re: LSU Band...How difficult is it to make the drum line?

I know I'm late to this but as a former Drum Captain at LSU and current Percussion Director I'll throw some more info in.

First, it's totally possible to make a drum your Freshman year. Plenty of people have done it, including me. You just need to show up prepared and have hands.

Be well versed in the PAS Standard Rudiments. You should be able to play all of them off the right and left hands. Also be well-versed in the more common hybrid rudiments (cheeses, fives, inverts, single-hand cheeses, etc) as they show up in the show music and even in the sequence music.

Timing timing timing timing. Everything you practice should be with a metronome with your feet moving. Everything. At various tempi. If you are going for a bass spot make sure to learn ALL the split parts, as you have no idea where they will put you in the end.

Practice on a drum. Look, pads are cool and all but it's definitely a different feel than a drum. Get on a marching drum as much as possible.

Record yourself. When you rep exercises record yourself playing and listen back to it, you will hear way more things than you do in the moment.

Reach out to current members. You can find them pretty easily on social media. I'm not saying stalk them or be a creeper, but they're pretty chill people and will be more than happy to give you tips and advice.

Check-in on the website and register! Don't forget to do this, then they send you the warm-up booklet and you can get going.

Wear high-quality musician's earplugs. Aside from protecting your hearing (important) these will filter our abrasive sound waves and actually let you HEAR what is happening better than without. Some examples are Etymotic, Earasers, and Eargasm.

Last. BE COOL. No one wants to be with a jerk for an entire season. Be a cool person...that's just general life advice.

Also, to my fellow Cavalier brother on here, what up!? I marched 2004-2006 in the Pit. Great to see another member on here!

About to hear from a bunch of experts who have no idea what they are talking about.

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A decent French Horn player can get a scholarship anywhere in the country.

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Exactly what my son's (6th grade) band director said. He plays trumpet now and the BD said if he will switch to French horn in 8th-9th grade, he'll likely get school paid for by the music department.

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Way back in when i was in tigerband they did have sort of a hybrid academic/tigerband scholarship (i had one). To get that i had to audition for Mr. Wickes and meet his criteria, and i had to have over a 28 act. This waived my tuition and allowed me to major in something other than music. In return i had to be in tigerband and in the spring semester i had to be in the concert band.

I have no idea if this is still a thing. I am getting old.

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That's what I had as well... I believe it is still a thing. They give out two per incoming class.

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I'd be pissed as a parent

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All of us were upset for a while, but he realized where his weaknesses were. He was more upset about not being with his friends. But like I said, a 21 hour semester would not have been conducive to being in TGBFTL.

College drumlines are not especially competitive, relatively speaking. One of my sons competed at the national and international level. The drummer in college bands are good but not typically great, as in national drumline competitions good.

Truly competitive drummers are rarely satisfied with the college band experience because the music is easy and repetitive. Worse yet, as mentioned by another poster, the experience is more about the marching routine than the complexity of the music performed.

Having said that, good and great are relative terms. Oh and drumline competitions are as much about the synchronicity as the complexity of the music performed.

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Were you part of the Frameworks show?

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Bingo