Re: Re: Performance Major and Marching Band?


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Posted by Dale on November 13, 1999 at 22:41:44:

In Reply to: Re: Performance Major and Marching Band? posted by Jay Bertolet on November 12, 1999 at 23:36:03:

I'm with Jay on this one. Anyone who says you'll have the rest of your life to spend in a practice room obviously has little experience in the world outside of school. Either that or they have no life at all! There are jobs, family, kids (for the lucky ones), rent/mortgages, relationships, all things that demand vastly more time than you will EVER get to spend in the practice room UNLESS you develop the habit while in school. My experiences with some of the best marching ensembles on the coast is that these marching ensembles did NOT give me the kind of habits that further my playing (outside of MB of course.)

Seriously, rehearsal in my experience does not improve one's facility/ability as a player, that only happens in structured practice time! Sometimes the more you play/rehearse/perform, the worse you will get! Practicing is different, heck even one of the other posters to this thread acknowledged that he sounds better when he isn't marching.

when I was younger I too wanted to "dot the 'i'" at Ohio State, but the closest I got was to dot the i at Leight High School. After that I marched a lot of years with the San Jose State Spartan Marching Band starting when I was a senior in high school.
My teacher told me "don't do that shit." I ignored him. Even though I was a Bachelor of Music Candidate in Performance I still ignored him. Later I got in a fight with the Fennell-like director of bands and changed my major to spite the department. Lot of good that did for my tuba playing. Still did the Spartan Band though. Even played basketball games during semester break. Some break! Now, my back is trashed from lugging brass (on my shoulder) on fileds or in bleachers or up risers or in stands and doing stuff like Bald Mountain or Tchaik 4 or Festive Overture "off-the-line." I enjoyed it then, I loved the nubile flag girls. I forget how much beer or Kahlua I drank, but fun or no it was still a waste of MY time. BUT the ONLY reason I think it was a waste is because MY goal of being a better player in serious situations was not furthered by the experience.


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