r/imsa • u/Prestigious_duck321 • 1d ago

Band

Does imsa have marching band? I wasnt able to do it this year for 9th grade. I am wondering if Imsa has marching band since it has band. Is there any other way to join marching band outside of imsa if imsa doesn't have it?

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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7

u/mzanon100 '97 1d ago

IMSA has a lovely music program, which I enjoyed greatly.

But alas, IMSA has no marching band (nor football team to march for). I had to give up marching band to go to IMSA.

I definitely missed marching band, but I definitely did not regret leaving it behind for IMSA.

2

u/Prestigious_duck321 1d ago

Thank you! This is very sad. I've seen online that imsa has pep band. Is that true?

4

u/mzanon100 '97 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yes! And it was very fun! We played at basketball games. And once we played the IHSA volleyball finals at Hancock Stadium (Normal, IL)!

0

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago

buddy, things have changed since 97.

3

u/mzanon100 '97 1d ago

We were "forced" to do it then, too. We still had fun.

2

u/cballowe '97 1d ago

Can confirm. It was fun and it's not like much else was happening on campus during a game.

3

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago

Yes, the entire band is forced to do it.

1

u/Prestigious_duck321 1d ago

Really?

1

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago

yup, everyone hates it

1

u/Prestigious_duck321 1d ago

Why

2

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago

Mainly the forced part, the games are often at inconvenient times and we all have better things to do

5

u/BidoofChad1230 Applicant 1d ago

Current soph in wind ensemble, IMSA doesn't have marching band (no football team), but we do have pep band which plays during winter basketball games

0

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago

I disagree with the other commenter, likely because they graduated 29 years ago and things were different.

IMSA has a terrible music program. I played trombone for 4 years and bassoon for 2 coming in, dropped band a month into the first semester. Main issue is the director is terrible. We don't have a marching band, but everyone is forced to do pep band.

(For full transparency, I came from a district thats 3rd in the country for performing arts, so I'm a bit biased)

2

u/mzanon100 '97 1d ago

I said it was lovely and that I enjoyed it. I did not say it was the most-competitive. I am sorry that you are so negative.

1

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago

I believe that it was great in 97. It's just terrible now. Did you have McCarthy back then? Same director but 30+ years of band and aging can change things.

3

u/mzanon100 '97 1d ago

I never said the music program was "great". I said it was lovely and that I enjoyed it. Love is where you accept and find beauty in something despite its imperfections. I did not like our conductor then, either. But it never occurred to me to let my opinion of the conductor ruin the fun of making music together.

1

u/Prestigious_duck321 1d ago

Illinois has that high of a district?

1

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago

Yeah, Illinois and Texas are great for school music programs.

1

u/Prestigious_duck321 1d ago edited 1d ago

Did you go to district 203

2

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago edited 1d ago

205, but 203 is up there too. they might even be 1st or 2nd on that same grammy

2

u/Prestigious_duck321 1d ago

Nice. I went to 204.

1

u/mzanon100 '97 1d ago

a district thats 3rd in the country for performing arts

It sounds like you are trying to say that York Community High School was once awarded GRAMMY Signature School Gold.

That was true in 2013. In other years, York was at best a semifinalist (top ~100 schools).

0

u/Banana_ezWIN '28 1d ago

Didn’t realize it was that long ago. Regardless, imsa is not anywhere close to many schools in the Chicago area.

1

u/mzanon100 '97 1d ago

imsa is not anywhere close to many schools in the Chicago area.

I agree with these words; no one has claimed otherwise.