So this years marching season has ended, I played 5th bass(we placed 2nd out of 30 at MSBA finals btw :)). Well most of our basses are graduating and our instructor wants me to be 1st or 2nd bass. I'd much rather play tenors, but he says i'm needed on bass more to beat the freshman line into shape. what should I do?

Assuming your instructor is familiar with your playing and personality, you've talked this over with him, and he still thinks you're a bigger asset to the ensemble as a member of the bass line...

Play bass and kick ***.

Congrats on 2nd at MSBA. The circuit is becoming more and more competitive every year. We placed 17th in AAA, but we were competing up a class. We had our best run of the show, and percussion scored in box 4, so I am pretty happy.

What makes a bass line great is having leadership. You need somebody on 2nd bass who is a great player, knows what he is doing, can lead sectionals if you don't have a bass tech, and can help the younger members of the line improve. Our bass line had 2 middle school students and a non-percussionist on it, but was one of the best sections of the band thanks to a senior percussionist's leadership.

If you go play tenors and the entire bass line is inexperienced and struggling, you may find yourself frustrated late in the season that your battery is underachieving.

I haven't talked to him all that much, but I do not think I'm a very good bass drummer, I'd much rather play tenors because I just don't have the same feeling with bass.

great job dgaking! we are AA, scored box 5 for percussion, I think our overall score was 77.5.

AA full recaps are here: http://www.kingsmusicassociation.org/

Looking at those recaps, I'm pretty sure we would have made finals if we had been able to compete in AA. Ironically, they called and told us they had room after we had already booked our hotel and buses for AAA. I hope we'll see you guys at finals next year.

hey! i'm lasalle!

What year are you going into? If it is your senior year I would say go for tenors, however if it isn't then I would say if you really are the only person for the job to take one for the team. Just my oppinion.

junior