QuadraticBeats Posted December 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 we have 8 concert bands That's just... just... scary. I mean, it must be practically a souless band where the only people widely known are the section leaders! Besides that, I'd like to ask a technical question... is your high school the only one in your district? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escababe07 Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 actually, most people in band know about 200 of the others. it's not that difficult....we spend all of our time together basically. *shrug* i know almost everyone in band, maybe not personally, but at least i've heard their name. and when your school has 4500 people in it, well then, even if i knew all 640 it still wouldn't be that many. you probably can't understand, because you've never experienced it. WE ARE DEFINATELY NOT SOULESS, THANK YOU. well, there's the freshman center and the high school (two campuses) but we are one high school. it's kinda confusing sometimes. probably something you just have to experince. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuadraticBeats Posted December 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 It's definitely exceptional, that's for sure... But can your band really experience the closeness possible in a smaller band? Well... you do spend every day in a given band, but still... It's just really, really weird. If we combined all the high school bands in our district (Cedar Park, Leander, Vista Ridge (my school)), we'd probably have roughly the same number as your school. But WHY would anybody in their right mind continue to operate a 4500 person high school... the administrative issues must be staggering. It must make our school facility look like a house to a mansion. Our school is very nice, and covers alot of ground, but isn't very dense, like Cedar Park. Leander is in between this arrangement, but lower in facility quality. Ours has a shiny aluminum roof, and looks really nice from far away. In summer, though, it can be a cause of temporary blindness. The population is staggering to somebody who goes to a relatively large 4A, but not very close to 5A, three year school (freshmen, sophomores, juniors), and next year we will finally have four classes. The seniors will still be really small, though... there's only 10-20 (juniors, to-be seniors) in our band, and the ones in the drumline aren't even the best percussionists. They are arguably the best wind players, with a few exceptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuadraticBeats Posted December 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 They probably have a whole bunch of concert bands, I know Duncanville has 5 bands, and Kingwood probably has 5 or 6. As far as ideal band size, I'd like to have 150-180 in my band. You can actually get a lot done with that kind of size (look at DCI). I think along the same lines there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 If we combined all the high school bands in our district (Cedar Park, Leander, Vista Ridge (my school)), we'd probably have roughly the same number as your school. Actually, if you combined Leander and Cedar Park alone you would have a minimum of 5500 students since The 5A cutoff is a little above 2700, and if you add in Vista Ridge you would probably have around 7500. Now, think about the fact that all 3 of those bands combined would probably only have about 700 members. So that means that you would have 3000 more students than Allen (An entire 5A school more!), but only 50-100 more students in band! From everything that I have heard, Allen has a very open attitude about band and the directors make band a very fun activity and environment (and are still successful), so they attract a lot of kids every year and there aren't very many that quit band because they are tired of it, or think they can't handle it, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xukaniz Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 I love Allens ideals of having a good time in band. Who cares if you cant win championships....you are part of the biggest, loudest marching band in the state of Texas, and probably the United States. A huge band is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. It is a sign of an excellent band program, and it shouldnt be hidden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanWeiss Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 How would you transport a band of that size? My HS (back in the day, hehe) marched around 120, and with boosters and alternates riding the buses there were 150 of us, plus instruments. That accounted for about 5 school buses, or 3 charter buses for long trips, plus 2 Penske delivery trucks for the percussion carts. It must take an army of buses to get you guys around! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterNick Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 I love Allens ideals of having a good time in band. Who cares if you cant win championships....you are part of the biggest, loudest marching band in the state of Texas, and probably the United States. A huge band is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. It is a sign of an excellent band program, and it shouldnt be hidden. Yeah, I have had some friends who are Escadrille alumni...one was a 4-foot-8 female tuba player who was pretty much tone deaf, and she told me some stories of the "old days" like their top band would come home from contest upset because they didn't make region honor band. It would seem that their old director, trying to push them into being the absolute best, made them feel like crap for falling short of that goal. I heard after that director left, and someone else took over, membership jumped up to the gargantuan levels it is today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escababe07 Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 How would you transport a band of that size? eighteen "yellow dogs", 20 ish charters we even have a charter flight to cali this year. (plus a bunch of other flights where there are less than 60 band kids on each) a couple of penske trucks.... on a side note, at every football game, the escadrille uses about 1300 water bottles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRtrumpet Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 I love Allens ideals of having a good time in band. Who cares if you cant win championships....you are part of the biggest, loudest marching band in the state of Texas, and probably the United States. A huge band is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. It is a sign of an excellent band program, and it shouldnt be hidden. I totaly agree with that. Whoa thats ALOT of water bottles. We use MAYBE 2-3 Icechest. haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax5warrior Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 wow.....i cant imagine working with 650, thats.....wow........8 concert bands.....must be a shame if youre in the last one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRtrumpet Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 oohhh yea that would be a little emberassing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escababe07 Posted December 14, 2005 Report Share Posted December 14, 2005 It's just really, really weird. the funny thing is...i think having less than 500 is really, really weird. my freshman year i saw other bands of about 200 and i thought 'wow they're small!' and then i realized...'we're just freakin big!' we don't even look like 600 to me anymore. and the people in the last band are usually the kids who are just in band for their friends and honestly don't care. doesn't every band have some of those? it does sound dpressing though...symphonic 4.... i'm in symphonic 1! which is just as good as the wind ensemble, the top top band, without extra rehearsals. and with the director who's more fun. so i'm happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax5warrior Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 and the people in the last band are usually the kids who are just in band for their friends and honestly don't care. doesn't every band have some of those? eh, just like a few but not that much that will affect any of the bands at SGP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterNick Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 the funny thing is...i think having less than 500 is really, really weird. my freshman year i saw other bands of about 200 and i thought 'wow they're small!' and then i realized...'we're just freakin big!'we don't even look like 600 to me anymore. and the people in the last band are usually the kids who are just in band for their friends and honestly don't care. doesn't every band have some of those? it does sound dpressing though...symphonic 4.... i'm in symphonic 1! which is just as good as the wind ensemble, the top top band, without extra rehearsals. and with the director who's more fun. so i'm happy! I was thinking with a band that size, do you have any spillover in region auditions? Like, people in the second band making region? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax5warrior Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 I was thinking with a band that size, do you have any spillover in region auditions? Like, people in the second band making region? well since theres 600, think of it this way, 50-60 players should be in wind symphony in a 200 piece band, imagine if you multiply that by 3, thats 150-180 who are really should be in wind symphony in a 600 piece band. So that makes the 3 top bands, "wind symphony" capable and then the next 3 "symphonic" level and the remaining 2 "concert" levels...i dunno....how does the all-region work for a 600 piece band?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escababe07 Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 well, there's 3 bands at the freshman center, 5 at the high school. freshman cant be in any bands at the high school except wind ensemble, and that's usually rare (they have to go to high school all region, not just freshman, and make phase 2). so that gets rid of about 150 ish kids. (and upperclassmen cant be in freshman bands...duh) and trying out is totally optional... but if you don't go, you wont make one of the upper bands. (usually. there's exceptions...like me! but that's cause my section is small and i'm one of the best players anyway. i'm in symph 1 and i didn't go! woot.) our region (i don't remember what it is) is supposedly the most competitive, meaning most of the all state players come from this region and area. that fact makes getting to phase 2 harder. not all of the wind ensemble players went to phase two, but out of the entire wind ensemble there's only about 10 of those max. the rest filter in based upon how they did at all region (those are our band tryouts, basically) and how they behave. if they went to phase 2 but are always late and back talk and all that kind of crap, they won't be in wind ensemble. simple as that. the directors from the higher bands get to pick who they want first. so mr gibson, wind ensemble director, gets the largest selection. then mr pennington picks from what's left, then mr gowler, and so on down the line for the upperclassmen. so the bands get bigger as they worsen because the directors further up only took who they wanted to and passed on the leftovers. it's the same at the freshman center based on who did the best at freshman all region. i think that's about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRtrumpet Posted December 15, 2005 Report Share Posted December 15, 2005 I wanna move to allen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tx_state_euph_08 Posted December 30, 2005 Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 that allen selection system sounds kinda harsh...band students aren't just a bunch of tomatoes in a crate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrideOfPearland Posted December 31, 2005 Report Share Posted December 31, 2005 hmm...No offence....but I don't think I could be apart of such a huge program- espically if I really care about playing- it doesn't seem like the directors would know my ability of playing very well...because they would have to compare me too like what...200 other clarinets? Thats about how many try-out for region band down here in Region 17 Area F! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterNick Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 that allen selection system sounds kinda harsh...band students aren't just a bunch of tomatoes in a crate. Ah, it's better than some selection policies that I've heard of. Keep in mind this was from 8 years ago, so it's probably changed...one band's policy was if you didn't make all-region band, you didn't make top band, period. My old band's policy was all the players would be in a room, in a mock region audition setting...the players would play 8 measures of each piece selected by the band directors, and they would judge you accordingly. When it comes time for splitting bands, they picked from who was going to audition for region band (freshmen had to audition for both freshman and high school region). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sax5warrior Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 that allen selection system sounds kinda harsh...band students aren't just a bunch of tomatoes in a crate. most bands seperates the freshmen and make them 1 band the split the upperclassmen. In South Grand Prairie, however, they audition everyone to be in 4 bands. You get a piece a music on the back of a memo they give you for marching stuff. Its usually about 4 lines. During the audition, you play several scales and your chromatic. Then you play that piece of music everyone gets in the back of the memo and then a sightreading exercise. Then from there, you wait til the last day of school to kno what band you will be the following school year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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