I’m trying to find pieces similar to Murray Gusseck’s double beat 2004/9000. Besides his stuff, I’ve thought about Latin lover, pulse/broken city/bluecoats etudes, etc. Any other ideas for pieces that would be in the same realm?

Hello! I'm only 5''1 and we have members as short as 4"5 or such (lil' bro is unfortunate I know) and we have raised the harness as high as it possibly can and it is still in the middle of my thigh.

We are on a tight budget and cannot get any more harnesses. We have both old and newer harnesses of theirs; ones with whale tails and the olders without. I switched to the old one due to it forcing my back into a horrible position already.

I talked to my band director and he won't get smaller ones and won't allow me to take it home to try and cut it up and reweld it to fix it. We've meangled different harnesses together before so that's an option?

I just want to know if I can make it shorter because marching forward is insanely difficult to do with proper technique. I kinda have to penguin walk, especially since it digs into my thigs and leaves disgustingly coloured bruises... only to dig into them the next day.

Honestly I'm not too opposed to buying my own harness at this point, however it would take a lot of saving up as I don't want to bother my mum with the cost. So if I must I'd wanna know the highest quality smaller bass harness for the lowest cost within reasonable range.

Thanks!

I've been trying to use the back of my hand more to improve sound quality and control. When I play rolls it's especially bad, only pinching the fulcrum. Does anyone know of videos teaching the back fulcrum technique? I can only find demonstrations of the drumset finger stroke stuff. Thanks!

I have been teaching drums for over a decade and have not run in to this problem before.

I have gone as slow as I could with all the tricks but there seems to be an awareness issue with what their hands are doing even though we are in front of mirrors often. I know it’s stemming from their basic stroke technique too.

Emphasized importance of full strokes at the bigger height, push pull, make the 2nd note higher, different pressures, and then also 2 notes for one motion at the fast tempos. I’ve also given them double stroke video lessons from Vic Firth and the Quad Method.

One student opens his hands every note as soon as he tries to add double strokes. The other students hand looks good but is just tense enough to not keep up.

There has been minimal improvement since band camp. Anything else I can do?

I'm the center marimba. My percussion director is a SCV alum, and he isn't really too worried about pulsing. On the other hand, one of my former upperclassmen preaches pulsing and playing like the Bluecoats. Are there any clear benefits to doing it or not? I personally like it because it looks better when the pit is pulsing.

I’m a high school percussionist, and I recently had an issue with my percussion instructor over traditional vs. matched grip. I want to be clear from the beginning: I accept that what I did was wrong, and I’m not trying to argue that the rule should be changed. What is bothering me is how the situation is being characterized and whether the expectation was actually communicated to me as clearly as it is being described now.

In our percussion program, matched grip is the standard. I understood that. My instructor had encouraged/reminded us to use matched grip, and I understood that matched grip was expected, particularly in actual performance settings.
We had an event for incoming students where we played some cadences as a way of welcoming them. It was not something I understood as a formal performance where we were being scored, recorded, or evaluated. I viewed it as a more casual opportunity to play and welcome people, so when another experienced percussionist, my section leader who has closer conversations with my instructor, asked me if we were using traditional grip, I said yes, as I genuinely thought that meant it was an option in that particular setting.

We used traditional grip.

Afterward, my instructor addressed it with us. I apologized, and later that night, emailed her explaining that we genuinely didn’t realize the matched-grip expectation applied to this situation. I also explained that we weren’t trying to openly disregard her or the way the program teaches percussion, and that I understand now that even though the event felt casual to us, we were still representing the percussion program, and I understand why the program’s expectations apply in that setting.

I’m completely willing to accept accountability here. If the response had been, “You should have asked me if you weren’t sure whether the expectation applied,” I would have accepted that. If it had been, “Now you know, so don’t do it again,” I would have accepted that too. If it had been both, that’s completely fair.

What is bothering me is this sentence from her response:

“What I do have an issue with is making the decision to use it after I have explicitly told the group and made it clear that traditional grip is not something we are doing in this program.”

That’s where I feel like the scope of the situation is being characterized differently from how I experienced it.

Before this incident, I don’t remember her explicitly telling me that matched grip was required at every percussion group event, including casual or informal settings. My understanding was that matched grip was the program standard, and I had received reminders/nudges toward using it, particularly in performance settings. The broader “any time we’re representing the program, regardless of whether it’s formal or casual” expectation was not something I personally understood.

That distinction matters to me because if I had known that was the expectation, I would not have used traditional grip. If the other percussionist involved had already known that and told me, I also would have used matched grip and discouraged him from using traditional.

I’m not saying, “I didn’t know, therefore I shouldn’t be held accountable.”

I’m saying, “I didn’t know, therefore that is relevant context for why I made the wrong decision.”

My instructor also said she had explained her reasoning for matched grip “multiple times.” That may be true in general, and she may have explained more of it to the other percussionist involved, but I genuinely don’t remember being told that the expectation applied to every group setting in the broader sense she described.

What also frustrated me was that in my explanation to her, I explicitly said:

“I’m not saying this to argue against matched grip being the standard at [our school]. I understand why it is, and I respect that.”

I also explained that I was trying to give context for why we made the decision, not argue that the decision was correct.

Her response was that she didn’t think “continuing to debate the merits of traditional versus matched grip” was productive and that the expectation wasn’t up for individual interpretation.

I don’t understand why my explanation was interpreted as trying to debate the rule when I explicitly said that wasn’t what I was doing.

So I guess my question is: Am I being unreasonable for thinking that the distinction between “I knowingly disregarded an expectation” and “I misunderstood whether the expectation applied to this specific situation” is relevant, even while fully accepting that the decision itself was wrong?

I’m not asking whether the grip rule should change. I understand the rule now and won’t repeat this. I’m asking whether the context behind the mistake is reasonably relevant when discussing why it happened.

Edit: My post says this multiple times, but I’ll clarify it one last time. I am not asking if I was wrong in this situation, nor if I should be excused. I would be annoyed at me too. I am simply asking if me not having that understanding prior to and during the performance is relevant when explaining what happened.

The other experienced player has more conversations with staff with me and is an actual section leader, so when he asked me if I wanted to use traditional grip, I thought it was a genuine option and said yes. I know the grip and feel comfortable using it from lessons and going to multiple auditions.

I know they’re unreliable but I’ve been trying to get my hands on a low profile for a while now and the prices are soooo tempting. Should I take the risk, and if not, any suggestions on where else I might be able to find one?

Edit: why are we flaming someone for asking a genuine question? I get it, they’re still shit.

One of the requirements for a wgi group I'm auditioning for is to bring a short piece that "showcases my talents." This is the first time I've come across something like this for an audition and I'm not quite sure what they really want. Should I prepare a wgi/dci lick, find a marching snare etude, or write my own piece? Any advice is appreciated.

I’ve been seeing a lot of his videos and I love the way his pad sounds but I can’t find it anywhere for the life of me, does anyone know where I can find it?

im in my high school band and i am having a lot of trouble marching on time. If i focus on my feet too much i just play wrong and if i focus on playing i get off time after a couple steps. Im on tenors this year tho ive not played them before. Any advice appreciated

Hello drummers. I march snare for my high school drumline and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for good quality (but preferably not super expensive) earplugs/general hearing protection. My school provides those little orange and blue earplugs but those get annoying and I’d rather something reusable that I can bring with me. I was looking at the Vic Firth over the ear headphone looking ones but I think they may be a little too bulky for me. I’ll keep looking and update you guys on my findings. It’s not hard to find good earplugs so I guess I’m looking for brand suggestions and what I should be looking for in earplugs as a marching snare drummer. Thank you!!

EDIT: Guys Im not gonna wear big ahh over the ear headphones during a show 😭😭 Mb I should have specified that the over the ear ones were for off the field but damn.

I'm a self taught tenor player and just play for fun in my university pep band. I've noticed that as long as I'm careful with my notation and put double bounces in the right place I greatly reduce and sometimes even eliminate the need to crossover. This brings me to ask if crossovers are purely for show or if there's a reason to do them.

My band director wants me to come up with visuals for our drumline, specifically more movement focused (no stick tricks). I would really appreciate any ideas, because I can’t really think of anything.

Got music for the ballad for my high school marching band show the other day. I personally love ballad beats and I'm loving how this chunk feels. Thoughts, questions, etc?

The dynamics are written for playback in the video, not to look nice. I promise I know how accents and crescendos work lol.

So the belly plate on matching harness, where of your body should they be at?
Currently mine is covering my hip bones and when I walk high steps they slightly restrict my thighs
so I’m wondering where should be the standard line like if the bottom of the plate should be at/above waist level or smth

I just got marching sticks and want to know if my vater practice pad is good to practice if I wanna join drumline

can you guys recognize my influences?

Hey everyone, I’m trying to figure out how I can add some sweeps to this. Specifically mesures 2 and 6. I’m looking for something that fits naturally with the existing phrase, but i do understand if some of the drums needs to be chnaged to accomplish this.

If anyone has ideas for where I could add sweeps or what sticking you would recommend, I’d really appreciate it! I’m specifically looking for something that would sound clean but adding something instrestring to a boring part of a cadence we have! Thank you!

Also, please ignore my terrible notation, i only know this cadence by ear and have never used this program before!

Hi all,

I'm a music student studying to be a percussion educator. My heart lies in battery drumline, but my goal this year is to become a stronger mallet player and to develop more of an appreciation for marimba. I'd like to get to the point where it's more fun and not such a drain on my self-esteem; I have an enormous skill gap between non-pitched and pitched instruments.

My question is:

What are some of y'all's favorite marimba solos, features, ensembles, performers? I'd love to see some performances that just really grabbed you, stopped you in your tracks and made you fall in love with marimba.