Yay, a female tuba (I assume?)! Welcome. You are in for an incredibly fun ride full of sweaty days, small crowds in the Superdome, huge crowds during Mardi Gras, dancing, great company, and more dancing. As far as college marching bands go, we're on the smallish side (less than 100), but we're a growing program and our future is bright.

Band camp is tough, but the benefits far outweigh the grime, sweat, and turf turds. And, speaking from brief experience, band camps get successively easier each year. The heat and humidity will get to you at first -- make sure to bring sunscreen and bug spray. Drink lots of water and Powerade/Gatorade (bring a water bottle every day; we'll have coolers of water and Gatorade on the field with us) and be ready to give up soda for the week. IMO, mornings are the worst because we do basics on one of the grass quads ("Okay, guys, let's learn how to march forwards..."), but afterwards we'll move to a turf quad to start setting drill. We start off learning the pre-game routine; it's my understanding that it's changing around a bit this year, but hopefully we'll keep the run (see ~0:30 in that video)!

After learning pre-game, we'll start working on our shows. We're doing three this year. As a clarinet (who's often relegated to playing the "guitar parts" of songs), even I'm ridiculously excited for what Mark, Barry, Mendel, and the rest of the staff have planned.

Come to band camp with a good grasp of your music (better yet, come with it memorized and make the directors happy). Your section leader will be in contact with you over the summer and he'll point you in the right direction of which music is priority.

Honestly, my best friends here at Tulane are the people I met at band camp freshman year. We're all in band because we love what we do. There's nothing like seeing each other covered in sweat and dirt to bring everyone together. You will learn to love everyone for their quirks and innate ability to make you smile when all you're ready to do is collapse on your bed.

You're coming into the program at a great time because you're getting the best of both worlds -- you get to march in the air-conditioned Superdome (which unfortunately sucks up all of our sound), but you'll also get to be a part of the first group to march in the new on-campus stadium. I'm actually really jealous, but I digress.

If you have any more questions, feel free to message me. I look forward to meeting you in August! (And sorry for the wall of text...)