<p>lastbird, marching band did get in the way of my son preparing for auditions - sorta. It does take time from practicing for auditions. But he became a better overall player due to those 20+ hours a week. He probably would have been better prepaired for his auditions if he spent that 20+ hours a week practicing specifically for auditions, but the reality is that he probably would not have practiced for auditions an additional 20 hours a week if he had not done marching band. He may have spent part of that time practicing, I am sure he would have, but it’s a trade off - practicing for a public performance (marching band) vs practicing for a private audition. </p>
<p>Someone said that marching band was great for them as a social experiance. I agree with that 100%. A good bit of the time that marching band takes is not taken away from music practice time, it is taken away from “social time” or TV watching time, or goofing off time. For two hours after he got home from marching band, he didn’t want to talk - to anyone, he would use that time to practice piano or trumpet (if he had anymore “lip” left). He had “being social” out of his system for the day. </p>
<p>All of his college auditions were during the winter though so there was not a conflict between college auditions and marching band, and he practiced a rediculous amount (not that there is a maximum anyone should practice) for college auditions after marching band season. The pieces he picked out for college auditions are very high end pieces, but he had been working on those pieces for two years, so any loss of college audition time due to marching band wasn’t that big of a deal.</p>
<p>Since your daughters primary instrument in college will be piano, I have to agree with those who suggest that marching band in college has little music value to your student. If she wants to consider it as a “break” from college studies, then it would still be a good activity for her in college. Many colleges will give a stipend for marching band, or will require it for a music scholarship (or bigger music scholarship) so thats a consideration also. Also, it doesn’t hurt to be good at more than one instrument, my son is a better trumpet player because he also takes piano lessons, and he is a better piano player because he takes trumpet lessons. </p>
<p>Since your daughter likely will not have the opportunity to take private applied music lessons on sax while in college, marching band could be an excellent way of keeping up her sax chops while in college. Plus, marching band counts as a class at most colleges and you get college credit for it.</p>