Casella and the tilt......

[DanjrusMcRynky]

When an Army would go off to war two hundred years ago, a fife and drum unit lead the way. The drum was slung over the shoulder and was very tilted, which required "traditional" snare grip. Now that drums are flat, there is no reason to play traditional grip at all, unless you like the look of it. Tilting the snares in modern drum corps makes physical sense for the player and is the original way a marching snare drummer played the instrument.

BAM! Right on the head. Thanks.

[KiltieBD3]

A dirty line with flat snares will still be dirty when you tilt. Worry about technique first!

AGREED!! 100%

Clean beats are clean beats. Plain and simple. I personally don't care if they tilt or not. A good line is a good line.

When playing I prefer flat because frankly that is always how I have had mine.

(edited becuase I can't type today)

Edited July 10, 2007 by KiltieBD3

[NoNarration]

I agree that the tilt is traditionally the best way to carry a snare drum when playing traditional grip. It just doesn't look as good on the field though. Matched grip is a much more logical method but guess what? - It just doesn't look as good either. What a dilemma!

[loudandproud]

DCI Div 1 Caption head Brian Stevens uses the tilted snare. Last year at Capital Reg he used it and had Murray Gussack and Ralph Hardimon hired as advisers, this year he is using it with his snare line at the Troopers. From what I understand its about matching the angle of the drumhead to the technique thats being taught to play the drum. Creates less carpal tunnel and stress in forearms and wrists.

Those heavy hitters in corps like Cadets, Blue Devils, and Bluecoats pay a high physical price for playing the way they do.

They certainly never want you to know about it though. Pounding all day long for three months. I no a guy who came back from Bluecoats 4 years ago and had both his hands/wrist in a cast for 5 weeks so his tendons and muscle could restabilize themselves. He skipped his 1st year marching for his college band but played both years after that. Never marched DCI again.

The tilted head is about technique and longevity in the sport.

Edited July 15, 2007 by loudandproud

[LuvsPAisTe]

Eye of the beholder, I guess, 'cause flat snare to me = matched grip and therefore, marching band.

Fred Sanford just turned over in his grave :(

[Hulka]

Those heavy hitters in corps like Cadets, Blue Devils, and Bluecoats pay a high physical price for playing the way they do.

They certainly never want you to know about it though. Pounding all day long for three months. I no a guy who came back from Bluecoats 4 years ago and had both his hands/wrist in a cast for 5 weeks so his tendons and muscle could restabilize themselves. He skipped his 1st year marching for his college band but played both years after that. Never marched DCI again.

The tilted head is about technique and longevity in the sport.

Tilting has no bearing on longevity. I marched 4 years on flat snare in an era prior to the newer batter heads with more give. We used Tenduras and Falams tunes much higher than corps tune nowadays and yet I never had problems with CTS anything of the like. Not one person I marched with had any problems either. There are people that are going to be prone to repetitive motion injuries regardless of technique, head tension or angle of drum. There are contributing factors but it all boils down to the individual cases and whether or not they were destined for such and injury or not.

[LSU GRAD 82]

DCI Div 1 Caption head Brian Stevens uses the tilted snare. Last year at Capital Reg he used it and had Murray Gussack and Ralph Hardimon hired as advisers, this year he is using it with his snare line at the Troopers. From what I understand its about matching the angle of the drumhead to the technique thats being taught to play the drum. Creates less carpal tunnel and stress in forearms and wrists.

Those heavy hitters in corps like Cadets, Blue Devils, and Bluecoats pay a high physical price for playing the way they do.

They certainly never want you to know about it though. Pounding all day long for three months. I no a guy who came back from Bluecoats 4 years ago and had both his hands/wrist in a cast for 5 weeks so his tendons and muscle could restabilize themselves. He skipped his 1st year marching for his college band but played both years after that. Never marched DCI again.

The tilted head is about technique and longevity in the sport.

Blame all the hand and wrist problems on those rock hard Kevlar heads. Can't believe nobody (Remo,Evans,etc......) can come up with a strong durable head that sounds good but doesn't feel like playing on cement..........

[drummer5485]

Actually...those companies have heads that feel great to play on now. Remo has the Max series that is a weave of mylar and kevlar that sounds, and feels, amazing. They also have the cybermax series which is, I think, a tighter weave of the fabric. Evans had the MX series and now they have the hybrid heads that supposedly feels AMAZING on the hands, I know Spirit and Troopers are using them this year. And all these heads sound great.

[CorpsLife]

I feel that the tilted snare can hide stick height issues though. its harder to read proper stick heights on a tilted snare than it is on a flat snare, therefore a line that has issues with stick heights would benefit from this.

On the other hand, lines like Cavies probablly dont have stick height issues, so therefore its just something they do for the sake of doing.

[Slow Adam]

Actually...those companies have heads that feel great to play on now. Remo has the Max series that is a weave of mylar and kevlar that sounds, and feels, amazing. They also have the cybermax series which is, I think, a tighter weave of the fabric. Evans had the MX series and now they have the hybrid heads that supposedly feels AMAZING on the hands, I know Spirit and Troopers are using them this year. And all these heads sound great.

I don't know about the Evans Hybrid weave, but their MX White is the most comfortable snare head I have played on. The year I marched snare we would pound the crap out of our wrists on original Falams, it was like drumming on concrete all day...of course that was back in the days of "hey, it's kevlar, lets attach a 3 foot pipe to a drum key so we can crank the top head" attitude. Thankfully that was a phase and people have been taking the top heads down to more reasonable levels (and putting kevlar on the bottom and cranking the #### out of it instead)