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Posted
1 minute ago, South Austin said:

I'll probably volunteer one year for the McCallum pit crew.  It does look like a lot of work, but I helped out with my daughter's basketball team at McCallum, and I think it was good for her to see her dad be part of the parent support group.

It's a lot of work but also extremely rewarding.  I've gotten to experience being on the field and contributing, as the band has won UIL State, been highly competitive at BOA-San Antonio, and also finished 5th in the entire country at the BOA Grand Nationals in Indianapolis.  It's a pretty great feeling and getting to share at least a little of it with the kids is quite satisfying.

My high school marching band was pretty crappy, so getting some of that vicariously, is also a bit of a thrill, I'm not gonna lie. :)

 

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Posted
15 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Regarding the band influence:  there is no college marching band that's anywhere near the top of the "marching arts".  It doesn't matter if your kid is at UT, tOSU, UDub, Colorado, whatever.  (A&M is a weird anomoly and worse.)

I'm not saying don't do band, but I would strongly suggest you try to disabuse your kid of the idea that the particular school matters.  You get to play your instrument, learn some drill, meet a bunch of other mostly nerds, and have a great time.  That's cool.  There really isn't any source of pride other than self-inflated when it comes to the different schools.

You think so? My band director in HS was a legend (now retired) who somehow convinced over 1/2 the school (including athletes and cheerleaders) that it was cool to be in marching band and won us a few state titles. He was very much in favor of attending certain schools if they wanted to be considered elite band directors one day. I never thought about doing that so never really paid much attention, but I believe he was pushing them towards Tech and UNT.

Posted
Just now, SimonBolivar said:

You think so? My band director in HS was a legend (now retired) who somehow convinced over 1/2 the school (including athletes and cheerleaders) that it was cool to be in marching band and won us a few state titles. He was very much in favor of attending certain schools if they wanted to be considered elite band directors one day. I never thought about doing that so never really paid much attention, but I believe he was pushing them towards Tech and UNT.

Doesn't UNT have one of the best musical programs in the country?  Tracks if so

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Posted
1 minute ago, SimonBolivar said:

You think so? My band director in HS was a legend (now retired) who somehow convinced over 1/2 the school (including athletes and cheerleaders) that it was cool to be in marching band and won us a few state titles. He was very much in favor of attending certain schools if they wanted to be considered elite band directors one day. I never thought about doing that so never really paid much attention, but I believe he was pushing them towards Tech and UNT.

I wasn't speaking to a kid who wants to major in music and become a band director.  That's a completely different thing.

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Posted
Just now, BabaYaga said:

Doesn't UNT have one of the best musical programs in the country?  Tracks if so

I believe so, and that's where our top of the top state solo champ kid went for band. He got roided up and quit before finishing, but the dude could play one hell of a trombone. 

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Posted

UNT is outstanding, especially for jazz.  Brutally competitive school.  "Whiplash" was bullshit, but the competition to get into the top band(s) (especially the One O'Clock band) is nuts.  World class players.

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Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

You think so? My band director in HS was a legend (now retired) who somehow convinced over 1/2 the school (including athletes and cheerleaders) that it was cool to be in marching band and won us a few state titles. He was very much in favor of attending certain schools if they wanted to be considered elite band directors one day. I never thought about doing that so never really paid much attention, but I believe he was pushing them towards Tech and UNT.

This seems like it might be true if your kid wants to be a marching band director someday, but I don't think jj was referring to that specific case, just pointing out in general that the marching arts in college, are at a much lower level than they are at competitive high schools.

Also, if your kid wants specifically to be a marching band director and not just a music educator, then participating in DCI is probably more important than whatever college marching band they end up in.  My kids are in the best 5A marching band in the state (won the state title 6x in a row now) and all of the directors have DCI experience.

 

 

Edited by utee94
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Posted
15 hours ago, ballrific said:

anyone else’s soon to be senior drag ass all summer on their essays and narrowing down colleges/visits? Apparently it’s also too tough for them to even pull up a virtual drone campus tour on youtube, who knew.

It's like you have a live feed to my house.. 

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, South Austin said:

A lawyer friend in town told me that his wife has helped Lake Travis high school students with the college admissions process over the years, and said that in her experience band kids had some of the highest college acceptance rates.  I think a lot of admissions staff know that band kids work their asses off, and that level of discipline looks good on a resume. 

My son is a freshman in the McCallum High band, and last year was lucky enough to get "called up" to be a part of the McCallum band as an eighth-grader for the football season.  That included early morning band practices at McCallum starting at 6:50 a.m. before husting to Lamar, Friday night football games, and a lot of Saturday UIL competitions that lasted most of the day.  He absolutely loved it, and as his father I was damn impressed to see him work so hard.  He thinks he might want to join a college marching band at a big school, maybe Texas, maybe somewhere out of state like Oregon where his sister is.  But I do wonder if by the time he goes to college, after five years of intensive marching band, he'll get burned out by it.  It's a grind.

Band kids at least in our experience have the busiest schedules in the entire high school. My senior leads over 200 peers, it’s really incredible. He’s dialed in and on fire but we are careful to make sure he has plenty of downtime - not a lot of demands other than school and band. Volunteering is out of the question, he actually has plenty of volunteering required in the band. He loves being busy and productive. He’s got a motor for sure, gets it from me. He enjoys down time but he likes to earn it. His social life is rich and he loves the travel, bus time with friends, and the camaraderie. For college I think of it as a club more than anything but one that will eat up his time - in a good way.  He wants to continue that and he loves the big time football atmosphere (LT has it at the HS level) from the perspective of a band member. 
 

we are kinda banking on drum major and band generally to propel him. His grades are great but his electives aren’t bump classes so he’s not had enough AP type classes to move into the top 10% even. His SAT is meh, not a good test taker, gets that from me too. I scored 20th percentile but performed 10th percentile consistently. Unweighted GPA he’s killing it. 

looking west it’s his personality but continent too where diversity essays (trans parent, lesbian step mom - remains to be seen if we play that card) and test scores are still ignored. 

Edited by troph
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Posted
1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Word.  It's been a beating.  I strongly encouraged her to knock some of that shit out before summer band started, and of course summer band has now started, and zero essay activity has occurred.

 

Same, exactly the same. I think it’s ok. He needed 100% downtime. I get it.

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Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, troph said:

Band kids at least in our experience have the busiest schedules in the entire high school.

It was the worst. Freshman year it was band from 7:30-10 in the morning and then football from 2:30-5. 

Long ass day with those times being mostly outdoors in September.

Edited by SimonBolivar
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Posted
Just now, troph said:

Same, exactly the same. I think it’s ok. He needed 100% downtime. I get it.

Yeah for mine, she actually took two dual credit courses from ACC in the first summer session, so I definitely give her some leeway there. 

Still, it only gets more busy from here through the end of marching season in November.  But she's made the bed and she'll have to lie in it.

 

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Posted
16 hours ago, troph said:

But when you talk about experience and third spaces (which I think are critical to finding meaning and happiness) you really can’t go wrong with band

This is my thought process. I wasn't in band.  My school, even though it was a big school, really didn't place much of an emphasis (or pay attention) to band.  My son goes to a school with a probably better-funded band than the football program.  They're routinely nationally ranked.  So, to me, band has been a great experience for him.  He has had to push himself and dedicate himself to a working with "the team".  He's in leadership his senior year and I think since his grades are... uh... kind of like mine were, the band experience and effort should help him when trying to get into certain schools that look at the whole student, not just grades.  Also, some schools that he is considering have great band programs - he wants to keep marching.  For some schools, that matters and, to go back to your original point, it does provide that third space and community right as you plug into college.

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Posted

Band is a cult.

16 hours ago, ballrific said:

anyone else’s soon to be senior drag ass all summer on their essays and narrowing down colleges/visits? Apparently it’s also too tough for them to even pull up a virtual drone campus tour on youtube, who knew.

 

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Word.  It's been a beating.  I strongly encouraged her to knock some of that shit out before summer band started, and of course summer band has now started, and zero essay activity has occurred.

 

 

59 minutes ago, TexasBeta said:

It's like you have a live feed to my house.. 

Same here but mines a junior to be and isn’t even interested in talking about college. He might just pull off getting into UT and make it moot but we’d like him to at least EXPLORE options.

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Posted
Just now, The Dog said:

Same here but mines a junior to be and isn’t even interested in talking about college. He might just pull off getting into UT and make it moot but we’d like him to at least EXPLORE options.

My now-senior wouldn't even talk to us about any type of major or any potential college until January or February.  She was paralyzed with fear because she had no clue what she might want to do, and couldn't imagine herself in a college environment and so wouldn't allow herself to even think about it.  We finally just took her on a couple of campus visits and that's when she could finally see herself on a campus as a college student, and it has opened her up to some possibilities.

Tough part for me is, she's going to be auto-admit to UT but for various reasons she doesn't really want to go to there.  So I find myself on this thread looking at other options.  

 

Posted
1 hour ago, South Austin said:

A lawyer friend in town told me that his wife has helped Lake Travis high school students with the college admissions process over the years, and said that in her experience band kids had some of the highest college acceptance rates.  I think a lot of admissions staff know that band kids work their asses off, and that level of discipline looks good on a resume.

Hope this is true

I can tell you my son had leadership sessions last week W-F from 9-5 and this week until school starts, he gets to be at school at 6:45 AM until 5:00 PM to prep for the season.  One has to think that type of dedication has an impact when being considered for a school (whether you want to be in marching band or not) 

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Posted

Third spaces are critical for human contentment and happiness imo. Church was the de facto one for most humans throughout the last few hundred years - work, home, church. It’s critical imo that we all find and cultivate that third space. That’s 100% my goal for him here - school, family, band. 

@The Dog as someone who was in a cult during college I vehemently disagree. 

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Posted
12 minutes ago, troph said:

It’s critical imo that we all find and cultivate that third space. That’s 100% my goal for him here - school, family, band. 

Yup.  Mine's an introvert at heart so I've seen how band helped him with a community in HS.  My younger one is more extroverted and he's always had soccer (club and HS) but for the older one, I can see the big advantage with college band.  BUT, again, the experience and the grind I think will help him get into college.  We'll see.

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Posted
52 minutes ago, troph said:

looking west it’s his personality but continent too where diversity essays (trans parent, lesbian step mom - remains to be seen if we play that card) and test scores are still ignored. 

What do this mean?  I've read it several times and each time I think I might begin to understand, something makes me confused again.

image.gif.2e9c4ce2d729b296dd1f9c2109529e55.gif

Posted
44 minutes ago, orange dream said:

What do this mean?  I've read it several times and each time I think I might begin to understand, something makes me confused again.

image.gif.2e9c4ce2d729b296dd1f9c2109529e55.gif

Hahaha “but convenient too” (damn autocorrect) because of diversity essay topics still in play and they don’t require test scores - the worst aspect of his college resume.

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Posted
we think UT marching band has the potential to be life changing and to create memories not otherwise obtainable. 


Absolutely. A former coworker was in the Longhorn band in the early 80s. To this day, he is still known as
Chief Yellow Hands for letting the seniors piss on his hands during freshman hazing. He will take that memory to his grave.
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Posted
42 minutes ago, troph said:

Hahaha “but convenient too” (damn autocorrect) because of diversity essay topics still in play and they don’t require test scores - the worst aspect of his college resume.

Whatever your kids write about - please don't let it be generic.  I used to show horses.  Started with quarter horses at the ranch, moved to Arabians in the city.  Did shows all over the state and SW.  Specifically two Arabian stallions.  God they were beautiful.  So before the shows everyone lines up in the "shoot" before the gates open.  More mares that most, as they can be a little more tractable.  Enter the stallion.  I was in my early teens.  English saddle.  Double reigns.  Full riding tux.  I liked to get to the gate early, so as more contestants joined, we're surrounded.  He's been around mares at many shows, so one must have been in heat?  I don't know, as he'd never done this before.

Boxed in, on a stallion, surrounded by mares.  Still undefeated....he freaks his shit.  Rears up ala The Lone Ranger.  English saddle - meaning there's no horn to grad hold of like a Western.  Falling off is not a great option in a narrow corral filled with agitated horses.  Gate workers start yelling, gate flies open, this horny turd bolts into the arena, and pull the reigns to one side, jerk his head and get him going in a small circle.

I caught up with one of the admission counselors years later, and he still remembered the essay.  Wasn't the best writer, but it was a hell of a memorable story.  Focus in the moment, make your world small, compartmentalize your actions, focus, and act.  I sort of plagiarized an OODA loop before i knew what it really was.  

5 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Chief Yellow Hands

Better than Chief Brown Fingers, I guess......

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Posted
2 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Whatever your kids write about - please don't let it be generic.  I used to show horses.  Started with quarter horses at the ranch, moved to Arabians in the city.  Did shows all over the state and SW.  Specifically two Arabian stallions.  God they were beautiful.  So before the shows everyone lines up in the "shoot" before the gates open.  More mares that most, as they can be a little more tractable.  Enter the stallion.  I was in my early teens.  English saddle.  Double reigns.  Full riding tux.  I liked to get to the gate early, so as more contestants joined, we're surrounded.  He's been around mares at many shows, so one must have been in heat?  I don't know, as he'd never done this before.

Boxed in, on a stallion, surrounded by mares.  Still undefeated....he freaks his shit.  Rears up ala The Lone Ranger.  English saddle - meaning there's no horn to grad hold of like a Western.  Falling off is not a great option in a narrow corral filled with agitated horses.  Gate workers start yelling, gate flies open, this horny turd bolts into the arena, and pull the reigns to one side, jerk his head and get him going in a small circle.

I caught up with one of the admission counselors years later, and he still remembered the essay.  Wasn't the best writer, but it was a hell of a memorable story.  Focus in the moment, make your world small, compartmentalize your actions, focus, and act.  I sort of plagiarized an OODA loop before i knew what it really was.  

that's an awesome story. this kiddo is pretty dialed in we will see what he comes up with, but this is great advice.  do you remember what question you were answering that led to telling that story?

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Posted
1 hour ago, troph said:

It’s critical imo that we all find and cultivate that third space. That’s 100% my goal for him here - school, family, band. 

Same here.  Early on I never really worried about my daughter's "third space."  Since elementary school she was active in sports year round, and then got into guitar.  So when high school rolled around, she had a third and fourth space -- the basketball team and the classical guitar program.  

I was a little worried about my son.  He was never into sports except for basketball, and he had nowhere near his sister's athletic ability.  So I had some concern over whether he would find his "thing," and I didn't consider sitting in his room gaming all the time as a "thing."   Unlike his sister who was playing guitar since second grade, he had expressed no interest in musical instruments, until he got to middle school, and then without any suggestion from me or his mom, told us he wanted to join the band and play flute.  By eighth grade he was first chair in the flute section and marching with McCallum High.  And he loves his band community, which has been so good for his social development.  

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Posted
2 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Same here.  Early on I never really worried about my daughter's "third space."  Since elementary school she was active in sports year round, and then got into guitar.  So when high school rolled around, she had a third and fourth space -- the basketball team and the classical guitar program.  

I was a little worried about my son.  He was never into sports except for basketball, and he had nowhere near his sister's athletic ability.  So I had some concern over whether he would find his "thing," and I didn't consider sitting in his room gaming all the time as a "thing."   Unlike his sister who was playing guitar since second grade, he had expressed no interest in musical instruments, until he got to middle school, and then without any suggestion from me or his mom, told us he wanted to join the band and play flute.  By eighth grade he was first chair in the flute section and marching with McCallum High.  And he loves his band community, which has been so good for his social development.  

my 15 year old is a band rockstar not a leader rock star yet even though he was the only soph promoted but his musical ability is phenom. but for music he would be a gamer 24/7, and he still needs to crawl out of his shell (including more frequent showers and other personal hygiene activities).  hoping soph year is it.

Posted
2 minutes ago, troph said:

my 15 year old is a band rockstar not a leader rock star yet even though he was the only soph promoted but his musical ability is phenom. but for music he would be a gamer 24/7, and he still needs to crawl out of his shell (including more frequent showers and other personal hygiene activities).  hoping soph year is it.

Yeah my 15yo son had similar issues, until he got his first girlfriend right at the end of the schoolyear.  Now he's gaming a lot less and he's become a workout fiend (dad, I actually have ABS, check this out!).  Also,  he now showers daily and brushes his teeth at least 3x per day!   Just a maturity issue for him, and he's finally coming around. 

 

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Posted
1 minute ago, utee94 said:

Yeah my 15yo son had similar issues, until he got his first girlfriend right at the end of the schoolyear.  Now he's gaming a lot less and he's become a workout fiend (dad, I actually have ABS, check this out!).  Also,  he now showers daily and brushes his teeth at least 3x per day!   Just a maturity issue for him, and he's finally coming around. 

 

Rose Mciver Please GIF by CBS

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Posted
Just now, utee94 said:

Yeah my 15yo son had similar issues, until he got his first girlfriend right at the end of the schoolyear.  Now he's gaming a lot less and he's become a workout fiend (dad, I actually have ABS, check this out!).  Also,  he now showers daily and brushes his teeth at least 3x per day!   Just a maturity issue for him, and he's finally coming around. 

Ha!  Somewhere during eighth grade my son took an interest to girls, which has increased his frequency of showering, teeth brushing, and deodorant application.  

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Posted
20 minutes ago, troph said:

that's an awesome story. this kiddo is pretty dialed in we will see what he comes up with, but this is great advice.  do you remember what question you were answering that led to telling that story?

Not exactly - it was probably something along the lines of defining moments, facing adversity, stuff like that.  My pop's is an old English teacher.  He's working on another book right now, and he always preached a great story trumps great writing 100% of the time.  And  great story need not be "great" in the conventional sense, but it needs to be compelling, memorable, and for students, unique.  Stephen King made a fortune off this.  His writing is meh, but his storytelling...he's masterful in bringing the reader in. 

 

22 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Yeah my 15yo son had similar issues, until he got his first girlfriend right at the end of the schoolyear.  Now he's gaming a lot less and he's become a workout fiend (dad, I actually have ABS, check this out!).  Also,  he now showers daily and brushes his teeth at least 3x per day!   Just a maturity issue for him, and he's finally coming around. 

 

Still undefeated.....;)

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Posted
2 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Not exactly - it was probably something along the lines of defining moments, facing adversity, stuff like that.  My pop's is an old English teacher.  He's working on another book right now, and he always preached a great story trumps great writing 100% of the time.  And  great story need not be "great" in the conventional sense, but it needs to be compelling, memorable, and for students, unique.  Stephen King made a fortune off this.  His writing is meh, but his storytelling...he's masterful in bringing the reader in. 

 

Still undefeated.....;)

well, I'm a lawyer and while not a trial lawyer, I've learned that humans are preconditioned to respond well to a good story. storytelling is everything. I've clued my boys into that and on occasion they are at cocktail parties at our house and the older one sticks around and chats with the adults. he's keenly aware of my stories and I think he's taking notes. next to stories is laughter. if you can make someone genuinely laugh with you, you're rounding third and headed home. the other side of the coin is listening, but in this instance, the task is to share so you listening is not an option.

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Posted
15 minutes ago, troph said:

well, I'm a lawyer and while not a trial lawyer, I've learned that humans are preconditioned to respond well to a good story. storytelling is everything. I've clued my boys into that and on occasion they are at cocktail parties at our house and the older one sticks around and chats with the adults. he's keenly aware of my stories and I think he's taking notes. next to stories is laughter. if you can make someone genuinely laugh with you, you're rounding third and headed home. the other side of the coin is listening, but in this instance, the task is to share so you listening is not an option.

Dear Admissions:  "How my mom helped me get into chicks pants"

Sincerely, little troph

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Posted
Just now, BabaYaga said:

Dear Admissions:  "How my mom helped me get into chicks pants"

Sincerely, little troph

hahaha, there's some truth to that. funny how our parents were afraid of us getting naked and I'm like just get off your god damned gamer stations and fuck a girl already wouldya?

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Posted
1 hour ago, BabaYaga said:

Whatever your kids write about - please don't let it be generic.

Yup.  I've mentioned it before, but our youngest has no business being at UT.  None.  I mean, top 40% at his HS kind of guy.  Super immature (at the time).  The thing was, he played club soccer at a very high level and wrote his essay about how he had to learn to interact with kids on his team who only spoke Spanish, and how it helped his leadership skills.  It was a pretty poorly written essay but it was definitely from the heart.  I corrected a few grammar mistakes the night before it was due but I thought "no way".  And then he was CAPed.  And he kicked ass at UT-Tyler.  And here we are.

There are many paths.  If one avails itself to your kid, they might be advised to take it.

 

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