JSU vs FAMU High School Summer Band Camps


Who has best High School Summer Band Camp

  • JSU

  • FAMU

  • Prairie View


Results are only viewable after voting.

mastermind2

New Member
My daughter is interested in attending an HBCU Summer Band Camp this summer. I saw ones offered by Jackson State, FAMU, and Prairie View.

Anyone attending these schools have any thoughts recommendations on the best one. Just a bit of research I've done on the "Best Bands".. Seems like The Boom ranks higher in the polls than any others. Marching 100 doesn't seem to be ranking all that well, but I know they had a history of being one of the best bands on the field in their day.

Southern appears to be a very popular band, but I don't think they have a HS program..

My daughter plays Quints and is looking to a great HBCU Black Band experience (her HS is NOT a black high school so she's looking to get some Black Band experience lol) but also good musicianship skills and practice..

Your feedback would be helpful before we sign up

Thanks
 
SU does have a yearly summer camp for 7th-12th grade. We had over 500 campers at last year's camp. Out of the ones you put down, FAMU is by far the best high school camp. JSU and PV are solid programs, but they just recently started hosting camps. FAMU's camp has been going strong for at least a decade.
 
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SU does have a yearly summer camp for 7th-12th grade. We had over 500 campers at last year's camp. Out of the ones you put down, FAMU is by far the best high school camp. JSU and PV are solid programs, but they just recently started hosting camps. FAMU's camp has been going strong for at least a decade.

Thanks for your response. I'll look for SU's as well. I appreciate the nod for FAMU. I thought the same, that they have had a long history with there camp. But then my research into who the current favored bands are FAMU seems to have gone downhill significantly so I was almost ready to rule them out. We thought about sending her to both FAMU and JSU to get both experiences. But wondering if that would be redundant.
 
SU does have a yearly summer camp for 7th-12th grade. We had over 500 campers at last year's camp. Out of the ones you put down, FAMU is by far the best high school camp. JSU and PV are solid programs, but they just recently started hosting camps. FAMU's camp has been going strong for at least a decade.

How would you rank SU's camp and overall band against JSU or FAMU..
 
Thanks I have already seen these, but didn't have anything to really compare it to.

Honestly, doesn't really matter which camp you send your daughter to as long as it's an HBCU. All bring different things to the table and teach in different ways so no matter what you choose it'll be all worth it for your daughter. I think it would be better to let her choose instead and depending on her grade she can choose a different HS Band camp next year and get a different experience. You really aren't going to get a solid answer from anyone on who has the best band camp aside from people being biased, including myself lol. It's all up to you and your daughter.
 
How would you rank SU's camp and overall band against JSU or FAMU..
It depends on what you are looking for. I think all 3 would be great choices. Only issue with our camp might be the fact that we don't have quads and quints in our marching band drum section, while the other bands do. I want to say we're the only HBCU band that doesn't use them. We've had quads and quints at the summer band camp before, but that might factor into your decision some.

SU, JSU, and FAMU are pretty much recognized as the best of the best when it comes to HBCU bands. You put me in the hot seat by asking me to compare my alma mater and former band to our two biggest and most hated rivals. All 3 are great at what they do.
 
Honestly, doesn't really matter which camp you send your daughter to as long as it's an HBCU. All bring different things to the table and teach in different ways so no matter what you choose it'll be all worth it for your daughter. I think it would be better to let her choose instead and depending on her grade she can choose a different HS Band camp next year and get a different experience. You really aren't going to get a solid answer from anyone on who has the best band camp aside from people being biased, including myself lol. It's all up to you and your daughter.
Yes, there's a limit to how much nice stuff I can say about Jackson State and FAMU without getting sick. lol
 
It depends on what you are looking for. I think all 3 would be great choices. Only issue with our camp might be the fact that we don't have quads and quints in our marching band drum section, while the other bands do. I want to say we're the only HBCU band that doesn't use them. We've had quads and quints at the summer band camp before, but that might factor into your decision some.

SU, JSU, and FAMU are pretty much recognized as the best of the best when it comes to HBCU bands. You put me in the hot seat by asking me to compare my alma mater and former band to our two biggest and most hated rivals. All 3 are great at what they do.

Thanks. this does help. I was thinking that one of them didn't have Quads and Quints but could remember which one. So that may role out SU. Even though seeing that at Bayou Classic she really SU. But she could only compare them to Grambling, which at the Classic wasn't so hot.
 
Well I'll say if you send her to JSU, she'll be in great hands as far as being taken care of. The band director was my high school director and he was a no non sense type of guy. Taught us more discipline than any black high school band in Jackson. I'll admit I even tried to haze, he nipped that in the bud quickly but professionally. It was more of a father figure type leadership he provided rather than just being the boss of his own band. My high school was a hood school but the bands attitude and discipline level didn't match the school honestly. He took a hood band before he got there, all the way to state competition and placed "2" his first year doing so which is great. The rankings were. 1,2,3,4, with 1 being the highest and the good news for your daughter is he played snare so you can imagine the percussion section did received the ranking of "1" which was superior. Mr little took pride in his organization having more academic acalades than any other on campus. He loved to hear his band students being raved about for scoring the highest on test, running for mr and miss, winning Sga elections and etc.That was just the type leader he was. At the end of the day he made sure all 8 of his seniors had a scholarship somewhere and we did. So like I said your daughter will be in good hands at JSU. His theme was, come in play your horn and go home and that's exactly what we did. I'm not downing any of the other schools because I Dnt know anything about there program, but I do know about This one.
 
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My daughter is interested in attending an HBCU Summer Band Camp this summer. I saw ones offered by Jackson State, FAMU, and Prairie View.

Anyone attending these schools have any thoughts recommendations on the best one. Just a bit of research I've done on the "Best Bands".. Seems like The Boom ranks higher in the polls than any others. Marching 100 doesn't seem to be ranking all that well, but I know they had a history of being one of the best bands on the field in their day.

Southern appears to be a very popular band, but I don't think they have a HS program..

My daughter plays Quints and is looking to a great HBCU Black Band experience (her HS is NOT a black high school so she's looking to get some Black Band experience lol) but also good musicianship skills and practice..

Your feedback would be helpful before we sign up

Thanks


When selecting a college band camp, you need to research the Band Director and their professional conduct and behavior.
 
Well I'll say if you send her to JSU, she'll be in great hands as far as being taken care of. The band director was my high school director and he was a no non sense type of guy. Taught us more discipline than any black high school band in Jackson. I'll admit I even tried to haze, he nipped that in the bud quickly but professionally. It was more of a father figure type leadership he provided rather than just being the boss of his own band. My high school was a hood school but the bands attitude and discipline level didn't match the school honestly. He took a hood band before he got there, all the way to state competition and placed "2" his first year doing so which is great. The rankings were. 1,2,3,4, with 1 being the highest and the good news for your daughter is he played snare so you can imagine the percussion section did received the ranking of "1" which was superior. Mr little took pride in his organization having more academic acalades than any other on campus. He loved to hear his band students being raved about for scoring the highest on test, running for mr and miss, winning Sga elections and etc.That was just the type leader he was. At the end of the day he made sure all 8 of his seniors had a scholarship somewhere and we did. So like I said your daughter will be in good hands at JSU. His theme was, come in play your horn and go home and that's exactly what we did. I'm not downing any of the other schools because I Dnt know anything about there program, but I do know about This one.


Good stuff.. The hazing incident that occurred at FAMU couple years ago initially had me rule out FAMU. But I emailed both Band Directors and they assured they never had a problem with High School Camps and hazing. Might I expect hazing to occur toward high school students at any location?
 
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Good enough.. The hazing incident that occurred at FAMU couple years ago initially had me rule out FAMU. But I emailed both Band Directors and they assured they never had a problem with High School Camps and hazing. Might I expect hazing to occur toward high school students at any location?
My guy honestly you'll just have to take a pick my friend. At any school you only can pray for the best. It's hard to make a promise with the way kids are now a days whether at an hbcu or even PWI. I Dnt mean any harm but if your that worried then she might need to just wait till she attends a particular Univeristy for official enrollment. I mean it's high school band camp. She can only choose one and pray for the best honestly.
 
Good stuff.. The hazing incident that occurred at FAMU couple years ago initially had me rule out FAMU. But I emailed both Band Directors and they assured they never had a problem with High School Camps and hazing. Might I expect hazing to occur toward high school students at any location?
I seriously doubt you would have to worry about that at any camp because they're only there for a week and the directors are going above and beyond to make sure they have a fun, but safe experience.
 
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When selecting a college band camp, you need to research the Band Director and their professional conduct and behavior.
The band directors at SU, JSU, and FAMU all are well-respected leaders and know what they're doing.
 
Thanks for all the good feedback. As of now she is registered to attend both JSU and FAMU. Heck she don't have much else to do might as well get some extra practice in. Appreciate the information
 
SU does have a yearly summer camp for 7th-12th grade. We had over 500 campers at last year's camp. Out of the ones you put down, FAMU is by far the best high school camp. JSU and PV are solid programs, but they just recently started hosting camps. FAMU's camp has been going strong for at least a decade.

Correction...FAMU's band camp has been going on for well over two decades....FAMU's first band camp was in 1990. However, there is a history lesson to be learned. FAMU WAS NOT THE FIRST HBCU TO incorporate THE 1st EVER HIGH SCHOOL BAND CAMP. The 1st ever high school summer band camp goes to those Mighty Marching Hornets from Alabama State....I attended Bama State's band camp in 1988....but Famu got the idea from Bama State......
 
I know GSU and SU been having 400+ the last few years. But it's about pricing too...or. Where the child wants to attend...just because a camp is popular doesn't mean it's right for him or her look at different clips and see.
 
In looking at a lot of videos on youtube from last years camps and performances, she didn't like FAMU's sound that came from that band during their field performance. She liked JSU and SU, but the downside to SU is they don't have quints / quads. Really liked the SU video and focus on discipline. Now, they will accept her for summer camp, but she will likely be the only one there. There was one quint player last year. She don't want to be the only quint player in camp, partly so there are others there she can learn with and from instead of being solo. And I'm not sure how much "instruction" she will get on quints since it's not part of the typical SU drum line.

JSU had 4-5 quint players last year in the video. They also have the Independence Day Battle of Bands going on they can attend which is nice little extra for fun. I don't think SU attends that, at least they didn't last year. JSU's camp is also 1 day longer. More for the money I guess. LOL. .Both are same cost.. FAMU is much more expensive for some reason.

In general SU did a much better job at marketing it's program. The video is high quality and I would want to go there just on the video alone. I wish all of these schools would do a better job at marketing and providing some high quality footage and what camps are like.
 
I believe last year was FAMU's first high school band camp in about 4 years...it's regaining it's footing

I do think that she will enjoy herself no matter what camp she attends. Each camp will provide a different experience which I think will be more beneficial for her in the long run
 
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