Erie

All-City Marching Band Percussion

Battery: Bass Drums
In this packet you will find the exercises and techniques used in our battery. This packet belongs to:
E r i e A l l - C i t y M a r c h i n g B a n d w w w . e a c m b . o r g H o t l i n e : 8 1 4 - 5 8 0 - 6 6 8 0 O f f i c e : 8 1 4 - 8 7 4 - 6 5 1 8 R o n u e l : 8 1 4 - 6 0 2 - 0 4 2 1 T e r r y : 8 1 4 - 5 8 0 - 8 4 3 4

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Erie All-City Marching Band Percussion

Music & Performance

Music is what ultimately gave us our beginning, our passion, and our drive to join this activity. Just as it is important to practice our music and learn to play drums, it is also beneficial to be a good music listener. Broadening your musical horizon to include many genres will in turn help you play in those styles and maybe even relate your parts better with others. So whether you have played Bass Drum your whole life or this is your first time ever holding a stick, we hope to teach you to be a better drummer but first and foremost, a better musician.

Dynamics
Each dynamic in the music will have a corresponding height to go with it. Approach to the drum should be the same regardless of the height being played. Velocity will not change because of a change in heights (most of the time) The forearm should stay relaxed at all heights and will react to the motion created by the wrist. It is okay for the forearm to move at all heights 3 20 The sticks will NEVER travel past vertical. 15 is the vertical height.

Ex. Definition of Stick Heights & Dynamics would be:

The 20 height will be used for fortissimo volumes needing a little extra power. This involves a 15 full extension plus a bit of extra forearm movement. Heights past 20 will be reffered to as visual height. Motion starts with a 12" wrist stroke followed by a rotation of the arm at the elbow. The stick will end completely vertical and further away from the body.

How you feel while drumming

Confident Relaxed Strong Let the sticks feel heavy in your hands---Let the weight do the work The stronger of an individual player you are and the more chops you possess, the more efficient you will become, and the more relaxed you will be while drumming. Make sure to always breath while drumming. This will cut down on tension and result in a healthier/more relaxed approach to the instrument. When in doubt, listen to what you are playing in order to correct issues

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Timing
This is a percussion program and timing is a very important part of what we do. Our role in the whole musical ensemble and the integrity of our rhythms rely very much on timing. Whether it be a buzz roll, open roll, or swiss flam drag, they are all rudiments with a specific rhythmic integrity. Learning your rudiments and learning them CORRECTLY is very important; always paying attention to correct rhythms, stickings, and accent placements. Slower is always better than faster when it comes to practicing. Never move onto a faster tempo until you can play everything with the proper relaxed technique at slower tempos. Practice with a metronome to focus on your timing and the accuracy of your rhythms. Also, another option would be to play exercises along with your favorite songs. Its like playing with a metronome but a little more comfortable and appealing than listening to a constant beep. It even creates a musical context for you to relate your parts to. This is exactly what we do when we play together as an ensemble. Dont be afraid to groove and have fun with the music. Then, you can apply that to your show music/exercises. You should find a groove to the music even when the music is abstract. All music has checkpoints you can use to find a pocket for you to play in.

Goals

Bass Drum

There are two main aspects that a bass drum line must be aware of: Individual Accountability (being accountable for yourself, your parts, your equipment, etc) and Full Bass Line Interdependence (relying on each other to create full musical passages and being a unit). These aspects apply to both on and off the field. You must be responsible enough to learn and know your parts and supplement that at home by practicing. As a unit, the line must cooperate with each other and must get along. The better you get along as a line, the better you will play as a line. If all goes well, the bass line will function as a single voice in the ensemble performed by a group three to five musicians.

Playing
The basis of our playing technique is to be relaxed. Just as a wind player can over-blow a horn, it is possible to over-play a drum because of tension. This tension can cause a distortion of sound quality especially from person to person. Make it your goal to stay completely relaxed from the neck, to the shoulders, down your arms and into your fingers.

Grip
The grip is a slight variation to the standard matched grip. The only difference is that it is held vertically rather than horizontally to play the drum. To create the proper grip, start with your arms hanging from your sides. Then, pick up your forearms until they are relatively parallel to the ground with your hand vertical like you are going to shake someones hand. The mallet should be placed between the pad of your thumb and the second segment of your first finger. There should be no open space or daylight between your fingers or any tension.

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Then, place the other three fingers on the mallet remembering to stay relaxed and to not create tension. When you are at a drum, your mallets should slightly angle in toward the center of the head. Once the drum is adjusted, have someone help you find the center. Once you have done that, feel where your hand or arm touches the rim and memorize this position so that you will always be in the center.

Stroke
All strokes, regardless of height, should initiate from the head of the mallet. The primary motion to create this movement will be the breaking of the wrist. From there, let the weight of the mallet help with the rotation. The technique should feel very similar to playing on a horizontal practice pad. As shown, the path of the mallet should be a straight line and should match relatively to the angle of the mallet. Try practicing this motion slowly at first in a mirror to see if your doing it correct. The more you do it, the more natural it will feel and the easier it will be to transfer to your playing. Each stroke, no matter the height, should always move from the starting height to the head very quickly. This allows your playing to be very consistent whether you are playing 3 inches or 20 inches. The heights defined for bass drum are a little different than playing on a horizontal drum. First, at set position, your mallet is at a 1 height. To get a good 3 or piano as shown below in Figure 1, a slight wrist turn is all that is necessary. From there, move your mallet until it creates a 90 degree angle with the drum or parallel to the ground. This would be 15 or fortissimo shown in Figure 2. Divide that space in half and that position and that will give you 9 or mezzo forte. Half way between 9 and 3 would be your 6 or mezzo piano and half way between 9 and 15 is your 12 or forte. If the music asks for anything more than fortissimo, for example ffff, you will still go to 15 and from there go straight out with the arm. Your mallet should not go past horizontal.

Key Points:

Figure 1

Figure 2

QUALITY OF SOUND IS EVERYTHING, no matter what stroke is being played you must strive for a big, open, and uniform sound quality.

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We will use four stroke types: Legato/Full Stroke, Down Stroke, Taps, and a modified Up Stroke. The stroke will ALWAYS start from the head of the mallet. In order to move the head of the mallet first, we will use the wrist to initiate the stroke. While the main focus is the wrist rotation, allow the wrist, fingers, and arms to work together to create the most relaxed/full sound possible. Minimize the amount of human interference, allow each stroke to be as efficient as possible.

Legato/Full Stroke:
Mallet starts and stops at the same point, letting the mallet rebound back naturally The goal is to allow the rebound to do the work Rebound should occur at the same speed as the initial movement

Down Stroke:
Should sound the same as a full stroke and feel the same prior to hitting the drum. Once the drum is struck with the mallet, stop the wrist motion in order to stop the mallet at the original tacet position. Avoid squeezing the fingers to stop the motion of the implement. Simply stopping the wrist rotation with the fingers closed around the mallet will be enough to stop the mallet in a relaxed manner. This stroke will be used in any exercise that involves more than one height or a hand needing to stay at rest

Taps:
This refers to all of the lower inner beats between accents. Most of the time these will be a 3 stroke. This stroke is essentially a 3 legato stroke. It is important while playing taps that the stroke be relaxed and wrist only turn to 3 inches. Although we will play very relaxedthat DOES NOT mean we will play loose with a lack of control.

Up Strokes (modified):
When playing something that involves accents and taps in the same passage it will be necessary for us to use a modified Up Stroke. After playing a regular 3 wrist stroke, the wrist will rotate to the height of the following accented note. Any tap that comes directly before an accent will become an upstroke in order to prepare the stick for the proper accent height. The upstroke makes it much easier to achieve clarity in passages that have accents following taps.

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Muffling
Muffling or hand dampening the drum is relatively simple. More commonly done with the left hand, all that is required is to apply pressure on the head of the drum with your last three fingers and the edge of your palm. Always keep the fulcrum intact. This allows you to easily move back and forth from playing to muffling.

Timing
Good timing starts from your feet. The feet are your most important tool in the marching activity. It is important that your feet drive the pulse through you. Then, you must play to the pulse your feet are creating. As a Bass Drummer, you must understand how your own individual part relates to your feet and how it relates to other parts. You must also make sure, as a bass line, that your interpretation of space between notes is the same. On bass drum, all of your split parts can be simplified to some sort of check pattern. Before you can play 2s, 3s, or 4s, you must be able to play the chech pattern in time, with your feet. From there, we can add notes making sure you are playing evenly spaced rhythms.

Confidence
Performance must be genuine. It is important to always play with a lot of confidence. Whether you are playing a cadence, warmup, show music, or a small music change, your confidence level should never decrease. This doesnt mean you should make an intense face and look tough. Playing with confidence should look like the exact opposite. You should play with a high level of relaxation and calmness that in turn makes playing more enjoyable for you and the listening experience more enjoyable for the audience.

Rehearsal
In Marching Band, rehearsal time is VERY limited. It is imperative that we maximize this time as much as possible by being prepared for rehearsal 100% of the time. We will work hard but we will also work smart in order to put out the most consistently excellent product that we possibly can every performance.

*The first part of being prepared for rehearsal is personal preparation at home. You WILL be expected
to show up every rehearsal prepared with what is asked of you.

*The second part of being prepared for rehearsals is coming with a good attitude and ready to drum from
the first minute of rehearsal to the last. Part of this is arriving to all rehearsals ON TIME.

*Lastly, make sure you have everything you need for rehearsals with you at all times. Some of the
items necessary for all music rehearsals are: -Pencil -Highlighter -Sneakers -Water bottle -3-ring binder w/all music and exercises -Sticks and/or mallets

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Notation
Some notations may seem new or familiar notations may mean something different for bass drum. Below is a list of common notations for bass drum:
Unison Everyone plays together. This doesnt mean to play louder. Unisons will automatically be louder because everyone is playing. Rim Click Rim clicks are for you, not for them! We use rim clicks for timing and they should not be played as if to be loud. From a certain distance, rim clicks arent even audible. They should be played at about a 6 height and no more. Drum Note Assignment Note placement for each drum all depends on the arranger. Most of the time, the first example is used in printed parts where the second example is used for hand written parts. Muffled 2nd is most often used. Refer to the muffling section on pg. 6. Accents The first example would be just a normal accent. The second example calls for something a little more articulate. The third and forth are just examples one a two but muffled.

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Exercises
8 On a Hand

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16th Note Timing

__________________________________________________________ Accented 16th Notes

__________________________________________________________ Chicken & Roll

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Triplet Diddle

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General Information
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