So this is my first year playing snare and I’m a sophomore. I’ve noticed that literally all of our songs feature just a basic two four beat with fills, and honestly it’s just really boring to play. And if our cadences don’t have hat then it’s just 16th notes with accents (our cadences are really quad heavy).

I’ve discussed this with my band director and I don’t really think he seems to care, I really want to play songs with more technique and actually on the drum head rather than the hihat the whole time. Any advice?

Hello, I’d like to ask for help/advice tunning a 28” Yamaha Field Corps bass drum. I’ve been using EMC’s guide to tune my highschool’s bass line but the 28” drum always sounds either slappy or sounds muffled. For now I’ve tuned it to a C since we all agreed it was the best sound so far but it still sounds slappy. Any advice on how to make it sound better?

I’m a bassoon major and I don’t know how to grip the stick properly please help.

Hello! I have an Innovative Percussion CP-1R pad (black, rubber pad).

In the past, I used Windex to clean my pad. However, I realize that could be harmful to the pad.

If Windex is harmful to the pad, is there anything I can do to repair the damage I might’ve done? And in the future, how should I clean and take care of my pad? Are there any cleaners I should avoid? Etc.

Thanks so much!

I

I am trying to teach a friend traditional grip, and he is, well let's just say he is trying. Another friend of mine tried teaching him, but I don't know how well that really went. It looks to me like he is sort of cupping the stick and isn't getting his thumb correct. I can't really explain to him how to fix it. Can somebody help me with this?

My old highschool marching directors reached out to me and asked if I wanted to come be the drumline tech next marching season. The issue is, I graduated 6 years ago and I have not kept up at all with practicing…so as much as I would maybe like to, I don’t think it’s in the realm of possibility. I’m pretty confident with musical notation, and marching skills…I just don’t think I have the actual chops to play like I used to. And let’s say I get back into the swing of it and start practicing again, the second biggest set back is that I only hardly dabbled in snare and tenors… I always loved playing on the bass line so all my real experience is there.

I loved drumline and do miss it, so the ideas been bouncing around in my head a lot, and I would just love any advice you guys have. And don’t hold back! You can be so for real with me if you think it’s just not gonna work, thanks!!

The last joint of my right pinky finger doesn't bend for whatever reason. This makes keeping contact with the stick sort of uncomfortable because the stick is pressed right against the bone, whereas my left pinky cradles the stick with the fleshy parts of the finger. When vibrations are sent into that joint over and over it starts to get very sore and I don't wanna deal with any stress fractures or something. I know it's a pretty specific problem but if anyone has advice that would be great. I grip the stick a lot like boston so there needs to be a lot of contact between the fingers and the stick.

Im only a sophomore in high school at the moment but I want to be a battery tech after age out and I was wondering, how do I make my up the ladder?I would probably to start as a high school tech but how do you make it to DCI and WGI? Obviously people like Collin Mcutt and Pual rennick had to start somewhere y’know?

For Example:

Dynasty: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xY6MsC8FVjY

Pearl: https://pearldrum.com/products/pipe-band/pipe-band-snare-drums/medalist-pipe-snare

Pipe Band Snare: https://www.flintpercussion.co.uk/pipe-band-drums/

Is this exclusively a dynasty, pearl and scottish pipe band thing? Can someone explain the double snares and who sell them?

Thinking of getting this book for Christmas is it worth it to learn more bass stuff.

I’m solo marching quads for my schools indoor group this year and I’m using the small set of pearl drums (8, 10, 12, 13, 6, 6) and I wanna start tuning them to a specific notes but I’m not sure what scheme sounds the best for this specific set. We’re also using system blue heads. I’ll take any advice 🙏🙏

I’ve noticed that my ring in pinky finger on my left hand tend to separate from each other and not stay in contact with the stick. Does anyone have any exercises or things to focus on to work on this. Any help would be appreciated

Hello, I am a highschool Drumline member who was originally on bass then I just finished my first year on snare line for the regular marching season. Throughout the season I feel as if (my music aside) I have made little progress as a snare player, or Atleast in too inconsistent.

For example my tech’s tell me when we play triplet rolls to open up my hand more because I may crush the diddle, and sometimes they’ll tell me it sounded good but it felt exactly the same as it did when I crushed the rolls?

And the techs are good too some marched in dci, won awards, and play in college right now and all that so they know their stuff but I’m not grasping the concepts, is there something I’m missing?

But if anyone has ANY advice please, do tell, I want and NEED to be absolutely ready and consistent for winter as this is my last year.

Edit: they also say I need to play louder, not dynamic wise cause they say I’m accurate with that but just in general just need to hit it harder? Which I do notice a difference in me and the other snares. Is that just up to pure strength? I feel as if I’m playing with confidence but idk any help in that would also be appropriated.

I have problems with my traditional grip, I've been doing it for a while now and I see that I've improved, but the muscles above my wrist get tense, or I can't play for long, and my thumb comes off every time I'm playing. I hope you can help me get a good traditional grip. I will put into practice what you tell me, and I do warm-ups before playing. I feel that this makes me not advance in my rudiments and my line. Greetings to everyone.

Anyone know what sticks these are?

I was just curious as to if anyone here has used the rtom double sided pad for marching band. I like that it has the moon gel pad that gives no rebound but from looking at it doesn’t look that durable and I don’t know if it would break using marching sticks. If anyone has tried and it worked please let me know.

I’m looking for a tenor or even snare lick thats good for beginners and to have something more to learn, as i’d also like to challenge myself some.

Asides the regular towel wipe and rim polishing, what drum maintenance should be apart of the routines

not actually, but i currently suck at them. What exercises can or mentality changes can I make to make them flow easier? I feel when reading through music, for example “ InSynx 24” from the bluecoats has a moderately tricky flammy part to learn. How do i prepare so that i can prevent myself from getting overwhelmed by flams? Im still a younger drummer so i need all the tips i can get.

https://youtu.be/x1XeFzc71vA?si=L4pTO4BQdFhfr9lS

I filmed a course for a non-profit during COVID to help people who did not have access to marching snare drum instruction. It's more of a crash course because I'd have to film for years to teach everything but it is a good comprehensive start! Linked are also pdfs for all the exercises. I'd love to hear any and all feedback as I am looking into getting back into creating marching drums content. Thanks!

I gotta low tension snare and idk if i can use beefy MS, (i got srcs and dc17)

Hi all! Does anyone know if the "Quad Logic" book by Bill Bachman is available in PDF format? or digitalized at all?

Thanks!

So, as the title says I am wondering how to incorporate a motif throughout the show as something to grab onto for the audience. My instructor has given me advice to write in motifs throughout the show more. This motif specifically because in one of the scenes we play "pure imagination" which has like two very popular clear motifs. This being said I have no idea how to actually put it into the music so it doesn't sound random or like I'm obviously trying to put it in.

I've just finished my junior year (3rd year) of marching band at my high school. I've been a percussionist since the fifth grade and made the switch to drumline after being in front ensemble in my freshman year. I was center snare this year and I will be next year, as well as our band's battery captain. We're a pretty small line, just me, another snare (freshman who's likely going to be center snare after I graduate), and three bass drums (though one of them is going to front ensemble because of back issues and the other two are graduating after this year).

I've encountered a few small problems this year and I'm a little concerned about what next year holds, namely:

1. The younger snare and I are generally just a few milliseconds off from each other while we play and it leads to a flammy effect where most things we run start to sound crunchy. We don't have a dedicated percussion staff member and so none of us are quite sure how to fix this. Advice?
2. All of our bass drums (as previously mentioned) are graduating. This means our bass line is going to be composed solely of freshman. The state of music education in our district for middle schools is pretty terrible and the vast majority of percussionists simply don't get the support they need to begin high school at the appropriate performing level. We had a middle school meet'n'greet about a month ago and only two out of the ~12 middle school percussionists knew how to roll or even remotely play a drum of any kind. This worries me because we don't have an adult staff member and aren't certain if we'll have one next year, which means I'll be almost wholly responsible for whipping the freshmen into shape. Any ideas on how I can alleviate what I'd imagine is going to be a pain and hindrance to our band's competition scores, in the grand scheme of things?
3. This year, our band had no tenors. My band director (this is his second year teaching) has approached me and asked if I'd feel comfortable playing tenors, which I've never really touched. I asked him for some time to think about it. Will my experience on snare carry over to tenors significantly? Should I even attempt the switch considering the tough position I'm already slated for next year and the fact that our line would be left with the younger, somewhat less experienced snare as center snare?

I appreciate any help that anyone here can offer.

So I’m in 9th grade and ever since like 2 years ago everyone always tells me that I’m talking to loud but to me it sounds normal. My doctors have never said anything about bad hearing but it just seems to get worse and worse every year. I get told to quit yelling so often I don’t understand because I’m practically whispering. Could it be from drumline and if so what are some good earplugs you recommend that I can still hear what people are saying but it blocks the high DB

I'm wanting to get better at the tenor drums. Is there any sort of book online I can get my hands on? I'm a Junior and while my marching season just finished I want to get better. I'm considering buying Quad Logic from the man himself Bill Bachman. Just making sure there others books I should look into. If there's any other advice that would be greatly appreciated.

Im currently transcribing a snare brake and it has a bar where 1 is a diddle, e is a left back stick, &a are both left where a is a flammed back stick(sorry for the sloppy sketch)