Falcon Marching Band Drumline

Thanks for your interest in joining the FMB Drumline! The FMB is the largest student organization on campus, and we have a lot of activities coming up for the 2024-2025 school year. We will be traveling to Penn State for the away game and performing in the second largest stadium in the country! We will also travel to Toledo for our rivalry game with them, and then in the Spring we will be traveling to Dublin, Ireland to perform in the St. Patrick's Day Parade! This past year was the 100^th anniversary of the Falcon Marching Band, and the largest marching band in BGSU's history. We're expecting an even bigger band this year!

General Information

Auditions will be held June 8-9 at BGSU in the Moore Musical Arts Center. You must audition in order to be in the drumline! The audition will be in two parts, an individual audition and a group audition. These two different parts will happen on different days. The auditions will be judged by a panel, and results will be posted at the end of the audition on June 9.

The drumline consists of up to 10 snares, 6 basses, 5 tenors, and 10 cymbals. Actual numbers can fluctuate from time to time and will be based on needs of the band. We use Pearl drums and Zildjian cymbals. We play traditional grip on snare and tilt the drums. The tenors are 6,8,10,12,13,14. Basses range in size from 18"-28". We use 3 sizes of cymbals, 16,18,20.

You will receive a link to the audition material after you fill out this form. I will use the email you give me in this form to contact you with additional information, so make sure that you use an email you will check! There will be several updates as we get closer to the audition.

You will begin your audition on the primary instrument of your choice, meaning that if your top choice is snare, you will play the snare audition music in your individual audition. During the individual audition, you may be asked to play something from your second-choice instrument as well. In the group audition you should expect to move around onto other instruments as necessary. Please be prepared to play music from both your first and second choice. While it is possible to be moved to every instrument, you should primarily prepare for your top two choices.

This year we will be providing housing and meals for auditionees. Housing will be in dorms on campus and will have two people in each room. If you would like to make separate arrangements, that's no problem, just indicate that you don't need housing on the form. We will be finalizing both housing and dietary information for everyone closer to the audition.

There are a few other important things to keep in mind for the audition process. First, we have approximately 30 open spots in the drumline. Vets are not guaranteed spots on the drumline. Second, we are always looking for tenor players. Historically, the tenors have the fewest auditions, so keep that in mind, and share the drumline audition information with all of your tenor buddies! Third, If you absolutely cannot attend the in-person audition but would still like to be part of the drumline, please contact me.

Individual Auditions

The individual auditions will take place on June 8. You are expected to attend the entire day, even though your time with the audition panel is limited. Auditions will be grouped by instrument. On the individual audition day, we will have rooms dedicated to warming up and practicing on each instrument, and you will only need to bring sticks and music. Mallets for bass drum, cymbals, and all drums are provided. If you would like to bring your own equipment, that is acceptable as well.  

At your audition time, you will come to the designated room, and play for the audition panel. This audition should last about 10 minutes.

During the individual audition day we will have additional activities that we hope you participate in as well. Last year we had a slack line, a room with video games, and a few other activities going on throughout the day, ending with a movie night. We highly encourage you to get to know the other participants in the audition and spend some time hanging out with everyone. The Falcon Marching Band and the drumline in particular place a high value on community, and we're eager to get to know everyone! 

Group Auditions

Group auditions will be held on the 9th. During this part of the process we will be playing parts of the audition music as a group, either by instrument or as a whole. This will allow us to see how you perform as part of a section instead of just individually. This process can move quickly or take a long time, and is highly dependent on the group of people who come in. Some people will have a lot of attention and be tried in multiple places, others may not move at all. Our goal with the group audition is to find the best ensemble we can, and we're not looking at your individual playing, but how well you fit in. In other words, if you're moved around a lot, that's not a reflection on you or your playing, and the same is true if you aren't moved at all.

The group audition will take place outside (weather permitting).

The Falcon Marching Band rehearses Monday-Friday from 4-5:45. The drumline will have a sectional during that time, with occasional rehearsals outside of normal band rehearsal. We perform at all home football games (typically 6), and some other athletic events in the fall, including sports like soccer and volleyball. The band will typically travel to one away game a season, as well as to a bowl game if the football team is eligible. The marching band also has several additional performances every semester which can range from performing at band shows or competitions, professional sporting events, parades, and more.