HS Drumline manpower disbursement

[jonnyboy]

Hey, sorry for the lack of catchy title, but here it goes:

Some of the high school lines I have taught in the past have been very small......meaning 5-7 kids in the battery. I usually run 3 basses, 2 snares, 1 tenor. If I get lucky I'll run a few cymbals, but usually they aren't drummers, just kids I've recruited.

One year I decided to have 3 basses and 3 snares w/cymbals. I'm not a big fan of cymbals attached to the drums, but our jazz/rock show called for it. And to be honest, the kids weren't skilled enough to actually ram notes the whole show, so we had a lot of cool drumset rythms. Made teaching the show easier also.

Here is my question for my fellow enthusiasts: Let's say you are given 4 kids. Is it better to cover the parts? snare, tenor, bass, cymbal (one kid on each), or have higher demand? Let's say three snares and one bass drum. I know talent has a lot to do with it, but when being judged 3 snares playing together has more demand than one playing solo. Spreading the kids out over different instruments you can cover more voices, but a judge may not be able to tell if the kid is playing the music or making up the parts. (Lets be honest, we've all seen bands with one snare and one tenor that look like they are playing whatever they want)

I have been thinking about trying this over the years: If you only have 3-4 kids that can play tenors or snare (the other 3-4 on bass), why not combine them? How about putting 10 and 12 inch tenor drums on the snares (right and left). Have lots of unision stuff, but you could also spit the parts for the layered feel. That way you get your demand for unision playing, but you can also cover the tenor voice when writing parts.

Your thoughs?

[GGarrett]

ugh...that is so hard. I'm not telling you anything you don't know when I tell you that you really need the bodies out there to give (and get) that full sound from a drumline. You mentioned yourself that one person playing a difficult solo isn't really the same as three or four playing the same difficult solo in unison from a judging standpoint. Obviously, the program you are involved in requires recruiting, and that has to start with grass roots... the kids coming into your school from the middle schools. The kids have to want to be involved at that level (middle school) so by the time you get them they can at least read music and play a little.

That's going to require visits to elementary schools and putting on exhibitions to that level kid so they want to be in the band. It's a years long program/project for you to build...starting now.

But your question is... what do you do with the 4 kids you have now? Well... IMO... (just that...my opinion!) you have to start with them mentally. Make them feel and think they are great and that they will sound awesome with what you have. Then YOU have to come up with a good book that utilizes just what you say: combining voices, and maybe you could set "features" of playing... like a snare set where they all play for a good rip of cool stuff, but then a few break off and pick up tenor drums. Then maybe one breaks out a bass drum and you have a set with bass drum, 2 snares with a mounted cymbal somewhere and a tenor drummer... then another switches to a set of a tenors set up on a stand with another player picking up another bass drum and a little feature with those two bass drummers throwing down... etc. etc.

It would require a well thought out series of solos and "featurettes" (if you will...) and a LOT of moving around by your players with transitional "cool rythyms" (as you called them) as your players get set. You know, like three minutes of full on adrenaline and organized mayhem... that can make just the few sound fun and be visually appealing with movement to hide the fact that there are only short bursts of real difficult playing together.

But I again maintain that selling that concept to the kids and getting them to believe how cool it could be, and setting the confidence in them, is the first priority. Then you could pull from their ideas, too.

Good luck!

[Storkysr]

I think that one must take into account WHO and HOW percussion is adjudicated in your particular area/circuit. Is there an actual perc judge or is the perc score part of a "music effect" catch all judged by a non perc guy.

Of course with small lines and limited talent it is always a balancing act. I like your idea of multi drums for the "snare" players. kinda have your cake and eat it too scenario. Careful of the weight issue though.

[STLRocks]

I would think it depends on the strengths of the individuals you have to work with. I would consider 1 bass, 2 snare, 1 tenors personally. If the skills development don't support in, you might be better off with two different sized basses, 1 snare, 1 tenor, for instance.

The idea of the aux toms mounted on the snares would be useful. Maybe the 6" and 8" or cutaways for weight management. If I were playing them, I'd want them mounted forward of the centerline of the snare instead of directly on the right and left side.

[jonnyboy]

Thanks for the good replies so far. Ideally recruiting is the way to go, but in this area smaller bands just have smaller lines. I'm not that big into competition, but I want a decent line with some skills when I meet up with the competition (east coast USSBA small group....I've never seen USSBA).

I think I'm going to make a protype marching "kit", with a cut away snare (dynasty) and two cut away toms. Mounting the toms forward is a good idea, we will have to see how the weight distributes.

The reason I asked this question is because I may volunteer at the local HS this season. The last time I taught HS was 94, so I am looking forward to having some fun this fall. Since they have about 6 beginers and have never had an instuctor, I have my work cut out for me!

[Percussion827]

In all respect to percussion and the need to have a bettery, if you have a pit then just make another place in said pit for a "Battery Only" Staging area. There you can have a guy or 2 playing snares, a tenor station, and a guy playing assorted Bass drums. Only real downside is not marching. However, you get to have buckoo demand and still cover all parts given.

Just a suggestion.