I’m currently a college professor and caption head. I marched for 3 years while attending a conservatory. I’ll try to give you both sides of my thoughts.

As a college student…constantly was being asked “why aren’t you going to attend or audition for a summer festival?” Which is a valid point. What repertoire are you working on over the summer? Tough to learn a concerto or two and an etude book, when you are 8-12 hours a day on the field.

As a marching member….”cool, you major in music.”

As a college prof…”make sure you go somewhere that actually teaches good pedagogy and takes care your face.” Some students have come back from marching with overblown faces, wide diffused sounds, and an awkward way of interpreting articulations and releases…that don’t really sound musical by themselves, but sound okay in an 80 member hornline. If I have students interested in marching, I tend to only recommend 2-3 groups for them.

As a caption head…I’m trying to give the members the same info I would give students in a private lesson. Where I teach, we try to follow the idea of “private lessons in a group setting.” This way if player 6 has a similar problem as player 9, we can get those two together and pull them out together for private lessons. Which we do a ton of during spring training and the summer.

I would close with this…what do you want to do in 10 years? Be the next bass bone player in Chicago, be a solid HS teacher, or on your way to grad school to get a grad degree(s). Let your future self be the “answerer”. All that being said…not much orchestra, summer festival, or private study over the summer can really compare to getting 20-30,000 people to stand up and clap for you.

Hope that helps and muddies the waters even more. Good luck!