DL fees

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Teever
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Post by Teever » Thu Dec 04, 2003 11:49 pm

"...our band program gives us instruments only..."

Hmm, let's see, that's

(at least)3 snare drums at $300 each ($900)
a coupla' tenors at $500 a set ($1,000)
4 or more basses at $250 a pop ($1,000)
a coupla pairs of cymbals @ $250 ea ($500)
1 Marimba @ $4,600 ($4,600)
1 Vibrahone @ $3,600 ($3,600)
1 Xylophone @ $2,000 ($2,000)
1 set of concert bells @ $700 ($700)
Set of 4 Timpani ($10,000)
Chimes ($4,000)
Various suspended cymbals w/stands ($1,000)
Replacing heads ($500) (battery only)
Misc. Mallets/beaters ($300)
Misc. accessories ($200)

That's somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,300.00 for about 20 students (aww gee, you made me do math an everything!).
Yeah, they don't support you much.

An' Greg shouldn't be spending his hard earned dough on your props & stuff - sets a bad precedent and people get used to it. Hafta go an' kick that boy in the head, unless he wants to spread it around here some.

Try getting your ASB to cough up a few bucks, even, and see what your drama dept. costuming cache turns up. Or, check out some local places that might be able to contribute either cash or materials towards costuming/props. We had a lumber store donate pit cart materials one year, and those lasted a long time. Other lines have had entire costuming donated through various sports suppliers - depends on what you need. Start with merchants & companies that are in your community & closest to the school - Fullerton's got a lotta stuff around. Good luck!

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Spyder
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Post by Spyder » Fri Dec 05, 2003 8:32 am

The only fee our line has is paying for the costumes, because some of the parents make them and put alot of time into it. we dont have an instructor, so other than the little 20 dollar costume fee to our fabulous parents.... why would you have to pay to play drums????? Alot of schools do, but I really dont think it's worth it
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Post by ChaoSnare » Fri Dec 05, 2003 7:47 pm

well, last year the cost for drumline was 250-300, this year it's $500- w/out fundraising. The reason it's so expensive this year is because we're competing in three different organizations (ADLA, SCPA, and WGI) and the regional for WGI (Vegas) is definitely adding to our cost because our school district doesn't pay for transportation out of the state and we need someplace to sleep and eat. Not to mention the actual cost of registration. Plus we're paying for any new heads we recieve, some of the best instruction we can get(yay! go Karl and Carlos!), and whole buncha other stuff. However, our band boosters are kind enough to help us w/ our fundraising and we're also doing See's candy sales and (maybe) car washes. yup...but 3000 for ayala?! shiznak that's mad insane....

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Post by DanielE » Fri Dec 05, 2003 8:00 pm

Spyder wrote:The only fee our line has is paying for the costumes, because some of the parents make them and put alot of time into it. we dont have an instructor, so other than the little 20 dollar costume fee to our fabulous parents.... why would you have to pay to play drums????? Alot of schools do, but I really dont think it's worth it
Hmmmm....so what your saying is that if you had to pay a fee, you wouldn't be on drumline? I'm sorry sir, but that is pathetic...you must really not like drumming to much....
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Post by Spyder » Sat Dec 06, 2003 5:28 pm

Excuse me, what I am saying is that paying a large amount of money should not stop someone from playing in drumline. I do not appreciate your little comment, and I'm letting the whole world see it for you. Of course during band season we have to pay our fees, but having to pay to be in drumline (besides props and costumes and sticks and what have you) is a stupid thing. UNLESS you do not have band boosters that pay for the entry fees. That is my point of view. And by the way, i said its not worth it, i never said i still wouldnt do it.
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Post by Teever » Sat Dec 06, 2003 11:31 pm

Spyder, I think you might be missing the point many others here are making, besides Daniel. You point out that paying to play in a [hs] drum line is stupid, which I don't think anyone here would necessarily argue with, but that's not the situation they're describing. You also mentioned that your line doesn't have an instructor, so I'll brief you on the financial picture others face - $400 - $600 a month for these guys (some of them year-round). I don't know how your local circuit runs up north, but many lines will pay anywhere from $150 a show to $500 a season in entry fees alone for various local and regional circuits. In the case of many booster organizations, they won't pay for "offshoot" groups, such as drum line or gaurd, out of funds raised by all band members. Some will.

So, the main point made here is that to enter a competetive drumline circuit can be costly, and many schools are now asking those who actually participate to pick up a larger share of the costs. Fair or not, that's what it's come to.

Btw - how do you guys do in the winter/spring with no instructor? - must have have some strong leaders!

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drumline fees, etc.

Post by old double reeder » Sun Dec 07, 2003 1:17 pm

Here's from the side of a band booster - at our school, we spend the most money on drumline and guard. This year is the first time we've ever charged a fee to those groups for second semester participation - to participate in a sport at our school is $100; we're only charging $50.

I know for guard, 12 students made the team, our circuit fees were $350, so we have $250 left for props, flags...not much. Our parents must transport because our district does not pay for buses, other than to school sponsored events. That $250 will not go very far.

Drumline - we've already paid out $450 (?) for circuit fees, we're commited to $400 monthly instructor fees for 10 months, and parents will be transporting to the competitions. I don't even know how many students are planning on being in drumline - that's coming soon.

Band boosters arrange an awful lot of fundraising - the money never goes far enough. That's just a fact of life across the board. An observation at most schools is a lot of parents would rather pay a fee...than physically help the program. I have an awesome group of parents who help...(and our booster club is ALL music - vocal, orchestra, band, guard, and drumline) but the fact is, there are many, many parents who NEVER help or even come see their child perform.

The fees the students pay are vital to a program - I'm all in favor of keeping it reasonable...but there are days that I would gladly pay major $ if my children could be a part of a world ranked organization. In an ideal situation, all schools would have enough money to fund all programs...but that change generally needs to happen at the state level - and that takes time.

Stepping off my little soapbox...
Kerri
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La Quinta (Orange County) High School

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Teever
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Post by Teever » Tue Dec 09, 2003 11:08 pm

Right on Kerri! Thanks for your time...and your bread.

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Whoa Teever

Post by ILL~BE~BACH » Fri Dec 12, 2003 4:42 pm

To back up Spyder, even though we don't get along, I can't see why you guys are bagging on him. Our DL wins everything without an instructor. They're dedicated and love what they do. They practice 24/7/365. We only pay $20. If we payed $300 we wouldn't have a DL, those guys don't have that much money. 2 of our dude's houses went up in flames last year. As a band, we struggle to get by with what we have, but by God we don't let people get us down because of it. The comps that we go to are costly. What's the most expensive is the travel. No one should have to pay an extreme amount of money to play at a couple of comps. Our boosters do their best to help and so do the wonderful parents, without having to send a bunch of kids away just because they don't have money.
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Our Fee

Post by rockinfernie » Fri Dec 12, 2003 5:31 pm

our fee is about $350 this year... we are very very poor, it is sad that our school doesn't fund any of our band programs, but our boosters really help out with the cash, and we do have to fund raise like hell. The San Marcos Percussive Theather (drum line) fee is like $1500, but those cats fund raise like mad and get donations, all the props to them, they are awesome
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To: QuiksilverDude17

Post by Wannabedrummer03 » Fri Dec 12, 2003 6:00 pm

Oh that's so sad. Why doesn't you're school do like fundraisers for the people that can't afford it?? Like script, car wash, candy bars, anything. I hate to hear about people who can't do band because of the money. It makes me so sad. :cry: Drumline is cheaper than it usually is this year since WGI champs are in our backyard.
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amazement

Post by triplettDIDDLE » Fri Dec 12, 2003 7:46 pm

i will now astonish you all with this figure.... my school, hawthorne, charges no seperate fees for field show season and indoor season, its all included in one annual fee of $80 for a rookie or $40 for a vet

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Teever
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Post by Teever » Fri Dec 12, 2003 10:56 pm

ILL BE BACH - More power to you guys who can do what you do without paying a lot of fees. Having taught in a highly economically impacted area for a while, I know how hard it can be on some members. It sounds like you have a good support program in place for the level of participation you wish to attain - good luck!

TriplettDIDDLE - At last, someone from Hawthorne who seems to know how to use the caps key!!! All kidding aside, your fee system sounds pretty reasonable for local competition - how do you handle travel?

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more crazyness...

Post by triplettDIDDLE » Sat Dec 13, 2003 1:07 pm

our schoolboard is actually pretty cool about paying for a lot of things, they pay for mostly everything, but our band director has been known to pitch in a lot of money, i know that his parents pay a lot of our fees also, i think he spent something like $7000 on our trip to San Francisco last season, I don't really remember how much he paid on our trip to Las Vegas, we still opperate on a budget like everyone else though, so once that runs out, i guess the seasons over unless we get really big donations

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Post by Teever » Sat Dec 13, 2003 10:22 pm

Lol diddle, bet he's single.

I had thought for some reason that Hawthorne was an LA Unified school - but you're not - what district are you in?

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