Marching | Living Room Legends Music Instruments

Marching Snare

March 20th, 2010 admin No comments

Marching Snare

what is the best way to begin learning percussion instruments- like marching snare or bass drum?

I really like drumming. Im in Guard right now and I know 5 instruments, but I want to learn a new one. alot of my friends are drummers and when they play im counting along with them. I love the concentration and it helps me focus on everything I do.

First things first, the ONLY way to learn an instrument (percussion included) is from a qualified instructor.

You mentioned that you have a lot of friends in the drumline; this will certainly work to your advantage. When I was in high school and college, we were always looking for an excuse to drum. Especially when I was in college...we would have an informal "semi-drum camp" right after school let out, mainly to meet the new members to the line and to get them used to our way of doing things. We would play warmups and exercises for two or three hours (both as a group and in sub-sections), but that was never enough for some of us. We would end up going to this one guy's apartment (practice pads in hand) and we would watch drum corps videos and drum until the evening. During this time, we would show off licks and teach them to each other, play warmups, share exercises we had written or transcribed from videos, share exerpts of corps shows we had downloaded from the internet...anything drumline related...but I digress.

My point is, ask some of your drumline friends to just hang out and drum sometime. Have them teach you basic technique and how to read marching drumline notation (I'm sure you know, it's a little different at times) and maybe even teach you some of the warmups and exercises that they play...even have them teach you some sections of the show from last year.

If you prefer something a little more structured, then you could enlist one of them for some one on one instruction. If you have a college or university nearby with a marching band, then you could contact the music department directly and ask if they have a student that would teach you...music students are always looking to make some extra money. Their instruction will probably be very valuable and very cheap. You could even ask if they have open rehearsals. I met several people by attending rehearsals at the local university (while I was still in high school)...the people that I would later be marching with. It was a great experience and you could even learn things, such as group rehearsal techniques that you could bring to your drumline.

That's kind of wordy, but I think that I've steered you in the right direction...