Reply to APS - Symphonic Band marching band requirement

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Tough titties to those of you who balk at your kid having to do marching band.

It is a way to ensure that kids are committed to both bands. Many kids think band is something they can skip out on. If you're serious about symphonic band, you would do marching band.

Marching band is treated like a varsity sport. It requires mandatory commitment.

I think what the previous WL band director did was brilliant! Win-win because both bands were great![/quote]

Except we don't do this for anything else. Kids can take AP calculus without being on the math team, AP physics without being on the robotics team, why this major extracurricular requirement for advanced band when there is nothing analogous for anything else? What is worst that could happen -- school wouldn't have a marching band? If not enough kids want to do it, maybe that is a fine outcome. [/quote]

Exactly. [/quote]
Kids are always expected to show up for music performances.  You don't take orchestra and skip the concert.  It should just be renamed in the course catalog as We Symphonic/Marching band.

Can someone explain why OP's French horn playing daughter can't play with the school orchestra?  That seems like the obvious solution.[/quote]

Does W-L have a symphonic orchestra?[/quote]

No the "orchestra" is just a strings ensemble.

Given the demands of her music commitments already and the homework time required (assuming she's taking a good number of intensified classes), she probably doesn't have time to commit to marching band anyway. So, picking a different elective sounds like the better choice. Other music options could be learning a string instrument with orchestra, learning guitar, or sing in chorus. [/quote]
Wow.  That's super disappointing for a school district as large and well resourced as APS.  Even my dinky high school had a real orchestra program.  They really need to shake up the leadership for the music program.  It's embarrassing.[/quote]

I went to an affluent Southern CA high School with a large, very well regarded music program and it was the same - band and a separate string orchestra. Seems pretty typical. Otherwise you are dividing up your band instrument players across two groups. Alternatively, you have one group that is a full orchestra but that seems less common at high schools. Might have to do it with a smaller music program which might be why your "dinky high School" did it that way.[/quote]
No.  My high school was less than half the size of WL, but had a 300-400 person marching band, depending on the year.  More than half the school participated at some point during high school.  And we were in New England where big marching bands weren't generally part of the culture.  The marching band director and football coach even had a truce where a number of varsity football players would march the halftime show in their football uniforms.

We had a super vibrant music program with a couple of award winning jazz bands, a full orchestra, and a symphonic band.  Most of the top musicians played in several groups.  (Joining orchestra as a wind, brass or percussion player required an audition). Perhaps it's because I'm from near Boston where there is a strong classical music culture, but I've never heard of a high school not having a full orchestra.  [/quote]

DP. I would say it's because you grew up in an area that had full orchestras. I'm from a small midwest town. High school of 1200, consistent award-winning marching band 135-140. Orchestra program not as strong and just strings. Maybe some percussion? At times, band members were pulled to go help out the orchestra.

[b]It's just done differently in different places.[/b][/quote]

+1 In Northern Virginia the norm is band and a separate strings orchestra. It's not some sign of a weak program, just the way it's been done here. If you want full orchestra offerings, it looks like you need to move to the Northeast.[/quote]
A 70 person marching band at a high school the size of Yorktown or WL is absolutely the sign of a weak program.  That's super undersized.  There just aren't enough kids participating in the music program to even have a quality symphonic band.  That isn't how it should be at a large, well resourced high school with so many motivated, high achieving kids.[/quote]

The pandemic really hurt band and orchestra programs.  Many are half the size they were in 2019, some more, some less.

If you have a music student, you have seen this firsthand.  If you don't, then you can see it there in the numbers.  [/quote]

[b]if that is the case (and I think it is) I would think the schools would try to encourage kids to continue with music by providing more flexibility for the marching band requirement. [/b] Letting more advanced musicians participate in a band for beginners is not really a good alternative -- you would not ask a kid ready for MV calculus to take algebra 1 again just because he does not want to be on the math team.[/quote]

The marching band requirement is killing participation.

I’d rather see more kids participate in music than force kids to do marching band for “school spirit”.

HSs don’t really need big marching band anyway. Just do a smaller, optional pep rally band. 
[b]More fun & mobile.[/b]  [/quote]

"More fun" is your opinion.

"Mobile?" Pep bands just sit in the stands and play short "cheer" songs. Marching bands have "marching" right in their name....What part of "marching" do you find to be immobile?

"Killing?" Where's your data? A handful of anecdotes explaining that their kid decided not to do band because they didn't want to march = "killing?" I am willing to bet it deters far fewer than it attracts. Not all middle school musicians are even interested in continuing with band in any form when they go to high school. It isn't marching band per se that's deterring them. Then there is another subset of the musicians who don't want to do marching band but do concert band; and another subset that drops band all together because playing their instrument isn't a high enough priority for them.

Since only the band parents seem to pay any attention to the band's halftime performances, I really don't think any of the students are doing marching band for school spirit. To marching band, football games are an obligation. The band competitions are their main focus. My kids (in and out of band) have always hated the pep rallies. There's no reason a voluntary "pep band" can't form for basketball games (which is what there was in my high school); but apparently there isn't much interest or demand for that.

High schools don't "need" a lot of things. At least band is an extenuation of the music curriculum.

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