of accomplishment after a performance in this kind of situation.</p>
<p>also, we'd love to have you! so please check the site out, the facebook group, send me a message, anything.</p>
<p>Wazhoom - as a member of the student body I just want to say that we appreciate the shows you guys give us during halftime. One question though.. doesn't it get real warm in those uniforms during the early part of the season?</p>
<p>haha, oh it's quite stifling. and thanks, we do it for you! (and the high paying alumn... but I personally care about the students more). but yeah, typically those first few games we have our jackets off while we're in the stands, so it helps. those things are almost 100% wool. wearing wool in August in Virginia? who ever thought that was a good idea needs to get checked out. </p>
<p>weird thing is, come end of the season/bowl game, they aren't enough to keep you warm. it's always weird thinking back on the season where we go from the point of wanting to take off the uniform because it's burning up, to the end of the season where we have an extra layer or two trying to stay comfortable.</p>
<p>thanks a lot for all the responses! I guess I now have to judge for myself whether or not I can handle Marching Band and everything else...</p>
<p>you absolutely can!</p>
<p>i'm sure you've heard this before, but in college, you have so much free time. think about it. no longer will you be at school for classes for ~7 hours a day (give or take if you have additional coursework) and then after school for clubs/societies, sports, games, concerts, events. People are probably averaging a good 10 hours a day at school in high school. I know for me it wasn't even uncommon to get to school at 7am and not get home at night until 9pm.</p>
<p>You get to college, you have 2-4 classes in a day, that's 2-4 hours of class. The rest of the time is for you to do what you will. Yes studying is in there, but look how much more time you have! It's quite a luxury, let me tell you. Working internships over the past two summers is a scary wake up call that the amazing college lifestyle doesn't last forever. Take advantage of the opportunity.</p>
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Working internships over the past two summers is a scary wake up call that the amazing college lifestyle doesn't last forever.
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<p>Amen. Haha obviously i'm doing a lot of work at mine <em>cough</em>, but it's making me realize that I REALLY need to slow down and enjoy college and not try to just "get through" the semesters. I plan to either stay in c'ville next summer, take classes, and have an easy job, or have a job that's fun if I come home.
But Wazhoom is right: you have a tooonnn of free time. You only have to worry about getting things done for yourself, not your family/job/house. My friend and I were just talking about how we're amazed more people don't have 4.0s because of all the free time you have during the day. Sleep, class, homework, study, eat. Only things that need to happen at college. The rest of the time is left up to you. It's amazing :)</p>
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Amen. Haha obviously i'm doing a lot of work at mine <em>cough</em>
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hehe, shhhhhhhhhhhh</p>
<p>What? You think I respond to most posts on this section of the board within 15 minutes because I just sit at home on the computer all day? hardly! This is valuable government spending going on here, your tax dollars at work!</p>
<p>oh boy, don't get me started on 4.0s... nothing made me more sick when i came home after the first semester(or year) and talked with friends at various other (decent) schools in the state seeing how easy of a time they had with classes. </p>
<p>not trying to be elitest or anything, but you go from being well ahead of a friend academically in high school, then go to college and see them getting practically straight A's where it took all I had to stay in the mid 3 range... I think it goes to show the rigorous courses and high expectations we have here at UVa.</p>
<p>That's why there's a facebook group called "I want my highschool GPA back" ahahha. It sucks, us 3.7+ students from HS go to the 3.2-3.6 range in college, whereas the 3.0-3.4 kids in HS go to 3.6-4.0 in college. Something wrong about that picture hahah. That's why I like being an engineer: 3.0 is the golden number haha</p>
<p>ha, I had a 3.54 GPA in high school, where does that put me?!</p>
<p>its so weird. My high school GPA blew, but if I had the same one in college, it would be fine even applying to top grad schools.wiiiiieeeeeeerdddd. I have a feeling college is going to take a little tiny bit of getting used to.</p>
<p>I mean, physics classes where the average test grade is a 60somthing? whoa. In my physics class (last year, when it was difficult), the people that didn't sleep through it could get around an 80 or so... but we had the occasional 12. Still, that was the worst it ever got. In my multivar class, everyone got an A except one person... (grant it, it was really selective, the people in the class were bright)</p>
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I have a feeling college is going to take a little tiny bit of getting used to.
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<p>brilliant deduction, sherlock. College is a whole new world, and it really is a big change. You have so much time, but then you have things like marching band that you can pick and chose to do as well. Some people love the responsibility, some people hate it, some abuse it. I happen to like the convenience of home, but then again in college, it's pretty much study, class, sleep, eat, party/friends. It's awesome. And being in a place like UVA and being in an apartment will probably make it even better.<br>
Oh, and expect your physic/math classes to have an average of low 60s, for the most part. I got a 63 in Calc III and got a B. 67 in physics and got a B. 73 in chem and got a B. Yesssss...hahahah</p>
<p>maybe I should have surrounded that with</p>
<p>[SARCASM] ... [/SARCASM]</p>