troon8 Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 (edited) I won't go off on how relevant this topic IS, since several others have said it much better than I could... Ours ranged from around 90-120 students paying, as best I can remember, about $300-$400 for the year and around 6-8 staff members, not including our director. The two trips we took over any four year period cost extra (Neither were to BOA.) We had an extremely active parent booster club as well, and plenty of fundrasing opportunities, which allowed us to not turn any family away for lack of cash. While never quite state champs, we were certaintly competitive, though not involved in BOA. We did buy new uniforms in stages during my four years. The old ones I started marching in were in some BAD shape, so beleive me when I say this wasn't a frivolous expense. Our district was what I'll call moderatly affluent. Hope someone else can use all that info. Reading through this thread I'm reminded how the handful in our band that marched corps fell pretty clearly into one of two categories after their first corps summer. They would return as either: A. Strong, capable marching musicians who led by example and applied everything they had learned to make ours the best band it could be. OR... B. Those who never let anyone forget just how much they resented that our band was drastically inferior to their corps. It's my belief that those who are determined to have this thread degrade into a Band Geek vs. Drum Corps Geek fight through the argument that "it's a Drum Corps Forum!!!" are missing an opportunity to learn something new. Yes, there's other forums. But I think the context is clearly intended to be about funding, budgets, costs / benefit analysis etc. Obviously, there's differences to be explored here, and that's the whole point. This existence of this thread shouldn't be cause for alarm and have people freak out that this is going to become Marching Band Planet. (Oh well, guess you can scratch off my first sentence!) We're all just trying to move & play, folks. Edited December 21, 2007 by troon8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToferVis Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 the school i was talking about that charges 1500 a student....i'm pretty sure it goes to staff... they do BOA like crazy...and they have 2 assistant band directors...5 guard instructors....a tech for each wind instrument, and multiples for pit and drumline....(they're like a touring corps, it's crazy...and completely not needed.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rai-mello Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 The prices I've seen on this thread all just seem extravagant (sp?). I didn't know that most MBs had a price in the hundreds. My marching band has a measly $25 charge and some people don't even pay it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zackiedude Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 My high school had a great concert band.. but as someone said earlier there are many intangibles you learn through marching band that you just don't get in concert band. I think they're great compliments.. I always thought of marching band as character development and concert band as technical development. Someone else also said that marching band gets exposure for the program.. completely true! How many concert bands can get mentioned in the major newspapers or perform on nationally televised events? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 My high school had a great concert band.. but as someone said earlier there are many intangibles you learn through marching band that you just don't get in concert band. I think they're great compliments.. I always thought of marching band as character development and concert band as technical development.Someone else also said that marching band gets exposure for the program.. completely true! How many concert bands can get mentioned in the major newspapers or perform on nationally televised events? Thanks Zack. To reply on some of the others: I too forgot about some schools paying for private instructors (who are not contracted by the district). Often times directors will want an applied instructor for each section of the program (some times more). I think it is certainly worth upping the band fee, to accommodate such instructors, as it benefits the students. Not many high school programs offer "private" instruction on instruments to their students. The money that students are being asked to pay, often goes beyond the marching band expenses. As far as it being like a touring corps--I highly doubt a high school marching band is going to be touring that much. If you mean the fact that they have a lot of staff--that can be a good thing. The directors job is to build the program, and if he/she has a vision that requires having adequate staff to do that, then by all means go for it! If I were a parent, and knew that the money was going toward quality instruction and all attachments, I would not be upset about seeing such a high fee. We are quick to criticize how high a programs band fees are, but we do not know the quality or philosophy behind what each program is trying to promote. You get what you pay for in music education... sad, but true! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 When I was in high school, the most I remember having to pay was $50. The booster program was fairly well run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aelius Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 At my school, marching band fee was $600, and non-marching band fee was $135. Why there was a fee if you weren't doing marching is beyond me. =/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 At my school, marching band fee was $600, and non-marching band fee was $135.Why there was a fee if you weren't doing marching is beyond me. =/ Lessons, musical scores, any trips, supplies, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowskream Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 I'm from north alabama. Band of about 150 or so. Our fees were a 35$ "Fair share" that went into a gen. fund for new instruments, uniforms, etc. about 150 dollars to help cover band camp, etc. and a 15$ fee to get the uniforms cleaned. All of this could be fundraised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senagod Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 All I paid for marching band was $35 for the cost of shoes. We took school buses for competitions, except for ACC's when we took a charter bus. We took a trip once every four years, and the trips were not any place major. Virginia Beach was our trip. Band camp was either at the high school stadium or the back field of the elementary school, and you brought your own food. Same for competitions. Nobody fed us at shows. You either brought your own food or you ate at the show with your own money. The band boosters ran a concession stand at the football games, which was the main money-maker. We sold hoagies all year long and boxes of oranges in the winter. Hearing about marching band fees always makes me sad. I got so much out of band and if there was a fee to march (anything over $50), my mother would have thrown a huge fit and I would not have been able to march. That's why I never marched junior corps. There's no way my mom would stand for paying for me to be away all summer and not working and making money. She wouldn't fork over $250 for a week of summer music camp until I saved up money for half the cost. You folks are very lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.