garfield Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) I know very little about brass or reeds, but I know quite a bit about the drum corps experience. Thousands of reed players have marched drum corps over the years and gone on to impactful, useful, and important teaching positions molding whole music students. If the OP were striving for Juliard, or the NY Phil, then the time off might dent his ambitions. But a music educator is far from a single-instrument instructor. The experience of drum corps will be implanted on his students through him. He'll pass it on. IMO, EVERY music student should march drum corps, not only because of the education it offers but because of the life experience it embeds. The experience will better help him teach. My opinion is that this sounds like a narrow-minded professor who's looking out for the advancement of his favorite instrument's importance. Not one who's offering the best advice for the growth of his students. March. Work hard and march. Then work hard and get back to the sax. You can do both. Nothing's stopping you from excelling at both life and the reed, one on the field and one on the sax. Edited March 7, 2011 by garfield 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Here are three options for you to consider: 1) Do not go on tour with a DCI group. 2) Go on DCI tour but not with your sax. 3) Go on tour, practice your sax on your own time not the corps' time even if it means staying behind to practice your sax on free-day activities, enter the DCI WW I&E to prove to yourself and your university professor that keeping up your sax chops can be accomplished. Now it is in your hands to decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) 3) Go on tour, practice your sax on your own time not the corps' time even if it means staying behind to practice your sax on free-day activities, enter the DCI WW I&E to prove to yourself and your university professor that keeping up your sax chops can be accomplished. First find out what corps allows its members to participate in I&E. Thought I read a few years back not all corps do this and no idea if this has changed. Question to OP: Why only a WC and at best top 10 corps? Edited March 7, 2011 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrillmanSop06 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 My advice to the OP: March. It doesn't matter where. It doesn't matter if you touch your sax all summer long. March and you WILL be a better, more marketable, more skilled music educator. If that means making your professor upset, so be it. If you do this for anyone, do it for your future students; they WILL benefit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 My advice to the OP: March. It doesn't matter where. It doesn't matter if you touch your sax all summer long. March and you WILL be a better, more marketable, more skilled music educator. If that means making your professor upset, so be it. If you do this for anyone, do it for your future students; they WILL benefit. Just know what goes with Drillman's advice is a trade-off. He seems to believe that the 10 week loss of working on your sax embouchure, the 10 week loss of working on your sax finger motion, the 10 week loss of you producing great tone on a woodwind, is worth the positive things you will receive such as self-discipline, endurance, and other brass related musical things you will gain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrillmanSop06 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Just know what goes with Drillman's advice is a trade-off. He seems to believe that the 10 week loss of working on your sax embouchure, the 10 week loss of working on your sax finger motion, the 10 week loss of you producing great tone on a woodwind, is worth the positive things you will receive such as self-discipline, endurance, and other brass related musical things you will gain. That I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroncoTrooper Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 (edited) As a saxophonist who played mellophone for two seasons and is now a music educator: March drum corps. Leave your saxophone at home. You won't have the time or energy to practice during tour, and it's just one more thing to make sure you didn't leave in the gym. My saxophone professor didn't want me to march, but I told him I do what I want. Luckily, he had a sense of humor and didn't get too upset. Anyway, the experience I had in drum corps far surpassed the experience of playing the Glazunov for 2 hours a day during the summer. A lot of the tips and tricks I use are things I picked up from my DCI instructors. Is it the end-all, be-all of education? Absolutely not. I think you'll find that when you get back, your scales might have slipped backwards a few BPM and your tone might be a little bit worse, but you'll catch up, expecially if you are practicing for 2.5 hours a day. Long story short: FREAKIN' MARCH. You won't regret it. EDIT: Oh yeah. The one negative thing I have to say is about the whole top 10 corps notion. All I'm gonna say is this: The highest I placed was 16th, and I wouldn't trade it for the world, even if I was guaranteed to be wearing a DCI championship ring. EDIT X2: You also have to remember that once you start teaching, you probably won't have time (or energy) to practice a whole lot anymore. I find time on my prep sometimes, but not as often as I like. Your energy will be focused on your kids. I hope you'll find more time to practice than I have so far, though. Just work super hard once you get back from DCI to show your professor that you can do both and be successful. Edited March 7, 2011 by BroncoTrooper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyboy Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 My guess it that you won't have time to play your sax on tour. If you do take it on tour and it affects your horn performance, expect to be stopped from playing it. You will probably get tired of carrying it around. The last thing I want to hear at lunch is someone playing any instrument. Breaks are needed on tour, you can't practice for ten hours then put in an extra two on another instrument. Since you are at Penn State, why not march Surf? You can practice your sax all week and do corps on the weekends. I would say The Cadets won't allow you to bring a sax on tour, but by 2012 they might provide you one. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildabeast Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Besides...Cadets are coming to California this summer. Would you prefer to practice your saxophone while in California? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassEXPERT Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 You want to march Cadets and bring a sax???? Are you kidding me, they would take you in a heartbeat! You will slowly move from mello, to mello in pit, to sax in pit. This will go along perfectly with the woodwinds in DCI plot George Hopkins has been trying to initiate. Honestly, I know for a fact that the Cadets have one of the most intensive rehearsal schedules in DCI, and even on shorter days, you will be too tired to practice your sax. I am sure there would be more time during spring training, but that would mean sacrificing the little bit of sleep and relaxation time you get for practice hours. This won't be an easy way to start getting accustomed to the incredible muscle transformations your legs are going to go through. The Cadets also have not been a part of the I & E performance in a long time, maybe ever(?). I hope this helps. -expert 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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