My son, a non-music major though horn-playing-in-the-band sophomore, goes to
CSULB. They do not currently have a marching band (nothing to march for - no
football team, though apparently there is considerable angst on campus about
this, not having a football team, that is.)
The Pep-band is alive and well and is quite active.
Also, don't think that it's a requirement to have a marching band in a HS
program. Santa Rosa HS (Santa Rosa, CA) has one of the finest music programs in
the state, including the only program in Northern California that has a string
program. The director, Mark Wardlaw, refuses to field a marching band. No one
feels the loss, including the football team (or perhaps, especially the
football team!)
As a personal aside, I remember our HS band (Chaffey HS, Ontario, CA) playing half-time shows to nearly empty stands. Our marching band worked harder than ANY of the football teams (we were on the field at the crack of dawn AND after school), not to mention classroom time for learning the music, and to do our thing for ungrateful audiences permanently spoiled me against organized sports.
Bo
-------------------------------------
Maybe Long Beach still does have a marching band, (I
haven't really asked) but usually lack of football
will kill a marching band.
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