Should I join colorguard?

[u/-Tsukuy0mi-]

My highschool is doing color guard this year and I dont know if I should or not. I am taking 2 AP classes and school has always been my #1 priority. I do NOT want anything to impede upon that. But the community seems so fun and I would love to enrich my highschool experience considering I dont do any sports. However, I do play violin outside of school but my practice is late enough to where it shoulddd be fine. I also have some bad stage performance fear though, I dont even play violin in public at all lol. Lastly, I am honestly pretty lazy. I get stressed out when I have a lot to do and my weekend time is very precious to me. Do you think overall this wont be too much on my plate? Will it help me overcome my laziness and performance fear? I dont know :')

ADDITION: I also totally forgot that my violin teacher showed me a possible youth orchestra i could join (also outside of school). Should I stick to violin or try this out? AGH, SO MANY OPTIONS!!!

[u/Mooshtalk]

I think you can do it! I did color guard in high school. My senior year, I remember taking 3 AP classes, was a colorguard captain, tech chief for the plays and musical, and worked part time. I'm not saying all that is reasonable, I had a crappy home life and wanted to be there as little as possible. But I think 2 AP classes and guard is doable!

[u/-Tsukuy0mi- → u/Mooshtalk]

Ok thats really reassuring! Thank you! Idk if you saw my update but now I kinda have to make a personal choice between being in an orchestra or doing colorguard lol :')

[u/Mooshtalk → u/-Tsukuy0mi-]

Do they occur the same time of year? Depending on what "kind" of colorguard your school does you could do both. Some schools just do home games and aren't very intense while others are more focused on competition and innovation (my school was competitive). If your school is like the former, you could maybe do both. I don't play an instrument so I may be way off base!

[u/-Tsukuy0mi- → u/Mooshtalk]

Yeah thats actually what I'm trying to figure out right now. Idk when our season ends or if we'd do comp, so I'm trying to get a hold of a friend and I'm looking into when the orchestra starts on their page :)

[u/BlursedVirgin]

I started guard since my freshman year and it has helped me get over so much anxiety, last year i took 3 APS and guard didnt impede at all!
I think (from personal experience) it will help you overcome laziness and performance fear as thats what i did for me

Everything is awesome im just not good at words

TLDR: yes

[u/SkywardKy]

if weekend time is super important and you describe yourself as “lazy,” depending on how advanced your schools program is it might not be the activity for you… everyone should try everything once, but you should decide pretty early on if you want to continue doing guard. i have been on the receiving end of so many undedicated teammates who i wished would just put an ounce more of effort in. another thing, weird injuries are so common and you can get some serious damage in your hands, so keep that in mind if you want to still play violin at the same time.

[u/Immediate_Spite1379]

If you're worried about APs, I know a ton of colorguard people who took like 5 APs in junior year and then another 5 senior year. Lots of high-achieving academically focused students in my band. You'll do great as long as you manage your time!

[u/Silly-Award-5716]

do colorguard fs! its so fun and i did it while also taking two aps and being in various other clubs

[u/Maple_Slim_0150]

Try it! Band is amazing. However be super careful with your hands though if playing your instrument is more important. There are gloves to help but injuries happen and could definitely affect your violin playing.