Anyone here consider themselves proficient in marching band style drumming?

[SketchMan3]

I was just curious to know whether any of our gospel drummers have experience in playing in marching bands, orchestras, etc... without a full drum kit. How do you practice? Was it hard to transition from the large "field" drum-sticks to the smaller sticks, or vice-versa?

I've consulted the members of a Drum line forum about whether drum corps members should practice with regular drum-kit sticks, and they said "No, get practice sticks", but we just don't have the means right now to do that, and the local pawnshop has the 1A size sticks for $5. I don't want the kids to develop bad technique by using the wrong sticks, but I do want them to develop some form of technique, since none of them have sticks of their own, so the only practice time they get is when we all meet as a group.

Anyway, just wanted to know if it's a difficult transition from "gospel chops" sticks to "drum-line chops" sticks, and whether any of you guys have had to make that transition.

[j_kay]

I was just curious to know whether any of our gospel drummers have experience in playing in marching bands, orchestras, etc... without a full drum kit. How do you practice? Was it hard to transition from the large "field" drum-sticks to the smaller sticks, or vice-versa?

I've consulted the members of a Drum line forum about whether drum corps members should practice with regular drum-kit sticks, and they said "No, get practice sticks", but we just don't have the means right now to do that, and the local pawnshop has the 1A size sticks for $5. I don't want the kids to develop bad technique by using the wrong sticks, but I do want them to develop some form of technique, since none of them have sticks of their own, so the only practice time they get is when we all meet as a group.

Anyway, just wanted to know if it's a difficult transition from "gospel chops" sticks to "drum-line chops" sticks, and whether any of you guys have had to make that transition.

I have eight years of active experience (four years of high school and four years of college), but I still dabble a little, but not as much as I did when I was active in that area.  I'm not following this line: "without a full drum kit."  Do you mean by not owning marching percussion equipment?  If so, we (like many others) had to use practice pads while at home, because we were not authorized to take the school's equipment home.  I do own a marching snare, though.

As for the transition phase, it wasn't hard for me in high school, since I practiced daily on marching percussion and drumset, so my hands just adjusted.  As for college, I didn't play the drumset much during the fall, so smaller sticks like a 5A felt too small, so I went with a 5B when I did some drumset stuff.  As for the symphonic stuff, I used the same diameter stick.

After college, I used a 3A stick for drumset applications, but then my hands got used to my current stick of choice, which has the feel of a 5A with the beef of a 5B.  Since I am not active in the marching world, I'd have to practice about a good week or so to get my hands used to the larger diameter sticks.  For me, it's like riding a bike.

In closing, it's not difficult for me to transition from drumset application sticks to marching application stics.  YMMV though, especially when you're dealing with kids who are developing their technique, versus someone who has developed it (and may look to refine a few things).

[allaround]

I AM lol. Ive done black marching style, drum corp style, and even drill team style. What you wanna kno?

[allaround]

okay i see. When going from corpmasters(marching sticks) to regular drum sticks, its sorta easy to adapt to the weight change. Same goes the other way, the only difference is your putting a little more effort to control the stick, THATS ALL.

For a beginner drumset player, you dont necessarily need corpmasters to practice with. All you need is a good pair of 5A OR 5B sticks, a metronome, and a non rebounding surface and they'll be just fine.

Drumset players are suppose to use drumset sticks to practice with and drumline drummers are suppose to marching sticks to practice with....Thats the logic.

If i confused any1.........plz tell me!
Be Blessed

[robin of drummin]

In fact before moving to texas that what i got started doing in the 6th grade mind i am from B'ham Alabama, moving to a small town at the time was not exactly familiar with my style of drumming from the south.  I was looked at weird till we come up against famous dallas black school like carter, skyline, kimball, and terrell high school.  Then quickly the caught up to speed i brought some flava to the line if you will.  Didnt like orchestra all that well was kind of forced into it.

[allaround]

okay i see. When going from corpmasters(marching sticks) to regular drum sticks, its sorta easy to adapt to the weight change. Same goes the other way, the only difference is your putting a little more effort to control the stick, THATS ALL.

For a beginner drumset player, you dont necessarily need corpmasters to practice with. All you need is a good pair of 5A OR 5B sticks, a metronome, and a non rebounding surface and they'll be just fine.

Drumset players are suppose to use drumset sticks to practice with and drumline drummers are suppose to marching sticks to practice with....Thats the logic.

If i confused any1.........plz tell me!
Be Blessed

[robin of drummin]

are you kidding me, the same fundamentals drum rolls please......yes i did say drum rolls the same applies to rudiments, flam's, rolls and etc. check out this and you'll fully understand. 

Rudiments, Flam Taps, Stops, and Crossovers Galore!

[MMPassion]

I've also played in marching band for years,(snare, quads and bass) I found the transition to be simple. The stickes (marching band) were definately too heavy and large for me to use on the kit.  However, I do use 5A (marching sticks) on drumset when practicing. In some cases using larger sticks helps with muscle toning. My hands are smaller than most drummers, so I go for 7A jazz tips when playing set. I guess it really depends on the fell you want and what stick gives you the most control 

[drumzalicious]

For me no. I was in marching band for a few years and even did drum corp one year and I was fine all that time transitioning between sticks.

What I did notice though is that my preference for sticks changed. I went from things like 5A and 7A to 3A and Fusions. That could also have been because of puberty and my hands growing though.

[L.V.Drumma]

I have two years of high school marching band on me.  The Lord blessed me that I became drum captain in my second and last year when other ppl been in band longer than I have.   What I've noticed for myself back then is that I couldn't use lighter drum set sticks then be efficient with the heavier quad sticks.  But it does work imo that if you use heavier sticks for the set it'll build up control better with the lighter sticks.       Some of my drumline members used smaller sticks to practice or play around with but then when they used the heavier marching sticks they played sloppy.  So its best to practice with the sticks you're going to use in the situation.  Once you get that down then you can go around switching up stick sizes and be able to play with everything in every situation.  Hope this makes sense.

[keydrummer]

I puzzled by a couple of comments stating that you used 5A's for Marching band.????????Where I live and the surrounding areas and most other places I have been..... use 3S drumsticks for marching band