It's hard to find a bad college band these days. If band is part of your college experience, and you want the ultimate marching band experience, I suggest you go to a big football school. All of the bands out of the SEC, PAC 10, Big 12, ACC and so on that I have seen are pretty good, and some are just great.
I'll never forget the first time I saw the Florida State Marching Band. They must have had 500 members, and I can remember counting like 50 tubas! They were so musical for a huge band, and they did some pretty good drill considering that they could not add another body on the field!
Florida, Miami, LSU Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, USC, Oklahoma, Nebraska and so on have all had great bands when I saw them over the years.
Some smaller schools have great bands as well. Troy University in Alabama has a wonderful band, as so some of the smaller Michigan schools. Southern Mississipp has a wonderful tradition of very fine bands, and a very good music department. The University of Louisiana had a great band in the 1970's and early 1980's, and now the band has made a comeback an is wonderful again!
It's hard to go wrong, but if you want to travel a lot, and be part of the big game and play in a bowl game, choose a big football school. If you are going to be a music major, or your main interest is concert band, we need to revisit this topic and talk about concert bands, wind ensembles, and overall music schools. _________________ "To be a teacher you need to be as good a performer as you can be: you'll have more to impart to your students musically." - John Haynie
there are super bands at small colleges. i think yu'll have no trouble finding a group that appreciates what you can offer.
public or private? surf all the college sites in the states you're interested in and email the band directors with questions.
checkout arkansas tech, henderson state (arkadelphia, ar), univ. of central arkansas...all small schools (6000 or less) with great bands.
one of my clarinet students was once offered a fcomplete ree ride - books, tuition, housing, fees - just to play in a band at a smaller ark college. she wasn't even going to major in music. she played darn well, of course.
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I'm not sure if I did this quote thing correctly, but Bandman said that NE had a "great band" when he saw them. I am currently a student a the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and love the program. There are all sorts of different ensembles to get envolved in. Plus, having a good football team and the no. 1 ranked volleyball team in the country make marching/pep bands even more exciting!
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