siLk Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 it was free when i marched. we had about 275 kids. we were...decent. the high school i teach at charges about $500, though i'm not sure how much is charged on years when a grand nats trip is happening. they are provided lots of fundraising opportunities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PurpleKnights Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 (edited) I heard of a Texas school charging upwards of $1000 for their trip to BOA Grand Nats this year. Seems ridiculous to me. If they're flying and being housed in hotels, that's a VERY reasonable fee. Oh, and in my high school, fees were about $300 for fall marching band. The only district money we got was the band director's salary and a yearly instrument repair/purchase stipend. Otherwise, the organization was entirely self-sufficient. Edited December 20, 2007 by PurpleKnights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golfman1198 Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 400. A high school about a half hour away from us is 1400, even though they have bingo, fruit sales, and host a DCI show... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
07-Socks Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 No Fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrittRasetra Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 My high school was about 700, plus 135-150 for the band camp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvertrombone Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Geez, I don't remember fees at all. So many costs associated with it though. Buy a beginner instrument. That's not good enough past a certain point. Buy another one. Uniform deposit for MB (I don't count refundable as a fee). Private lessons. Spring band trips. Fundraising. Used to be that only the bands and other musical ensembles did fundraising. Now elementary schools and independent soccer teams do fundraising. Wow. Texas supports stuff like the arts, band, and marching bands. Grew out of support for football, but somewhere along the way it became its own thing. Then the drum corps influence came along and revolutionized uniforms, design, instrumentation, etc. Marching band seemed to "grow up" about the same time I marched DCI. Lots of DCI alum started pouring into Texas teaching band at all levels. I'm still not aware of fees locally. I'm sure it would hit the papers big time if it did since it has never been there before. I'm not against fees, per se. But the problem that I have with fees for marching band, etc, and tolls on roads is this...my attitude is that is why we pay taxes! Or do fundraising! But the problem with fees and income taxes is this...income tax began as 1-7%. Look at where it is now. Point: If we can't rationalize supporting bands with tax dollars, how long before they go away entirely? And if it becomes dependent on fees for participation and revenue, it's as good as gone. Just my thoughts. Get involved, like you are doing. Let your school board and state education department know how you feel. That times 1million people will be heard, but silence is just that. Kudos, OP. Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meaghatron Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 My high school band fee was about $250ish and mainly paid for band camp. This is for a small 1A band in Florida. Another 5A band in the same county supposedly has a band fee of $1500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roosevelt Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I can't believe this topic is still being discussed. Take it over to marchingbandplanet.com if you want to talk about bando stuff. Not saying this topic offends me. I'm a high school band director that deals with this stuff every day. This is just the wrong area to discuss it. This is a website for the discussion of DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS. Not HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND. calm down dude.... it is going to be alright Even though this is in the wrong forum it is probably going to get a response from some older folks, therefore making it more useful to the OP. I cruised by MBP a couple of times and I can tell you that is a scary place to try and get a serious answer to any question..... somehow it is even worse than DCP ... besides. Can't we just agree that Drum Corps and Marching Band are essentially the same thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordsterr Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Most of the districts in my area of Columbus, OH have some sort of pay to play fee. The marching bands have especially been subject to this. When I first started in this district 10 years ago, the fee was $675. The school where I now teach has a much more reasonable fee of $275 which covers band camp, staff, equipment, design and costuming. Obviously, we also need fund raisers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liebot Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I think it's kind of relevant to point out that most high school sports (at least where I went to school) have some sort of pay-to-play fee - don't remember how much it was, but my marching band fee wasn't that much higher than my sports fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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