Posted by Different Strokes on March 12, 2004 at 09:15:42:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Physical Fitness for Brass Players posted by its not bad on March 12, 2004 at 01:52:37:
Hmmm. That may be, but marching and drum corps were not recommended by Northwestern's two trumpet teachers when we were there a couple of weeks ago.
Thanks to everyone who has suggested drum corps, but it's simply not the solution. It simply has no appeal to my daughter. She would surely quit playing trumpet and pursue voice (which is a viable option for her) if we tried to force her to do corps. Her high school band does not march in any meaninful way, and she avoids even that through her Manhattan School of Music Prep Division program. Marching is so negatively regarded in our suburb that the high school band is even making the marching component voluntary next year, and less than 25% of the band is expected to choose it.
I respect the fact that there are many musicians and others who like drum corps and marching band. It is apparently a popular spectator activity which draws more people than most symphony orchestras. I was in a marching band in high school (old style where we did a new, topical, show every week and wrote our own shows), was in the Regimental Band at Viginia Military Institute, and later marched in a college band in grad school because the director begged me to and I liked him too much to say no. But, I'm no fan of marching. I suppose it was all the marching at VMI and later in the Army that gave me an abiding distate for marching generally and "fancy marching" like drum corps especially.