Anonymous
Post 03/01/2023 17:27     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:At Robinson, kids playing in concert 3 or above are required to participate in marching band. Is this the norm? My kid would rather do a fall club sport, but doing both would be impossible. It just doesn’t seem fair.

Unless things are changing for next year, Concert 3 does not require marching band participation. Just the higher bands.


OP here. I probably confused this. My kid is in Advanced Band now and required to do MB. They have done MB for a few years now.I was just trying to gauge whether this is the standard. Not trying to put down MB, and theydo like it, but they’d rather do something different next year.


I went to a Fairfax county high school in the 90s and was first chair of my instrument in the top band. I loved band. I truly disliked marching band. I was very, very interested in playing my sport senior year in the fall instead of marching yet again, so I did. The band director kicked me out of band entirely.


That makes sense. No class is a la carte. Not electives, not core classes.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2023 16:53     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:At Robinson, kids playing in concert 3 or above are required to participate in marching band. Is this the norm? My kid would rather do a fall club sport, but doing both would be impossible. It just doesn’t seem fair.

Unless things are changing for next year, Concert 3 does not require marching band participation. Just the higher bands.


OP here. I probably confused this. My kid is in Advanced Band now and required to do MB. They have done MB for a few years now.I was just trying to gauge whether this is the standard. Not trying to put down MB, and theydo like it, but they’d rather do something different next year.


I went to a Fairfax county high school in the 90s and was first chair of my instrument in the top band. I loved band. I truly disliked marching band. I was very, very interested in playing my sport senior year in the fall instead of marching yet again, so I did. The band director kicked me out of band entirely.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2023 16:45     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
Anonymous wrote:I'm from Texas and I have yet to see a marching band in this area that doesn't suck.


I'm also from Texas and disagree - I saw a very small marching band from a DCPS school. They didn't suck.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2023 16:43     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
I'm from Texas and I have yet to see a marching band in this area that doesn't suck.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2023 16:42     Subject: Re:Does every HS require this for band?
I really don't mind marching band. I think it's a great band activity. I have no idea why concert practices can't be during the day or during non-sport practice times. My kid had to practice every day for their sport as well as practice for concert band and that was too much. There should be an option to opt out of a concert band season if you do marching band. At least one season if all practices are going to be after school. All year band is too much for many.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2023 15:43     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
If a school only has one full time band director who is expected to run a marching band, then in the fall, that's what they will do. It's been like this for a long, long time. Then when the football season is over, they will pivot to concert and/or Jazz.

Also, it is like this in college as well. You take marching band for your fine art credit and all of the activities are considered "class time".

Those didn't want to do marching band usually only signed up for band in the second semester and do another half year elective in the fall.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2023 09:34     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our HS band director was known for screaming at kids when she heard they were going to play a fall sport. Anticipating this, I told DD that if she made the fall sports team I would tell the band director myself in person. It was one of the most horrible teacher interactions I have had. I definitely got screamed at. I told her DD had never played the sport before (which was true) so we had no idea if she would make the team. I told her, "surely you have had others drop band. Maybe the family moves away. The kids break a leg, or something. Things happen." So much screaming.


If you are in a Marching Band that competes in field competitions then losing kids is huge. Drill formations and movements are determined by the number of people on the field. If a member is unable to be there, they leave a gap in the formation and it can effect the kids on the left and right of the missing marcher because they learned to keep themselves in line with that person.

So yea, if a person commits to marching band and then drops out, it is a huge deal because it means potentially redoing to formation. And that is not easy.


Then don't force kids to be in marching band. Or don't make the formations until fall tryouts are concluded.


Formations have to be developed early so that people can practice them and memorize them. They also need to be marched in person to see how they really work and make adjustments if needed. Practice makes perfect.

Or kids who want to be in band and see that there is an additional commitment can understand that they are committing to more then just band and own up to their commitment.

I actually think it would be better to not require marching band but it seems like that is not the case at some schools. There are costs and benefits to all choices, a kid choosing band that require marching band should understand that and not screw over their classmates and band mates by breaking that part of the agreement.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2023 09:26     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Mine went through TJ. Not a requirement. But, they still had a large band for a small school.


TJ and the other schools are aiming for different things with their bands. At most schools, the marching band's enrollment is propped up by requiring concert band members to join. At TJ, they need to prop up the concert band program (since kids would rather take other classes) so they require marching band members to be in the curricular program as well.

The underlying issue is that kids want to do one but not the other, and it often leads to the neglected program collapsing, which is bad for the school. (This is doubly so for TJ, since you cannot have a marching band if you don't have a concert band program. That's what keeps the director employed.) If there was a large enough group of kids passionate about both, maybe this wouldn't be a requirement.


This isn’t true, unless the rules have changed in the last year or so. First, the Advanced band is excellent and doesn’t need to be propped up. Secondly, because of other commitments and a wonky schedule, my kid did concert band in 9,11,12 and marched 10-12. He had one year of concert band, no marching, and one of marching, no curricular band. They give a lot of flexibility because of singleton classes and extra grad requirements.
Anonymous
Post 02/28/2023 21:34     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our HS band director was known for screaming at kids when she heard they were going to play a fall sport. Anticipating this, I told DD that if she made the fall sports team I would tell the band director myself in person. It was one of the most horrible teacher interactions I have had. I definitely got screamed at. I told her DD had never played the sport before (which was true) so we had no idea if she would make the team. I told her, "surely you have had others drop band. Maybe the family moves away. The kids break a leg, or something. Things happen." So much screaming.


If you are in a Marching Band that competes in field competitions then losing kids is huge. Drill formations and movements are determined by the number of people on the field. If a member is unable to be there, they leave a gap in the formation and it can effect the kids on the left and right of the missing marcher because they learned to keep themselves in line with that person.

So yea, if a person commits to marching band and then drops out, it is a huge deal because it means potentially redoing to formation. And that is not easy.


Then don't force kids to be in marching band. Or don't make the formations until fall tryouts are concluded.
Anonymous
Post 02/28/2023 16:53     Subject: Does every HS require this for band?
Anonymous wrote:Not a requirement at Marshall. I really appreciate the fact it wasn't. Kids shouldn't have to forgo arts to pursue athletics.


+1 does anyone know about Chantilly HS requirements?