All about Drumline

Almost everything you need to know about drumline

By: Sofia Anthis

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Introduction

Our drumline is a part of the marching band that plays at football games, plays in parades, and a bunch of other cool events and fundraisers. In this document, you will learn about cymbals, snare, quads(we call them tenors) and basses.

Cymbals

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Right now, we only have 1 cymbal player, but they do a really good job. There are 2 ways (that I know about) to play cymbals: the crash and the crunch. The crash makes a big moud crashing sound that is mostly used in the very climatic part of music. The crunch is like a short version of the crash, exept when you make it shorter, it makes a different sound.

Snare

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We have 1 snare player that is very skilled and cool. The way to grip the sticks is to grip it with all 5 of your fingers with the thumb directaly infront of your index finger. And there is another way to grip it, but it is more compicated and even I don't know how to do it.

Tenor

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We have 1 tenor player right now, and I swear they are the most skilled drummer I have ever seen in person! And next year, I will become a tenor player. Most of the things you learn as a snare player correspond to playing tenor. Except that instead of hitting just one drum, you're moving your hand around and playing 5(which makes it weird that some peole call them quads, but oh well)!

Bass

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In our drumline, we have 5 bass drums with 5 bass players. I play the second smallest because it has a harder rythem (and also because that's all I can lift). The grip is a little different from the snare and tenor. Instead of your thumb being directaly infront of your index finger, your thumb and your stick should be pointing almost straight up and your thumbnail pointing towards you.

A huge thanks to...

A huge thanks to my band director for letting me take pictures of the instruments and for teaching me all about the information in this document.

All images were taken by me