How Marching Band Prepares you for College

Are you interested in participating in a marching band at your high school? Besides obvious skills such as playing your instrument, you’ll gain other tools that will apply to your college career and other aspects of your life even beyond college!

Key Takeaways

• Form time management skills
• Develop discipline and drive
• Opens up opportunities in college

 

Time Management is Key

One of the most valuable skills marching band can teach you is time management. Marching band is an extracurricular activity with rehearsals, football games, and competitions scheduled in advance. Besides these pre-scheduled events, you're expected to know your material before you arrive. You may also have homework, other extracurriculars, and a part-time job. Juggling these commitments can be overwhelming, which is where time management becomes key. Critically reviewing how and where you spend your time can keep you on top of your schedule and make marching band a highly rewarding activity.

This skill transfers perfectly to college, where you’re in charge of making your class schedule, completing homework, making time for extracurriculars you may join, and procuring internships and jobs. Approaching your schedule with the time management skills you’ve learned from your marching band career can allow you to get the most out of your day.

Discipline and Drive

Developing discipline goes hand-in-hand with time management. What good is structuring the perfect schedule if you don’t follow through with it? Less free time can help you stick to your schedule. A lack of free time means you can’t procrastinate. Discipline to accomplish tasks on time and with high quality will be a recurring theme in your college career- let’s develop those skills before we arrive at the college campus.

In marching band, you’ll encounter problems. Difficulties can be disheartening, but developing the drive to be proactive and solve them is one of the most rewarding parts of the activity. You’ll face similar challenges in college, and having the drive and tools to face them will help push you forward.

Opens Up Opportunities

Playing your instrument doesn’t have to end in high school, and having such a skill can create several opportunities in your college journey.

For starters, many schools have several musical ensembles for players to join, regardless of their major. Participating is a great way to find a community in a new place. You will meet others passionate about the same things as you who you can grow and improve alongside.

Often colleges will offer a scholarship to join extracurricular ensembles such as pep bands, or they may offer scholarships if you decide to minor in your instrument.

Bottom Line

Marching band offers challenges that prepare you for other adventures in life. Being allowed to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes in band will teach you how to navigate challenges in all other arenas of your life. Marching band can open the door to a vast community that loves to engage with music in high school, college and beyond.

 

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