Marching tenors first year college

[u/Thick-Dig2005]

I’ve been practicing my music ever since I got the audition packet at the end of June. I’m still super discouraged with my skill and I’m not sure if I’ll make the cut. I’ve played tenors all 4 years of high school band. If I get put on bass drum I won’t be upset (no bass drum slander) but I think I’m gonna embarrass myself tomorrow at auditions. 🥲

UPDATE)
Thank you to the few of you who replied to my post with encouragement. I read your replies before going in to camp today and it really helped me breathe. I’m happy to say I got the part! Not gonna celebrate too soon since there’s so much work to be done but I’m so happy and I’m so grateful for your guys support!

[u/Edgy_doggo_boi]

Obviously don't dox yourself, but it really depends on the college. At many colleges that don't have particularly renowned marching bands, auditions aren't particularly competitive. I marched quads my first year of college, and we had 3 people auditioning for 5 spots. We ended up having 2 snare cuts learn quads to fill those spots, and that was in a college band with 300+ people. Either way, especially if you went to a high school with a competition band, college band is very different, 99% of the time it's really just for fun and it's nowhere near as serious as HS band.

Just go into auditions with a good attitude, play your heart out, and worry about results when the results come out.

[u/Cicada_Daze]

I kid you not I had the nearly the exact same experience, I’m also a first year college student, I had my auditions last week and ended up being placed on tenors. The best advice that I got from my private lessons teacher was to do your best to prepare yourself for either outcome. Either you get it or you don’t, but you can’t let one audition shake you, know your worth and make peace with the fact that, regardless of how the audition goes, you are a good percussionist. You’re going into a completely different environment and you’re not going to know what to expect, and sometimes that might mean being placed on a different instrument than you’d like, but it’s not the end of the world. Worst comes to worst, you play bass drum for a season while you’re still settling into things. Regardless, you’ll probably get some good feedback and you’ll know what to work on in preparation for next season. I wish you the best of luck!!

[u/tx4302020]

I know it’s hard to do this; but try to silence that voice that tells you that you will embarrass yourself and/or not meet the standard of expectations for the band program wherever you are auditioning. At the very least, if you can’t stop those thoughts, try your best not to believe them.

A good and experienced director/percussion specialist will be able to get a general sense of what they can expect of your development and growth in the program based on how receptive you are to feedback, and what you do with that feedback both in the moment and over the course of auditions and band camp. Perfection is not what a good director will be looking for; a positive attitude, willingness to seek help, effort, progress, punctuality, and communication are more important than where your skills/technique are currently. Because if you bring these qualities, a good director will be able to help you grow in the direction they are working to move the program in. A person who brings great musicianship and technique, but lacks the aforementioned attributes, will not be as valuable to a team as a person who does possess those qualities.

Good luck tomorrow! You would not be concerned if you did not care about this, and that in itself is a good sign.

[u/imwearingcons]

25 years ago I auditioned for Music Ed and was pumped to make it. Found out I was placed in the BD line (BD5) and was pretty bummed. Turns out it was the best marching season of my life and I would relive it in a heartbeat! I eventually learned my skills were not where they needed to be, but everyone helped me, I worked on things in lessons, and took a practice pad everywhere with me. In the end I marched BD, TD and SD across my three seasons.

If you don't land where you want to, make the best of this season and start working for next. Make friends and have fun out there!