mountainhiker

My DD would love to be part of a college marching band, but I wonder if it is remotely realistic for a theatre major to consider.

Most big-college marching bands (think USC, University of Michigan, etc.) grant 1 academic credit in the fall for participating in marching band, and students generally practice 3-4 days a week, for 2 or more hours at a time (i.e. 4:30 to 6:30 pm), and of course are tied up all day on Saturday home game days. They also travel to some select away games, and bowl games.

Information sites for the different bands stress that "students from every major at the college participate in the marching band" but I still wonder if it would be doable.

Any experiences or input? Thanks!

gibby

This question is something your daughter needs to ask of her college advisor.

Years ago, my theater advisor, Judy Flynn, at Boston University CFA, would not allow me to enroll in a biology course because it would require too much time away from my theater studies. This might be the case with Marching Band, or not. It depends on the school. So have your daughter ask.

mountainhiker

She's currently a HS junior, and is putting together her college list. She did read that the 2011-12 drum major at USC was a Theater major (and also an Air Force ROTC member!), so it gave her hope!

I'm sure this is a question she will ask each college, but I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience.

Flossy

USC is a BA program. I think you'll have a better chance of making it work with those rather than the BFA's. Don't know any drum majors but we do know some kids who are very involved in acapella and improv activities that take a lot of time, too. It gets tricky if they are cast in a show. Good luck!

KatMT

This will vary very much from school to school. Even at the schools that will allow it, she may find that is significantly hinders her opportunities to be involved completely in the theatre productions and co-curricular opportunities.

At many schools Marching Band commitment is like playing a varsity sport at the university level in terms of time commitment.... at many schools participation in co-curricular productions and training opportunities is also like playing a varsity sport at the university level in terms of time commitment.

Again, this will vary from school to school.

Marbleheader

My D wanted to do Pep band at her school - thinking that since it wasn't a big marching band, it would be less time-consuming. But they still met for a lot of hours during the week, and she had to commit to all the games, etc. She felt it was too much to do for her first semester. She decided against it, but I still wish she had done it, since it would have been a fabulous group of kids to hang with - not to mention going to the games, etc.

alwaysamom

As Kat said, it will vary school to school. For many/most BFAs, missing studio classes is not allowed (unless you're dead, as one teacher I know tells her students!) so any travel involved for an outside activity is going to take that off the table right from the get go.