Beginner Marching Band Drummer

[shatterthesilence]

Hey everyone,
I am a beginning marching band drummer and in 8th grade and will be trying out for my high school marching band in April. I am currently taking lessons with their Drum Major, Brian Evans, who plays tenor in some drum line (in case you heard of him). I need help with generally everything, but my biggest (current) problem areas are diddles and a triplet diddles exercise we're doing. I continue to crush the diddles and just can't get the motion right and just basically need a lot of help. Also any exercises that would help me improve on anything required for marching band would also be greatly appreciated. I don't care if it's mundane, if it'll help me improve, I'll genuinely enjoy playing it. Also I need new sticks and need recommendations and one last question: is it worth it to get the Invader V3?
As you can tell I'm lost lol so please help a fellow drummer. Jesus will thank you lol.
Thanks in advance.

[dkucia11]

For diddles, just do slow fast slow to work up stamina (RR LL RR LL RR LL RR LL RR LL) that's how I learned. Make sure you articulate every note but don't power the notes or use tension. Here is a video from Jeff Queen ([ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l4sAIydy24&feature=related"]YouTube - Jeff Queen - How To Play Clean - Part 2 of 3 - Diddle Inter[/ame]). I find him a great teacher and his videos do wonders so just search for them on YouTube. Also, I recommend buying the Rudimental Cookbook to help prepare you for drumline. Sticks I would go with Ralph Hardimons from vic firth or FS-2 or FS-TF from Innovative Percussion. For pads, it depends on the feel of the snares at your high school. My school's old pearls felt more like the V3 so I practiced on that but our new Yamahas feel more like the Vic Firth Slimpad with laminate. Can't go wrong with either pad but if u get slimpad, make sure u get the laminate. For my school at least, the transition from 8th grade to high school was huge so just be prepared is all I can say.

[jordison515]

Diddles, as in paradiddles? If so, do long, open double rolls, for a minute to teo minutes straight, every day. Work on your accents, your ghosts, and transitions from left/right right/left.
Even if it's not paradiddles, that big long roll improves your chops and wrist strength nonetheless. For sticks, use Vic Firth Magnums. Best sticks. Ever. Period.

Welcome to Drum Chat. I'm jordison, jordi for short... Good luck on your tryout, man, and it's good that you have a good drum teacher to help you along. Especially a tenor. Tenor is HARD

[xsabers]

Here is an exercise I use. I played it at a slow tempo then at a slightly faster tempo. There are a million variations but this is the type of isolation you need to open those diddles up while maintaining stick control. (sorry for the YouTube "lag")

Also, play Triplet Diddles at a slow tempo and get that muscle memory going.

Congratulations on taking the initiative to seek help and to improve. Keep us updated.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KXtbdRjAYI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KXtbdRjAYI[/ame]

[fumbled time]

Welcome to the forum S/S, Congrats on taking up drum line. As said already slow and accurate strokes. increase speed as able. Metronomes are great for challenging you.

My personal favorite exercise is to start out slow with single rolls gradually speeding up until you have reached a comfortable(controlled) speed and then slow it back down.
Before you stop the single strokes advance to double strokes(starting out slow and building to a comfortable speed again, returning to slow. I build this all the way up to 8 strokes per hand. Once you reach the 8's work back down to 7's, to 6's, to 5's back down to single strokes.

You will soon see how doing so many per hand simplifies lesser stroke rolls.(example: if you work from singles to 5's and then back to singles you will notice on the way up you struggled with each newly increased amount strokes, but on the way back to singles everything got easier) Muscle memory will come sooner than you think.

All the best on your rudiments. F/T

[shatterthesilence]

I honestly cannot thank you all enough. Jordi, are you talking about these?
Thanks xsaber. I think we have an exercise like that in my highschool packet (which is almost all we've been doing in lessons) which is this http://www.crsd.org/5037131793119/li...cises_2010.pdf, its a packet, its called Studder 2.0. By the way, were working on trip rolls twentyten which is also in that packet.
To everyone else; thank you for your help, I'll work on it tonight and this weekend.
And btw by diddles I meant double stroke rolls.

[tah821]

+1 on the ralph hardimons. as for the pad go for the double sided Vic Firth. also, when working on diddles, i find using mostly finger helps me, similar to a normal double.

oh and are you trying for snare, tenors, or bass drum? knowing this also helps with stick reccomendations.

[Kazaamski]

Pillow practice is good too. You learn to play EVERYTHING, and not just bounce your way through stuff.

[MartyM]

STS, all I can say is ...remember to let the stick bounce! don't force them..and as others have already said...start slow and build...don't rush til you get the feel consistantly. good luck..I had a blast in Marching band in HS! of course that was before electricity...

[concrete Building]

Agreed on Marty. What I've found out is to push it enough so that you kinda bounce with it.

[ZildjianKid234]

Get a pillow, do 8 on a hand until you can't feel your arms. Sounds bad, but it will greatly improve your chops, which is important! I was in your situation last year, and getting chops is the best thing you can do to prepare for Tenors. And pick up a practice pad, HQ realfeels are great, and a pair of Magnums, as jordinson said. For actual marching sticks, Vic Firth Tom August Hybrids.

Hoped this helped,

ZK

Btw, tenors rule.

[tidus1112]

Just played through your packet :D those seem like pretty helpful exercises (generally). Wish they were more standard though. I, personally, think that the standard exercises are a bit more helpful. And no bucks? Really? so, bucks is just simply RrRrRrRrLlLlLlLl. standard eights (straight eighth notes) accent the first note, unaccented second note, alternating between right and left hands every measure.
My other favorite is gallop (or diddles and taps, or pats double, they are all the same thing). Here's a video of it.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUBtSPDPeIo"]YouTube - DCI 2010 Houston-Phantom Regiment Drumline Gallop[/ame]

That will help you with rolls a lot.

Rhythm:
one e and, two e and, three e and, four e and
one, and a two, and a three, and a four, and a
one e and, two e and, three, and a four, and a
one e and, two e and, three, and a four, and a
one e and, two, and a three e and, four, and a
one e and, two, and a three e and, four, and a
one e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a ONE!

sticking:
rrl rrl rrl rrl
r llr llr llr ll
rrl rrl r llr llrrl rrl r llr ll
rr l r llrr l r llrr l r llrr l r ll
rrllrrllrrllrrllr

Another one of my favorites is Irish Spring. Just play though. Play, and enjoy playing. You'll just naturally get better with time. :D Good luck with everything dude
http://www.snarescience.com/exercise...ring-irish.pdf
Oh, and as for sticks...Well, I'm a system blue kinda guy (Pro Mark). I used to like Innovative, but...well, I still do...my drum director just seems to steal them a lot...>.>

[imperialstar15]

HERES A GOOD EXERCISE FOR PARADIDDLES (NOT DIDDLES) BUT WILL HELP YOU GET BETTER AT DIDDLES

RlrrL LrllR the upper case are accents

[jaguar36023]

Keep practicing! Don't be afraid to slow down the tempo to make sure you get your technique down. Every day you will improve.

[tidus1112]

Forgot to mention, seems like nobody covered this, save up for an invader v3. You may not need it now, but it will definitely help you somewhere down the road. It's a big investment for a snare pad. If you're really into drumming, though, like I am, you'll use it every day, so it's worth getting at some point. Those pads are the closest thing to hitting a drum you can get without hitting a drum.

Another word of advice, while drumming on pillows isn't a bad idea now and then, don't get too used to it. Simply put, it'll build your chops, but honestly, hitting a pillow is not the same as hitting a drum and it won't really help the way you sound. It's more for building up chops so that you can do crazy licks and stuff for a long period of time without your arms giving out on you. Moderation is key when doing the pillow drumming stuff. Worst part about it is that drumming on a pillow can lead to downstroking really bad if you do it too much. And nobody wants the tendonitis that comes from downstroking through 4 or more years of drumline. I encourage the pillow drumming, just not too terribly much.

Again, good luck with everything. Don't worry about finding the right pad or the right sticks, whatever you use will grow on you. Just try out new things over time, and you'll find whatever works best for you. Lastly, just have fun. "Remember, if you aren't having fun, you're doing it wrong." (Scojo quote ftw)

[trickg]

Get a pillow, do 8 on a hand until you can't feel your arms. Sounds bad, but it will greatly improve your chops, which is important! I was in your situation last year, and getting chops is the best thing you can do to prepare for Tenors. And pick up a practice pad, HQ realfeels are great, and a pair of Magnums, as jordinson said. For actual marching sticks, Vic Firth Tom August Hybrids.

Hoped this helped,

ZK

Btw, tenors rule.

That sounds to me like it would give you tendonitis or some other kind of injury - is there anything wrong with just pushing the wood on a regular practice pad with some good solid sticks?