<p>Hi, this is actually PCB’s old stand partner from the ND orchestra…my Mom saw this thread and emailed it to me, what a coincidence. I’d just like to make a few clarifications, the strings didn’t meet “early” before rehearsal last semester. The winds were allowed to come to rehearsal late because most of us are in the Marching Band and the two rehearsal times conflict. So every fall semester, Mr. Stowe puts a strings-only piece into the concert. Now we all meet at the same time, 7:30p-10p. Yes, sometimes we run over, but Dan really tries to get us out on time; it’s hard to rehearse everything with only one practice a week. He’s very passionate about what he does, and just wants us to play as well as we can. There are plenty of opportunities for non-music majors at ND because 90% of the participants in music here are non-majors, and the nice thing is that ND recognizes that. At other schools with conservatory programs, like Northwestern, you would have a hard time even getting into the orchestra program if you were a non-major.</p>