Marching Arts
July 1st, 2009 by James Voss Grumish
It’s already July and the drum corps season is in full swing. Have you checked the DCI scores recently to see Carolina Crown ahead of Cavaliers and Phantom and Cadets?
Well since it’s mid-season and mid-summer, FreeDrum.Info would like to continue our series of full-ensemble drumline exercises.
This month is Paradiddle Flow. It’s somewhat similar to the Cavaliers’ Dee Jay Diddles - a.k.a. that Cavaliers’ paradiddle exercise, although this version was originally written for a university drumline back in 2004.
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June 4th, 2009 by James Voss Grumish
School is finished for the year so use the extra time and sign-up for some private drum lessons. Need to find a private drum instructor? Already have a private drum teacher? Well here’s a couple resources to get your summer lessons started.
FreeDrum.Info thinks lessons are a good thing and it’s a bad idea miss out.
Read our 3 reasons why you need lessons.
TakeLessons offers fun & affordable music and voice lessons for everyone.
Click here to find a lesson near you!
There’s a sweet practice routine generator available for a limited time!
Get the free pdf from the Drumming System!
That’s it. Have a great summer!
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June 1st, 2009 by James Voss Grumish
Usually you see flam-fives broken down to the component rhythm. This new exercise is only slightly different, but much better.
Flam-Fives Sectional puts the flam-fives component rhythm in context which will allow you to work on the nuances like grace-notes and diddle spacing. The end result is simply a combination of flam-drags and cheeses where one hand is responsible for all the diddles.
If that doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry. Just know that this exercise is the most efficient way to develop and clean flam-fives across an ensemble.
Print a couple of copies of Flam-Fives Sectional for you and your friends. If your line isn’t quite ready for flam-fives yet, try the Flam Accent Sectional.
The winter drumline season has ended and the results - and videos - are in from the 2009 Winter Guard International World Championships.
The 2009 WGI scores ended up reflecting the 2008 WGI results. Half of the champions were repeats - Rhythm X (PIW), Dartmouth (PSW), and Pacifica (PSO). As usual, here’s the collection of WGI videos that the drum and stick manufacturers create each year.
>> Links to 2009 WGI Videos
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May 12th, 2009 by James Voss Grumish
[photo by Triple Tri is shared]
After the financial hardships of the past year, know that your attendance at DCI shows this summer will be a great help to the performers, staff, corps, event organizers, sponsors, and Drum Corps International itself.
Find a show near you and grab a few friends to go see it.
Drum Corps International - DCI Schedule - 2009
Spread the word! Tell your drumline friends about us!
FreeDrum.Info publishes free PDF drumline exercises & percussion etudes.
It’s quick and easy for you to share on Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace.
Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy some drum corps shows this summer!
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April 13th, 2009 by James Voss Grumish
[photo courtesy of Patrick Wright]
Dr. Paul Buyer, Director of Percussion at Clemson University, recently finished his new book, Marching Bands and Drumlines: Secrets of Success from the Best of the Best
.
Buyer consistently found a set of Five Factors Influencing Excellence by spending time on-campus with some of the best college marching bands in the country:
- Louisiana State University’s Tiger Marching Band
- University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band
- Western Carolina University’s Pride of the Mountains Marching Band
- Michigan State University’s Spartan Marching Band
- “The Best Damn Band in the Land” at Ohio State University
- Green Brigade Marching Band at the University of North Texas
- “The Pride of Arizona Marching Band” at the University of Arizona
This book is more informative than any “What works for our group is…” convention presentation in a stuffy hotel ballroom. Instead, it’s Buyer’s perspective and analysis as an observer finding the common threads of excellent programs. The research and insights of Marching Bands and Drumlines might just be the next great resource for marching music educators.
Students, tell your band director about this book! Email your director this link or quickly print this Marching Bands and Drumlines Flyer and drop it in their office.
Want to know more? Buyer was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book just for you, the FreeDrum.Info readers. Enjoy the interview.
FreeDrum.Info: Aside from being great bands, how did you determine the list of programs you wanted to spend time with?
Dr. Paul Buyer: With over twenty bands on my initial list, I decided to choose seven schools based on their home football schedules, diversity in location, athletic conference, and marching band tradition, and reputation for having an excellent marching band.
FD.I: Although it examines college marching bands that are traditionally recreational in nature, how might your book assist highly-competitive high school programs?
Buyer: I use the term entertainment, rather than recreation, but my book emphasizes the importance of developing intrinsic motivation, something I feel is lacking in many competitive high school band programs. Rather than offering extrinsic motivation such as ratings, rankings, scores, judges’ tapes, and trophies to reward winning, students develop intrinsic motivation and values such as accountability, self-discipline, and pride. In addition, highly-competitive high school programs will learn life lessons that transcend the activity such as goals, expectations, leadership, teamwork, culture, motivation, practice habits, musicianship, and recruiting and retention.
FD.I: How much of the book is specifically about drumline? What areas of marching percussion are covered?
>> THERE’S MORE!!! Continue reading Paul Buyer’s interview >>
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April 3rd, 2009 by James Voss Grumish
[photo by Justin Van Rheenen is shared]
Some people call them sweeps, some people call them scrapes. Basically it’s just a double-stroke where the notes are played on different drums. This is a fundamental technique for playing marching tenors, so if you’re already a tenor player or hope to be one in the future, make sure to learn these simple scrapes/sweeps drumline exercises.
When playing tenor sweeps the motion during the double-stroke is created by using a small amount of elbow pivot and lateral wrist bend (side-to-side). Don’t just rely on either your elbow or wrist to move your stick horizontally.
Also, keep your shoulder relaxed. Stiffness will make consistent sweeps impossible.
Lastly, make sure the medial wrist motion (up-down) remains consistent during the double-stroke and that there are indeed two independent strokes (as opposed to a diddle).
Tenor Sweeps and Scrapes Exercises
Two really quick bits of FreeDrum.Info new for you:
- Later this month check out an interview with Paul Buyer, author of the recently published and soon-to-be-released Marching Bands and Drumlines: Secrets of Success from the Best of the Best. Paul was kind enough to answer a few questions about just what’s inside the book and why you should get a copy.
- In the past, FreeDrum.Info has offered premium drumline exercises for a small fee. These full-score exercises will be available for free later this summer, and we hope you enjoy them. Also, it’s free to subscribe to FreeDrum.Info articles to make sure you don’t miss out.
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