10/02/2024
Hey guys and gals...posted this back in July as our marching seasons got underway...thought it would be very helpful to many to re-post this now that we are in the heat of competition...enjoy!
"PRO-TIP: as we all are approaching the upcoming fall and the immersion into the marching arts, let me focus for a second on one element that I find to be an issue for most programs...snare tuning...! Each year as I judge a great variety of shows (and I will be doing several this year), I find that the number of snare lines that I hear as being "clean" are few and far between! And in many cases, I can tell by visually evaluating them that much great teaching is taking place, that ex*****on and stroke styles are spot on, that stroke styles and heights are under control, and that the written book is not unachievable. So what are (or is) the issue(s) that keep sending audible dirt to the press box? Well...if the performers' skill sets are in order...the issue is mostly tuning! Many instructors with backgrounds as performers in DCI and WGI are accustomed to playing on drums that are cranked to the moon and bone dry! Nothing wrong with that...until you expect 4 or 5 high school kids to play on drums tuned in that fashion to sound as clean as a DCI line. I promise...ain't gonna happen. And it all revolves around audible note lengths coming from our instruments. A great group of pristine players in a line tuned high and dry will likely come close to creating a sense of impact unity, henceforth, creating a clean statement. For example, a great DCI snare line. You can take those same drums and reduce the number of players and take away a portion of the skill sets and impact unity goes away creating a statement of dirt. Do your students a favor...once their skill sets and ex*****on abilities are in place, slightly drop the batter head pitch a bit...wet the bottoms slightly by also slightly lowering pitch and tuning the snares where they actually respond a bit creating a little more note length...and miracles happen...the same performers that couldn't play clean on the high/dry drums are now making a clean statement...! Please notice where I used the word SLIGHTLY...it is key to the success I'm referring to. AND...if we've paid attention over the past few years, even DCI lines have dropped pitch creating more note length...SLIGHTLY! Give it a shot with your group...I promise...it works...! There it is..."
