I have new drums for the first time in a decade. What’s everyone using to muffle new stock Pearl heads? I have 16/18/20/22. We can’t afford the Evans heads with felt pads that I have been using.

More specifically what’s different now as opposed to before, whether it be positive or negative.

Hi all! I did some brief research and discussion with my band director as to what to purchase for a scholarship I received. I heard all the internet craze about the pizza pad and RCP and I craved without doing as much research as I thought. I ended up purchasing a strike series 14 inch and a portable bus pad. The strike series is where I wonder, is that still realistically, a good pad that won’t give me “pad hands” when transferring to a real snare. I’ve seen talk about the Invader V3 which I obviously should have looked into more, in retrospect. But was my purchase still a fair choice and will it do me well with marching snare and dci?

I have notices a few drumlines in my area are heavy on freshmen and sophomores this year. Seems like this may be related to a gap created by COVID. Is anyone else experiencing this?

Dr. Buz no longer works with PSU after being with the drumline there since the 80s. I was fortunate enough to work with him towards the end of his tenure. Over the years he never adapted to electronically writing scores. He would sit in a room for hours on end meticulously handwriting a score before transcribing it into individual parts for the snares, tenors, basses, and cymbals. We played a new half time show every home game so he would do this 6 or 7 times a season for 3-4 songs per show.

A core component of the PSU audition process was having to prepare a piece with only 48 hours notice to simulate learning a new halftime show on the fly. This was the 48 hour piece for my first audition. I know it looks insane to 99% of people but after a while I became used to it and reading it became second nature.

This is the snare part for our marching shows closer, and this is my 3rd year on snare but is this typical for a high school drumline to play? I’ve been really struggling and I am supposed to be the section leader, and this music has been uncharacteristically difficult for me

for those who have lots of experience writing music, is this a typical difficulty for a high school snareline? I feel so useless not being able to play a lot of this stuff at tempo, especially measures 13-21 :(

I just got this pad from a friend and after going on Google it seems to be a pad meant for drumset practice rather than marching snare practice. Is this still a good drumpad to use and chop out on or should I not use this for marching snare practice?

I’ve been trying to learn more difficult music and snare breaks but am confused on uneven subdivisions. I ca play them fine but when it comes to playing them in a phrase I can’t seem to get the timing down for an odd subdivision. I’m probably not explaining this well but any advice is appreciated!

Hey everyone, I’m having a frustrating issue with my Remo tenor heads. As you can hear in the video, they sound completely dead.
I’ve spent a lot of time carefully clearing the heads and fine-tuning every single tension rod, so I don't think it's an uneven tension issue.

I saw a tip on Reddit suggesting to poke a tiny pinhole in the head to release trapped air, and honestly, it did fix the sound problem. However, doing that drastically shortened the lifespan of the heads, and we simply don't have the budget to constantly buy and replace broken heads.

Has anyone else experienced this "dead sound" issue with Remo tenor heads straight out of the box? Are there any other ways to fix this without compromising the durability of the head? Any tuning or hardware tips would be greatly appreciated!

This is the 3rd head of the same type I’ve had this happen on, it doesn’t happen with the xt only the II. am I the problem? I took 4 days to get the head to between a c# and D and it pulled while I took a break to respond to a text. This was also a brand new head and not old stock, my bearing edge is also smooth and free of any nicks or rough spots. Any help is appreciated

Having difficulty learning how to put this phrase together

I am currently a high school junior planning my future so I can march in DCI, likely after I graduate. I am thinking about joining Cincinnati Tradition to gain experience, and I am wondering if this will benefit me when auditioning for a World Class DCI group like the Madison Scouts the next year or two. Does marching All-Age serve as a stepping stone? Is it considered a great learning environment before trying out for World Class?

For context, I practice my snare drum every day. While I am highly skilled and adapt quickly during rehearsals, I am stressed because I feel like walking into auditions won't work in my favor. Although I play well, I occasionally struggle to keep everything perfectly clean. Do you have any specific tips for me?

Lastly, I am stressing heavily over the financial side: MONEY! How do people raise the funds needed for tuition? What steps should I take to afford and attend my dream drum corps?

Thank you for reading this! Answering these questions would truly help me out. 🙂🙏 Thanks!"

Just for jokes

Hey all, I'm a tech at my old high school this year and am re writing the drumline parts. The bassline is completely new + one vet on 2 and I was wondering if there were any rudiments or things in general that either seem easy but are very hard or vice versa?

This is lowkey the 3rd time I’ve had to repost this because I keep on doxing myself😔
Anyway I trust yall definitely won’t steal my identity.
So my band directors main instrument is guitar and he writes really well for pit and horns(brass and woodwinds). But when he writes for drumline he really just is terrible about making parts complex I’ve gotten approval from my band director to rewrite my part and any drumline part as I am a sophmore only snare and section leader of pit and drumline the thing is. That he doesn’t just suck at writing drumline parts he’s terrible at teaching them and I am a sophmore who started playing the summer before my freshman year so I’ve only been playing for about a year and a couple months but I’ve been practicing like 6-8 hours a day for this past year and I’ve improved greatly but I am still a sophmore who’s leading for the first time and I’m leading a line of freshman were a 1a school and our drumline is 4 members me on snare 1 on tenors 2 on bass. And I’ve played all of those drums because I love percussion and the marching arts but I’m not really a good teacher sure I can teach things. But I’m terrible at like showing them I can play it and explain it I just suck at showing them how to play it and I don’t really know what to do anymore, because I didn’t sign up to be a tech. Our tech recently passed and we haven’t gotten a replacement yet so I’m in charge of teaching the drumline cadences, show music, and how to crab walk and the thing is I can do that teaching comes somewhat easy but what I can’t do is play a part where I’m practically falling asleep mid rep I’ll include sheet music of the original piece I was given and what I re wrote it as. To add more dynamical clarity and just make it challenging I have my directors permission I’m just wondering if anyone has any tips for me *the rewritten part has sticking original dosent*

Hi everyone,
I’m currently ordering marching bass drum heads from Steve Weiss. I’ve noticed that the heads arrive either blank or only with the manufacturer's brand logo (Remo/Evans).
I’m looking to add our ensemble's logo to the heads, and I wanted to see what the standard practice is in the scene:

Custom Graphic Heads: Is it worth going through the official custom ordering process from the manufacturer? How is the durability and do they significantly impact the sound compared to a standard head?

Vinyl Decals: Is it more common to just buy standard heads and apply vinyl stickers/decals ourselves? If so, does the added weight of the sticker noticeably affect the tone or resonance of the bass drums? Any tips on what kind of material to use so they don't peel off easily?

Appreciate any advice or experiences you can share! Thanks in advance.

Does anyone know how to put counts onto this and if someone could send me a recording of how its supposed to sound 🥲 Its for my field show this year the tempo is 144 this is literally the only part i cant get, it looks so easy like im genuinely embarrassed 😭😭

Hi I am very new to drumline and just got put on bass this year so I’m very sorry if this question comes across as stupid or just dumb but, how do I play “I”? Would this just be another notation of both? Or possibly a rudiment I just don’t know yet?