Any pros not do high school band?

Gobs I'm sure. don't be bummed, use the time to woodshed

 

hmmm, this is sad. our high school band would let in whoever wanted to work hard. we had 2 bass players for half of this year. we just switched back and fourth. it opened up doors for me. i joined a provincial jazz organization, and met some super ultra nice and good musicians. could you appeal this discision? i couldnt imagine being hindered by my school band experience.

 

i think the seniority rule is crap (i too play bass in my hs jazz band), luckily when i was a freshman the director at the time had auditions when there were multiple people for one spot, and guess who beat out a senior for the bass slot...

 

COULD suffer, as long as you keep your head up, don't get discouraged and keep up with practicing, your playing shouldn't suffer much at all.

the only thing you will be missing is playing in a group experience, and though that is very important, there will be other groups I'm sure that you could play in.

Maybe not affiliated with the school at all.

 

well i suggest this: talk to your director about having open auditions for the spot, its really the only fair thing to do if he wants to have the best band. if he is a good director he wants a good band, and the age of musicians shouldnt be important, the quality of them should. good luck

 

My high school didn't have a Jazz band. I played trumpet at the time and didn't even own a bass until I started college. Keep at it with the Jazz band though. The experience with reading will be invaluable. Sooner or later he/she will have to graduate. You would think that the director would come up with a way of at least letting you sit in on practice and play like 2nd bass ( no pun intended ) When I was in jazz band in college 2 bass players showed up for the 1st practice. Neither of us had played in the jazz band before. Neither of us could read either. Between the 2 of us we figured out how to read the stuff and traded off on the songs in performance. So many of these guys/gals forget that their main job is MUSIC EDUCATION and not music performance.

 

wow, that is shockingly true! smart man you are!

 

You could try to see if your director will let you sit in during practices so you can at least get a feel for things, and i know from experience that this will definitely help your reading at least. Getting used to sitting in with a drummer and the rest of the rythym section is a big deal as well. Also see if you can take home some of the material so you can practice on your own, or maybe even get some music that he plans on doing next year so that you can get a ways ahead of things. When the older player leaves, you'll be set.

I'm a senior now, but when i started as a sophomore, we had a good senior player already, and i was so grateful that i could sit by him and learn off of him while he played during practice, although i never got to perform. The least thing your director can do is let you show up to practice... its not likely he'll deny your want to learn and improve.

Peace.

 

My high school was very nepotistical (as I suspect most small town schools are), so I got my fair share of being screwed out of things. (A Piano solo I was suppose to have, once, comes to mind)

During my senior year, my school threw on a production of "Grease" and also created a Jazz Band. Word got around that I played bass so I reluctantly joined both. Turns out that I kind of became a mini-celebrity because of it. I actually inspired a number of kids to grab for their own basses/guitars. It upset me in a way because people were singing my praise because I "came out of my shell and impressed everyone", but the thing was, I had that potential all along, but I was just never given a chance.

Still, I agree with everyone else in your case. Take this time to get even better at playing and by the time it comes around to your turn to be the bassist, you'll be able to wow everybody.