[Ross]

Hey everybody, I've been hanging around here for about a year and a half or so. I haven't made many posts, I mostly just sit back and absorb a lot of information from all around on the forums. I have some things I have been thinking about for some time now, hopefully all you more experienced guys and gals can help me out.

I am currently a junior in high school. I am planning to attend college and want to keep playing while I am there and maybe even after that. However, I'm not going to major in music, it will probably be an engineering degree of some sort. Right now, I play bari in the school's jazz band, bassoon in the wind ensemble (I've got a looooong way to go on this though) and I play a small bit of clarinet/bass clarinet if I need to double on something. Also, I made a band this year called the Crescent Super Band, which is made of high school kids from all around Utah. The band's pretty good, over the summer we are playing at a few festivals including Telluride (in Colorado), Montreux and Umbria. (It will be an interesting trip...I am one of the three non-mormon kids in the band; also, there are 21 kids going on the trip and 26 parents :? More on this later.) I play bari in this band also.

None of the instruments I play are actually mine, all of them belong to the school. I have talked with my lessons teacher about buying a sax of my own and he recommended that I buy a tenor before I buy a bari. Hopefully someday I will own both, but right now money is a little tight (especially with this big trip to Europe this summer) so it will be awhile before I get my hands on more than one. Here are some things that I have been thinking about:

-A tenor is a lot cheaper than a bari.
-It is probably easier to play outside a big band setting (and find gigs)with a tenor.
-I am playing bari now in 2 bands, tenor in zero bands.
-I have much, much more experience on bari than I do on tenor.
-It seems to me like a good bari player with his own horn would be harder to find for a gig than a good tenor player with his own horn.

I have visited a few colleges to see what features I like, etc. When I asked about the music program at the most recent one I toured, the guy made a comment along the lines of "Unlike a lot of schools, you don't even have to be a music major to play in the bands here." That got me thinking. I figured that most of the bands were filled with music majors because, well, they're the best ones on campus and they have the most practice time. I mean, if a school gets some really screamin' player who's an English major or something they would still put him in a band, right? (Hypothetically, I am not saying this is me, hehehe.)

So I guess I have 3 big questions:
1. Is it possible to play in college without being a music major? (And I don't mean the UNT one o'clock or anything, something more low key)
2. If #1 is possible, should I buy a tenor or a bari first?
3. Do most schools own decent instruments that I could use if I still don't have my own?

Thanks for taking time to read all this, sorry I couldn't make it shorter.
Ross

 

[Agent27]

To answer #1, I personally haven't heard of a school that specifically restricts ensembles to music majors. It's true that they're probably going to be filled with music majors because 1)more music majors are going to try out than non majors and 2)it's more likely that music majors are going to be the better players.

When I was getting my bachelors, there were plenty of non music majors. I'm not sure how many made the top bands, there may have been a couple. My school had about 500 majors and had marching band, basketball band, 3 concert bands, 3 large jazz enesmbles, 2 Salsa Bands, a Mariachi band, an orchestra, and numerous small ensembles. The non majors would generally play in the marching band in the Fall and the 3rd concert band (lab ensemble for student conductors) in the Spring. The 3rd jazz ensemble generally had room to accomodate whoever wanted to play. The more advanced non majors could squeeze into the 2nd ensembles.

 

[BlueLight]

1) It depends on the school, some schools will allow non-music majors to be in their top band and others have an "all-campus" band that only non-music majors can do. Just do some research on the schools you want to go to
2) You might grin when I say this but if I were you I'd buy an Alto because... most schools with good music programs will have Sop/Tenor/Bari rental saxophones, depending on if the school likes saxophones, they'll be pretty good (usually a selmer serie II/III or something along those lines). But they probably will not have an alto because anybody that majors as a saxophonist in those schools are almost expected to own an alto. AND since you play Eb Bari it would be easier to improvise switching to another Eb rather than going to Bb tenor.

best wishes

 

[maestroelite]

My school also rents altos, although not as many as the others I don't think. If you think you're going to play bari, and you really play it the best.. get one! Maybe I'm in the minority there, but if you're going to primarily play it then you don't want to keep renting school instruments. They get more expensive at the university level but they're still school instruments and don't get treated near as well as horns owned by individuals. Its nice to have something you can rely on and you LOVE playing.

Also, all the ensembles here are open to non-majors. However, the auditioned groups are mainly made up of majors.. result of bias or just reflection of true ability? I have no idea.

 

[J.Max]

1) It depends on the school, some schools will allow non-music majors to be in their top band and others have an "all-campus" band that only non-music majors can do. Just do some research on the schools you want to go to
2) You might grin when I say this but if I were you I'd buy an Alto because... most schools with good music programs will have Sop/Tenor/Bari rental saxophones, depending on if the school likes saxophones, they'll be pretty good (usually a selmer serie II/III or something along those lines). But they probably will not have an alto because anybody that majors as a saxophonist in those schools are almost expected to own an alto. AND since you play Eb Bari it would be easier to improvise switching to another Eb rather than going to Bb tenor.

best wishes

What he said. Get an alto first, then a tenor, then whatever else. Just to elaborate, a lot of schools reserve their top bands for music majors only because they feel that since the music majors' future is in music (and the student has made that commitment) they should have the most opportunities to play in ensembles. (Much easier to compete against the rest of the music school than the entire school.)

 

[Martinman]

You might want to check out Purdue University and Valpraiso (not sure of spelling) in Indiana if you want to be an engineer.

I know both schools have bands, and Purdue does not have a music school, although they have a decent music program, complete with jazz and concert bands. Purdue is also one of the nations best engineering schools, and my dad is an engineer and went to Valpraiso.

There is a kid who graduated from my high school who is the lead trumpet in one of Purdue's jazz bands.

About the instruments: Depending on the school you may or may not be able to get an instrument locker, and a bari is a BIG instrument.

 

[jmm1713]

Valpraiso (not sure of spelling) .

Valparaiso

I was there about 2 weeks ago ... Nice school ... I have friends there .

 

[Martinman]

Valparaiso

I was there about 2 weeks ago ... Nice school ... I have friends there .

It is probably one of the only Christian schools with its own beer hall.