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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]First of all, congratulations on the excellent band show last fall.  I think I saw it 3 or 4 times (you competed on the same circuit as my DD's band did (JMHS);  I did not make it to the state championships).

How hard is it to balance a time consuming EC like marching band with the the TJ load?  I know fall is always challenging for DD -- keeping up with the school load while there are 10 hours of rehearsals a week, multiple competitions (some of which the kids get home late enough on Sat night (or Sunday Morning) that Sunday is lost...I can not imagine that with the TJ workload.[/quote]

Thank you so much!!! Madison's show last year was AMAZING and TJMC was completely geeking every time we got to see it. Also, your drum majors are super cool :) Congratulations on a great season--Madison has a great marching band and y'all deserve the best. Hopefully Covid will let us have a season in the fall.

Marching band in competition season is not too easy to balance with schoolwork. I know that last year and some of my marching band friends the years prior had to ask for extensions early on in the year because we had had a band heavy week. A good amount of TJ's teachers are understanding enough about band and would give us the free pass that once. A lot of us work a lot/study in the band hall during lunch, and only do what is asked of us and not the extra optional stuff. Usually our band director is good about scheduling us to have at least one or two free days a week -- like if we have Monday and Tuesday rehearsal, Wednesday concert, Thursday rehearsal, Friday football game, Saturday Sunday overnight competition, he'll cancel one of the rehearsals. It's really discouraged to miss rehearsal because of being overwhelmed with work. We do end up working a few assignments ahead (if we know the due date is coming up) on Wednesdays when we don't have practice or free Fridays and weekends. They're also good about telling us our schedule well in advance and reminding us to make sure our work is completed early if you know there's a time-intensive week or weekend coming up. We're also highly encouraged to ask upperclassmen for help about specific subjects and how to balance everything, because they've done it for longer. Late nights kind of become the norm for a little, but I get home from practice pretty late -- 8:30? It's not easy to manage always, but the competitions and performances are definitely worth it, and during marching season most of my social life is with my TJMC friends so once I get home and shut myself in to grind for a couple hours to finish work I don't feel that I'm missing out on too much. In my freshman and sophomore years the workload has been lighter for the first quarter before ramping up once marching band/the quarter ends.

But for me personally, marching season is the most fun part of the year. Even though the workload is tough to handle at times, marching band definitely forces us to develop great time management skills and even when a week is tough, every performance is like the light at the end of the tunnel.[/quote]

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