Activities/extracurricular activities/clubs for a drummer? Help!!!

<p>Hey guys, I love drumming and I wanna continue with this hobby in college. </p>

<p>I want to include this in my application but I dont know what exact activities involve the drums. Im an international student and Im not familliar with most of the activities offered in the universities in the US.</p>

<p>I was wondering what are these and if they include the drums:
Concert band
Jazz band
Music ensembles
Musical theater
Pep band</p>

<p>Im a rocker/metal drummer so Im also wondering if these activities even offer this genres (obviously jazz band not lol)</p>

<p>Also, are there other extracurricular activities/organizations/clubs that you guys would recommend me?</p>

<p>I’d love to join a band or form one too.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Almost all the structured musical activities like the ones you listed are gonna require you to be able to read sheet music. (Just mentioning that cause its easy to get by as a rock drummer without being able to)</p>

<p>It’s gonna depend on the specific activity and school on how selective/difficult the organization is. Some schools have concert bands that are open to anyone willing to play, some require auditions, and some are only open to music majors. It seems to me, most schools have at least a few ensembles that are open to non-majors, but they still may require auditions. </p>

<p>As far as rock/metal goes, you’ll probably have to join/form your own independent band, barring possibly some rock covers in concert band or if the musical is a rock musical.</p>

<p>At my school, if you’re not a music major/minor or paying to take lessons then you shouldn’t expect a damn thing from the music department. They have a concert band and jazz bands that are open to anyone. However, they will not give you access to a practice room with instruments in it (like a drumset or a piano) unless you are one of the above people. They do have a general band practice room that is open to anyone provided you can get on the key list for which there is a lot of competition. You have to provide your own instruments though. The room kinda sucks too. </p>

<p>I play drums for one of the smaller jazz bands at my school. All the kids in it are really good and didn’t want to be held back in big band. We basically got the school to give us real book/pay for charts and let us play whatever we want. My freshmen year when I first joined we played a ton of shows around campus and even got paid for a few of them. Last year though there was a big drop off in the number of shows we played because we had a hard time finding a bassist since our original one graduated. </p>

<p>One suggestion I have is try to live off campus if your music department sucks as much as mine does. I managed to get them to give me a spot on the key list for the drum room by doing jazz band, but other drummers from jazz band were denied. I don’t really go to the practice rooms anymore though because I cleaned up one of the rooms in the basement of my off campus apartment and put my drum set down there. I can pretty much play whenever I want now. I have a heater for when it gets cold and I have a lock on the door so no one can touch my stuff.</p>