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College Majors/Band


BanderThanYou

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As my high school years are slowly coming closer to an end and college is nearing, I was wondering, what majors did y'all study? I notice a good number of parents on here and so I'm curious, did anyone major in music?

 

Also, were any of y'all in college band? If so, how was it and how does it differ from high school?

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I did college band for one semester (football season) and quickly realized it was so much different than high school.  I loved high school band and all the friendships.  College band was a little too serious for me with mostly music majors.  I was not a music major so I realized my time would be better spent studying on my core classes that would "pay the bills" and so I did not continue with college band.  I have advised my three children to focus on their core major and not do college band at BYU, where they have gone and plan to go to college.  With respect to my fellow BYU alums, my kids have reported to me that they are glad the did not join the BYU band because they don't think BYU would have made finals at BOA San Antonio.  HA!!!

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I am also a BYU alum! (There are several of us on here!) I was a math major, but took plenty of music classes to fill my needs. I never did band personally, so I wasnt involved in the BYU marching band, but I did have roommates who were in the band. Actually, one of them was the president. College band is just very different, all around. If performing is your passion then it will be enjoyable- but know that it wont really be anything like your high school band experience.

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^currently-ish attending the same school (it's complicated at the moment).

 

I really wanted to do music up until halfway through my junior year when I found out I really wanted to be a lawyer. I finished a year in the civil engineering program and started my mission. Thanks to soccer, I'm here briefly before finishing my mission.

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Ha! BYU Alumni too! (Well I went... didn’t graduate, but hubby did!)

 

I never did band... I was a choir person. Somehow none of my kids like to sing and they all have gone the band or band/guard route.

 

Coincidentally a friend who’s son was in band here is at BYU in the band now and she was telling me how he was having a hard time dealing with marching band there- the technique is so much more lax than he’s used to.

 

My one band child in college did a week of marching band where she is going to school and dropped it because it just didn’t hold up to the level she had done in Highschool.

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Many big schools will give you scholarship money if you march in the band (have to make tryouts).  From what I understand (going off friends and children of friends experiences) if you were at one of the top BOA bands in Texas being in a university marching band is a lot less stressful and time consuming than your High School band.

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Did not major in music. Went on to get a degree in Physics, with a minor in Mathematics. Didn't have time to do college band, but I rather wish that I would have done so at least for 1 year.

Care to help me with my college physics? That stuff is hard!!! (this is coming from someone who wants to major in field that is physics heavy).

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I'll speak about my son's experience. He graduated from Flower Mound in 2016. He's now a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and is a music performance major (percussion). He was in the Cornhusker Marching Band for 3 years, and was the snare and drumline captain a year ago. He made the difficult decision to forego marching band this year as a senior to concentrate on graduate school pre-audition percussion recordings (required by 4 of the 6 schools on his short list).

 

There is a huge difference between high school and college .... well, his college at least. Much more pressure in high school due to competitions, a factor of being in in Texas. Nebraska performs a different show for every home game plus the band goes to one away game a year. They practice early in the morning and one night a week, but it's definitely not as focused as high school. A good number of those in the band are not music majors. About 75 percent of the band comes from the state, many from small towns and schools (some of which have grades K-12 in the same campus) that don't the level of instruction that you'd receive in Texas. So while there's dedication and effort, the quality isn't necessarily up there, which is no fault of the kids in the band, who really do enjoy doing it. He certainly had fun, and then had to deal with the anxiety and issues you have to deal with when you're a captain of one of the sections in the band. I loved watching him perform at Flower Mound, loved watching him perform at Nebraska, and loved watching him perform in his one year in DCI in 2018 in the front ensemble in Spirit of Atlanta.

 

BTW, he went to Nebraska because they had (and have) and up-and-coming percussion program. There's another FloMo alumnus in the program, three from Richland, and one from McCallum High in Austin. So a definite Texas connection to the program there.            

Hey there! I'm from Nebraska, by the way! I was born in Omaha, my mother was born in Omaha, and my grand-parents have lived there for nearly their entire lives. A good friend of mine in our band has a brother who's a freshmen at UNL currenlty -- he was the valedictorian of his class. Nebraska is such a beautiful state, and the people there are so amazing! By the way, they are the most dedicated football fans in the nation......by far. They have sold out every single game for nearly 60 years (57 and counting, and 371 consecutive games), and that's with every expansion of the seating of the stadium since then.The stadium current;y seats about 86000 seats but the stadium is consistently filled with more than 90000 people. Go Big Red!!!      

 

By the way, Bellvue West HS (the suburb of Omaha that my grandfather lives in) is a powerhouse band that has come very near finals at Grand Nationals and is a consistent semi-finals band. That's pretty cool if you ask me!

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OK, I am a 2 year lurker who finally made an account just to post on this thread.

 

I majored in math and was in marching band for two fall semesters at Texas Tech. Now I work part time as an elementary choir director.

 

In my experience, college band is awesome and a great way to make friends. It is not competitive, but if that's your thing, there's always DCI, and college band is a great way to meet DCI folks! Don't know if it is still the same, but in the 80s and 90s Tech marched 4 complete shows a year, covering military, (symmetrical) corps, and big 12 show styles. Practice for an hour at noon 5 days a week and most Saturday mornings. Travel 2-3 games a year.

 

Some pros about marching band:

Counts as a PE credit

All travel, meals, uniform, marching instruments are free to you

Many schools (Texas State) provide scholarships

Meet people a week or two before classes start

 

Watch recent video of bands from schools you are considering and see if you like their style.

 

While they don't compete against each other, most Texas college bands are large enough that they have tryouts or spot challenges, so I wouldn't worry too much about the skill level of your fellow band members. The shows will be easier, but the purpose is to entertain, and you won't spend very long on any one show.

 

Good luck!

 

I went to UTA, but didn't do marching band there.  I regret not doing it now, but at the time it seemed somewhat pointless, since UTA didn't (and still doesn't) have a football team.  As it turns out, their marching band does a lot of performances at high school marching contests and other venues.

 

My son is a Music Ed. major at Texas Tech, and is in his third year of being in the Goin' Band.  He echos many of the same things about the difference between high school and college marching: less stressful (no contests), more variety (6 different halftime shows this semester, plus the pre-game show), easier shows (but arguably more entertaining music).  The biggest difference from a work standpoint is that, while the shows are less complex, you many times have only 1 week of rehearsals to learn them (7 total hours), including memorizing all of the music.  The Tech band is at least 50-50 non-music majors vs. music majors (and maybe even more non-music).  Music performance majors are not required to be in the marching band, and music education majors are only required to do it for 2 semesters.  My son has continued to do it because 1) it is incredibly fun and 2) he is section leader and on the visual team, so he is getting a lot of practical teaching experience.

 

In comparison to high school marching, the "purpose" or emphasis is very different.  The sole purpose of the college marching band is entertainment and school spirit on gameday, and to be a face of the university.  For most programs, you will find that there is years and years of tradition wrapped up in what the band performs.  DCI/BOA style artistic shows are not done, because they generally can't be done in the timeframe allowed at a college football halftime, plus (and don't shoot the messenger) the average college football fan does not find the DCI/BOA style shows very entertaining.

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  • 6 months later...

Sorry to bring back an old topic, but I noticed that all of you parents were primarily discussing college marching band.

Have any of you had experience with concert band in college? I don’t plan on majoring in music but I would like to continue playing my instrument in college in a concert band setting, how is that?

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On 4/22/2020 at 11:11 PM, BanderThanYou said:

Sorry to bring back an old topic, but I noticed that all of you parents were primarily discussing college marching band.

Have any of you had experience with concert band in college? I don’t plan on majoring in music but I would like to continue playing my instrument in college in a concert band setting, how is that?

At Texas Tech (where my son is a Music Ed major), there are four concert bands, with band placement by open audition.  Non-music majors are welcome to audition.  The four bands are Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, and University Band.  The University band is generally made up of non majors.  It is less demanding in terms of rehearsal and performance time commitment.  At lot of marching band members do University Band in the spring semester.  The other three concert bands are almost exclusively music majors because 1) the music majors place higher in the blind auditions and 2) non majors, even when they have the chops to make a higher band, don't have the time to commit to it.  My son is in the Symphonic Wind Ensemble.  It is a 1 hour credit class, but they rehearse 6 hours per week, have at least 3 performances each semester (with at least 1 hour of music programmed), and are expected to practice individually several hours per week.

My daughter will be attending Stephen F Austin this fall (not majoring in music).  She is planning to be in the Lumberjack Marching Band in the fall, and the SFE equivalent of Tech's University Band in the spring.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/1/2020 at 12:26 PM, MadisonBandMan1 said:

Here is an update from me!

I have committed to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln this fall, and am double majoring in Meteorology and Mathematics of Physical Phenomena (the two fit right in together with little extra classes needed thanks to the math requirements for Meteorology) and double minoring in Physics and Computer Science - again with little to no extra classes. I plan on marching Bass Trombone in the marching band and possibly participating in concert ensembles as well, to be decided upon entering the second semester as I will have a better grasp on the time I have available and how my classes are going. 

@northtexasbandfan I wish that your son was not a senior this year but a junior, because it would be cool to have someone to connect to and ask for help while I am there. It is okay, though, as I am sure I will be fine. 

I am super excited to return to my true home, and I am especially excited to be a part of the Husker legacy. I can't wait to perform in front of the most loyal fan base in all of sports, and I can't wait to experience the Nebraskan hospitality once again. Now that I don't have much school left I spend nearly each and every waking moment thinking about college. I am doing whatever I can to prepare for the roller-coaster ride that is ahead of me. I guess we will see how it goes!

 

Go Big Red!

@MadisonBandMan1 just seeing this now. Hope all went well with your audition and best of luck with the CMB! Football games are just so incredible. It’s such a wonderful school. My son graduated two weeks ago with a Bachelor’s in Percussion Performance. Now it’s on to grad school at Arizona State.

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