@Christopher Bill tried to teach me today that the slide whistle was a trombone instrument and that the trombone was supposedly the greatest instrument of all time...
i remember the dumbest thing my bd told me was that i was "wasting money" all because i bought a practice pad to do drumming as a side hobby, even though trumpet is my main instrument. thankfully he realized a day later how dumb that was and apologized
Dumbest thing I was taught- slide whistles are part of the percussion family even though the definition of a percussion instrument is an instrument that's sound is created by the scraping, shaking, or striking of the instrument. Pretty sure slide whistle doesn't fit that definition.
Not percussion related, but my highschool director thinks that the difference between baritone and euphonium is that euphonium is played classically and baritone is marched.. I tried to tell her there is a significant size difference and slight shape/tone difference and she told me that there must be a mistake and the corps I march with is wrong when I told her that I'm contracted as a euphonium in DCI and that the corps I march with has a euph section AND a baritone section. The a u d a c i t y Edit: spelling
Yeah that’s odd. The instruments also have different origins. The baritone horn is almost identical to the baritone saxhorn in B-flat, but the euphonium doesn’t really fit the saxhorn profile.
The worst thing I was ever taught in drumline was that if you are learning a piece of music that has sticking, diddles, flams, etc, that you should add them in one at a time relearning the ENTIRE PIECE Each time. So you first learn just the rhythm, then re-learn the whole price with sticking, then again with the flams, learn it another time with the diddles, and so on. This may work for pieces of music that you learn in your first week of playing drums, but for basically anything else, it’s the WORST possible thing you can do when learning a piece of music. You should always learn those things as you are playing the piece. An alternative to doing this is just to play it slowly. Focus on certain parts, and play them even slower. If you learn all pieces by learning each thing completely separately, you are basically learning the piece several times over. Since a piece can change drastically based on these things, it’s a waste of time to do it this way. For the past several years at my school, the drumline was taught by someone who really didn’t know how to teach a drumline, and she made kids learn this way (this is absolutely no hate to her btw, amazing person and amazing music teacher, just a bit lacking with drums). Kids who had been playing for 3+ years played like they started 3 months ago. When we got a new teacher for the drumline, suddenly both the beginners drumline and the main line started improving. The beginners line surpassed 75% of the main students within half a semester. The one crucial difference between the two teacher’s teaching styles was that the old instructor taught the bad way I described above, and the new teacher incorporated everything at the start. If students were struggling a bit with a phrase, he would slow it down, explain what’s happening, explain any rudiments in the phrase, and make the kids practice each of those rudiments on their own, and then put them all together to play the phrase. This is a much more effective way of learning percussion music as opposed to relearning the entire piece multiple times. Well that turned out way longer than I thought it would lmao
That’s fax man all it does is develop your knowledge of the music in a way that doesn’t showcase all of what your hands are supposed to do, but it doesn’t help that this method is backed up by plenty of instructors around the world 😒 It definitely helps when breaking down rudiments and such but the point of breaking down rudiments individually is so you can put those skills into practice with actual literature
I feel like the concept is good it’s just the teachers way of executing that’s flawed. The idea of breaking down a measure into its core rhythm is solid and something I use consistently both for piano and snare. The problem comes when it’s applied wrong, like learning the rhythms without the sticking, bc then you’re just playing another piece with no gain at all. Or when it’s used for the whole song, I’d only ever play without flams and diddles if we’re sightreading during the rehearsal. The point is that it needs to be taught used with other techniques, like slowing it down and going measure by measure, and that the base level that you practice at reflects the actual rhythm accurately.
As someone who has marched a season of drum corps, drum corps only makes you better like 99% of the time. The majority of directors who outright DISCOURAGE their students A), certainly never marched, B), got cut from a corps audition and are perma-butthurt, and/or C), severely hamper their students’ encouragement to branch out and be better and more diversely-skilled musicians, thus cutting off enjoyment often times. THE worst advice I’ve ever gotten was: “You should only do Open Class, you’re probably not gonna be good enough to do World Class for a while”, then I proceeded to make Genesis, which while it ain’t a Top 12, it’s a World Class corps. Edit: I’m personally a music ed major, and I seek to ENCOURAGE my students to try out for corps, to broaden their horizons and be the best they can. I don’t want to have them look back and see ME cutting off opportunities for any single student.
@@tylerjack6018 Genesis at the time I marched was overall good, I made some mistakes that wound up making me unpopular with some people, but I realize that I was foolish and didn’t invite good things for myself with how I performed and treated others. Hindsight’s 20/20 unfortunately, so my advice is to worry only about yourself and you’ll be happy. I figured that out this past summer at Phantom Regiment (2022), and I am carrying that new approach into my age out in 2023.
The dumbest advice I was given was to learn any music you need/want to learn at full tempo but only one measure at a time. I have no idea about anyone else, but this was probably the most frustrating way to learn. While we were in a room with this instructor, he made us learn this way. This was my second rehearsal in a DCA. To let you know what it was, this was a blues scale run at 160 with many accidentals relative to a blues scale that spread up and down between 2 octaves. It's not the hardest thing to learn, but it was the hardest music I had learned up to that point as a junior in high school
That’s awful, that pretty much just defeats the point of practicing with sheet music lmao. If you aren’t looking at the sheet music in order to understand the rhythms throughly (i.e. slowly and taking time to carefully place each note) then that instructor might as well just play it to you guys and ask you to play it back based on what you see his hands play. Sorry about your instructor dude, doesn’t sound like the line could’ve been all to together that year with teaching like that
I'm hoping whoever it was just miscommunicated, 'cause there's actually some truth to that one. Certainly not for "all music you ever want to learn ever" but if you come up on a tricky passage two approaches you can take are: 1) Play it super slow so you do it perfectly and gradually speed it up. or 2) Play it at tempo, but only a tiny bit, then add a little more, then a little more, gradually until it's the whole thing. Different things will be addressed by the two approaches, I don't think either one is always wrong or right, but they're both useful.
I would practice difficult sections syncopated and then flip the beat. Doing this would help with getting the fingers sorted out for passages with a lot of 16ths, etc
Most of the time, a lot of the drummers that I know who talks bad about Drum Corps and haven't marched Drum Corps, don't usually play as good as Drum Corps drummers do.
you gotta be pretty sure you're going to get all those singles out without any issue, and at that very low dynamic too. I would think it would be easier to overplay using the singles, but I guess if you practice it a bunch you can get it. Just don't know if it would be worth it or not
"Drummers for pop artists are over-paid and under-talented". This came from a guy who got fired from his only session gig ever for doing "wicked chops" over a four-on-the-floor pop song for a corporate presentation. That dude has clearly never seen Brendan Buckley(Shakira) play. There's a lot of reasons he's paid six figures and endorsed by DW, Roland, Vic Firth and Sabian. Living, Breathing metronome. Perfect dynamics. Perfect sense for the music. A lot of drummers that think they're good drummers are actually really bad drummers, because they don't serve the needs of the song. They serve the needs of themselves.
These segments must take you a long time! loads of work! very funny. The funniest thing I was taught or told, a clarinet instructor told me, "I'm a sax player and this is a sax." I asked, "what's this?" ( pointing at the side F# key) He said, "I don't know, they're a lot of keys on the saxophone." me..... "oooohhhhh!!!"
I'm a sax player too. I know what every key is on my saxophone. how could you not know that? especially as someone in a teaching position. Don't teach an instrument if you don't know what every key is on said instrument. That one really annoys me idk why.
My HS band teacher marched DCI for a couple years then DCA and was a caption head at one point, and a substitute teacher at our school who was a principal at once (Mr. DeGroote) who is the DCA marketing manager, so we are pretty lucky to have such drum corps supportive people at our school who promote to kids to actually do drumcorps.
Brass player here. I heard this all the time too. I marched and went to school in the late 90's/early 2000's. While it was definitely wrong when they said it to me (my time in DCI made me a MUCH better brass player) unfortunately I kind of get it. It's an "era" thing in DCI. If you go back to the mid 80's or earlier, there was a TON of terrible technique info for brass players in DCI. Like...really bad. If I was a college professor in the late 90's that probably means my exposure to DCI teaching was in the 70's, and it's understandable I'd hold a dim view of it. I can't speak to drums, but I'd imagine it's similar. The DCI approach to playing technique really modernized across the board during the 90's. Nowadays it's fantastic.
Also brass player, specifically a horn player. Marching a mellophone actually does screw with a player's embouchure. First there's the issue of the mello mouthpiece being different from a horn mouthpiece. Second even when using a horn mouthpiece, it is not at the same angle as when playing the horn.
So the concept of being able to play everything with your feet the same as your hands isn’t actually bad advice. If you play Latin music, you’ll quickly find the each limb is often playing a different rhythm. Go watch Keith Carlock play and watch what he does. Oh and the cam on that left kick pedal needs to be rotated so that the chain is behind. 4:45
Good morning. Last time I was this early pio still fielded a corps. I think it’d be super cool if you got on the aged out podcast at some point, they’ve got a ton of United and crown people on so you fit the usual bill very well
I’m still just a junior trumpet in high school, but finding out about drum corps has made me the best I’ve been. Practicing the music on RUclips has increased my range and musicality
I played drumset for a year and a half before joining my highschool drumline. It has absolutely helped by an incredible amount with my drumset skills and drumline skills
I saw the thumbnail and INSTANTLY clicked. I'm a current music major at college, and SO many people are telling me that drum corps and marching band don't make you better. Well, it made me better at sax, which is why I'm now trying out for drum corps on Mello.
Not in any particular order: Don't listen to Wynton Marsalis (never heard this one personally, but I'm aware of the attitude). Bach Strads are the trumpet to own. Never practice below performance tempo. It will ruin your technique as you approach performance tempo. Even though it's only a cue note that isn't actually part of the cornet solo, you need to play it (the judge dropped me to a 2 for not playing a cue that isn't even part of the solo).
I mean i find drumline to be physically amazing. Tbh ive had so much back pain and drumline is the only group that can fix that easily. I feel physically fit after practice and i feel good about myself from it
I definitely have experienced a lot of bias against marching music in my education... if anything, marching made me stronger (as I am sure it has for many). I never marched a corps, but even going to a university with a well-known marching program for a couple of years, there was a significant bias against it from many of the faculty. Looking back, I don't think they fully appreciated that many students were there because of the marching band and that their bias was misplaced. Marching can ruin a student's ability; however, most of the time, that's from bad technique or poor application of technique and the inability to self-correct... rarely is it ever the activity itself that lends to negative consequences musically. I've seen guys leave for summer break, march a corps, and come back for fall semester in beast mode... never have I seen the opposite.
I've heard this for brass players in old skool drum corps due to the use of bugles and the loud and louder approach, but now that brass staffs are among some of the finest music educators in the country , I don't see this holding water any more. As for percussion-this has never been true in my opinion.
That Audacity amplification part of the story had me cryin. Good stuff. Yeah, I was always told drum corps was bad for me too (in the 90s.) Too bad I got injured while playing tenors my third year. lol (torn rotator cuff...). Still did two more though.
Had an instructor tell me that a little mold on my reed is good because the reed is now broken in. I usually practice for a long time to break a reed in, I don’t need to get sick
"Before playing marimba, you want to shake your hands vigorously, continuously for 5-10 minutes until all the blood has left your hands and you feel that tingly sensation of them being asleep." "Even if it's not written in, always play glock parts in octaves cause it reinforces the sound." (On his first day): "Hi everyone, we're gonna start with running a lap so you know who's in charge here." (After writing nothing but straight 16th notes over a swing tune): "DCI does it all the time." Attended a masterclass that taught "flutter pedal" for vibraphone, which is where you spam the foot pedal...it sounds awful and makes you look really stupid. Lastly, my least favorite, when a teacher's unable to correctly diagnose a problem: "you just gotta feel it."
When I came back to HS Band from tour, the new band director told me that I didn't know anything about dynamics as I always overplayed everyone in my section....summer fortississimo is different than fall fortississimo.
I was told by my drumline instructor that playing marimba was ruining my marching snare drum technique. In reality he was jealous I could play triple stroke rolls and he couldn’t. The stupidity runs both ways.
So I have a story now about my first year on bass line. I didn’t know technique for holding the mallet correctly. My teacher fixed how i was holding the mallet and put me behind the drum. Not being use to how to hold my hands on a marching bass drum, my hands were at different angles. My left hand was to flat, and my right hand was too vertical. So he only sees me left hand and fixes that, and I implemented the same thing on my right hand not knowing. I ended up having my mallet further than 90 degrees back. I start playing and i feel something it wrong and I mention it to him, and he just says you’re not use to it yet, It’ll be fine. After a full day of learning music, I get home from my practice and couldn’t move my wrist correctly for a week. For those going to marching bass, ASK THEM TO CHECK BOTH HANDS, IT HURTS
“Don’t add drum set fills It’s not written in the part so don’t add it” There r 2 types of drum set parts Aux-more drum corps style or where it’s mainly effect where u want exactly as written Backbeat-jazz drumming or like a disney tune and some other orchestral pieces My orchestra director stopped my friend who was on drumset when he was playing a common eighth note ostinato with rim knocks so like a light straight jazz piece and he added a small tom fill which is what the director responded to I know wht he means but this isn’t like the piece i wrote or my other friend where we wrote like aux drumset where we wanted low brow backbeats but stable and a specific timbre; this was phantom of the opera with an ostinato groove Musicals r usually a mixture of both types of drumset, so pieces like this specific phantom of the opera piece is backbeat where the main theme of phantom is aux with like cymbal crashes and tom runs
i actually knew quite a few people who sacrificed a LOT for drum corps. This one girl took a year off of school in order to pay for 1 season of drum corps. Another girl was so desperate after paying her season's tuition that she sold a few of her eggs.
My teacher says a similar thing. I agree. I was told about a student playing wilcoxxens 144th solo on double bass. I often find it easier to play it on bass slowly, while following the music in my hands. I can definitely do things with my feet other people can't. But I'm not great. Plus I don't want my dw9000s to rust from lack of use. You are playing so loose on the pedal like jazz. I naturally enjoy playing double bass. In the same sense, never touched a quint. Maybe it's about what we have around us to use musically. I was limited.
It’s rlly funny, One of my dads friends said drum Corp gave him really awesome listening skills within the ensembles lol. Complete opposite of the truth of what some instructors say
I know this is a pretty old video but when I auditioned for spirit in 2018 I was still a junior in Highschool and when I told my directors about it they told me I could either be in the band program for my senior year, or march drum corps. It was pretty crazy, they also told me it was only for college kids which is just false lmao
Dumbest things I was ever taught were variations of "You can't play ____ because you aren't ____", specifically involving things you don't choose and can't change. That it's somehow inherently disrespectful to want to play music you enjoy
5:25 ok. As far as i was taught to hold it, you grip on the stick/mallet but u relax the hand yet keep it firm on the stick and loosen both the pinky and ring finger a bit
for the first one, I don't know about SHOULD but... it certainty couldn't hurt to know rudiments with your feet for some styles of music. Could definitely open up a lot of new possibilities.
I went to an undisclosed College in the Wisconsin University system, and tried to introduce marching percussion into they're bubble. I had already been a member of two Drum Corps prior, and had taught high school lines in the area for five years, the experience I had in Uni didn't work out well. I had to go through the Provost to get permission for our percussion program to obtain marching drums from a Drum Corps that I had been involved with which was gracious to do so. My percussion professor and I had no issues working together doing so.. Down the line in my third year of attending the educational institution, the Director (tenure) of music told me "why do you even bother? This is a college of higher education, marching bands do not fit here, and I do not understand why you and you're professor are pushing this so hard, it's not making us any money". Needless to say I immediately returned the drums back to the drum corps, and left the University.
There actually are drummers out there who can play flamiques and crazy stuff with their feet but it's not super fast and it's usually only used for short fills
Marching snare drummers didn't always play with such legato technique as they play today. So I think there really used to be a day when you saw more injuries than today. I'm think this started to change in the late 80s when people saw how the Blue Devils effortlessly played so many notes....then the advent of the Kevlar heads (87, 88) just made that upstroke type technique the only thing that made sense.
Honestly between the 2 ways to hold the stick in number 3 the drum corps style is actually the one that works for my matched grip better, i’m more of a rudimental drummer and drum corps is very very rudimental
To be fair, the drum corps one has a point specifically for brass players (only imo). Because dci values volume and agility in brass playing more than anything (emphasis on volume), it's really easy for brass players to form an embouchure during the season that does not transfer well to the concert music playing. They can also hurt themselves from overblowing and forming bad habits on sound production. But, it is entirely possible to avoid these mistakes, and to recover from them as well. It just depends on how badly you can hurt yourself.
@@EMCproductions I guess that is because that if you're chosen for "The Commandant's Own" they already know you are an Excellent Musician, and worthy of your spot in the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps!! 😎😉
Ok, so I'm a synth player for WGI, so not drum related, but this is good. This happened my Junior year of high school. First, some quick backstory. I had been playing piano for about 12 or so years at that point, and that was my 4th season (2nd winter season), playing synth. So, let's just say that I knew how to play my instrument pretty well. Secondly, we had a new Front ensemble tech that season, as our old one (who was the most epic guy ever), moved out of state. Well....this new tech, wasn't the best. And...he was also kind of a jerk. I should also mention that Front Ensemble techs (especially in high school), are always focussed on Mallets, and barely rarely know anything about electronics. So...that sucks. Rise us electronics!!! Go Team-E!!!!! So anyways...on to the story. I'll try to keep this short. Our tech...who I'll refer to as Sam (not anywhere near his real name), wrote us his own warm up piece. First...it just sounded horrid. Like...it was not pleasant to listen to. Which was kind of the point. It wasn't a "basic" exercise. It was meant to be more of an entertaining piece, to play in the lot. Well...there was part in my music towards the end of the exercise. It was a quarter note triplet rhythm. And the notes were just mashed together chords, alternating left and right hands (bass and treble clef). It was literally just hitting random notes. And, there was some text above that part that stated "play with palms". Sooo....that's pretty weird. Piano is basically all technique, and one of the biggest rules is to never rest your palms on the keys. So, my initial thought, was that Sam meant for me to just flatten my hands down. Like if you went to play the piano, and just completely relaxed your hands, and then pressed down on the keys. But no...it gets even stupider. this is going to be a little hard to explain. Basically...Sam wanted me to face my hands towards each other, inwards. (so, turning my hands so that my fingers were facing each other), and then hit the notes like that. I legit thought he was trolling me. Guess what? Was was 100% serious. We stared at each other, for what felt like 5 solid minutes (probably only like 10 seconds, lol), and I said "I am not playing my instrument like that. That is the stupidest thing anyone has ever said to me about music" (basically word for word). Then Sam kinda got upset at me, and almost poked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about, and then said "Fine", to which I also replied "Fine", and I didn't say another word to him for the rest of the season. Also...this was literally the first or second week of the season...sooo yeah. That was fun. Ugh...the struggle of being a synth player, lol.
Just come across this a year later so noone will probably ever read this, but playing what your hands can play on your feet is absolutely a good tip. Once you've learnt to play 8th note grooves that sound good or learnt to swing or to blast beat in metal, having the competence to play rudiments and patterns that you can play on you hands, on your feet, opens up so many avenues of drumming you never know existed. There's a jazz exercise in which u swap all the limbs around, so let's say your left hand plays time instead of your right, your right foot comps instead of your left hand and your right hand plays 2 and 4 instead of your feet on the hats, then switching them again and again. Having the independence and pedal competence to do these exercises is the strongest bit of advice I've ever been taught and makes everything I play sound 10x as clean so I don't get the criticism here I'm ngl. I understand that you physically cannot play a dci snare solo on your feet, it's impossible, but it only negatively effects you as a drummer if your ignorant to your development of your feet individually because you can't buzz roll on your feet.
Also with regards to holding the stick wrong, honestly I agree from a purely drum kit perspective. No obviously marching drummers don't deathgrip the stick, that's stupid, they desever credit, I mean yeah they're just great. But from a drumkit drummers perspective, you want a much looser and a much more open grip, as it allows the fulcrum to move withing your hand, as well as much more subtle finger work that physically can't be done from a more "drumline" esc grip. Yes he's stupid if he assumes drum corps just squeeze the sticks and that's it, but there is some merit to it, especially if presumably he was a jazz player as that wouldn't surprise me.
You should do a video on what its like being in a drumeline, what to do to prepare for drumeline, and what to do to prepare for a musical carrier. Like this video so Eric can see please. Thanks!
Recently my cousin's been trying to get me to join the drum core that he's in which is in my old town and I've been debating it for a while and I think I'm going to do it but I can't be sure
Absolutely agreed. And also maybe be cautious making videos wearing a t-shirt containing a pic of a “white rabbit” in today’s climate. We’re not talking Grace Slick & Jefferson Airplane here either .... not that white rabbit. Entirely different (& nasty) white rabbit (symbolism). Great video topic & subject matter. I think we’ve all sadly experienced these kinds of things & some “music professors” who’ve told us all these ridiculous things. I once had a semi-notorious (jerk) director of bands (who was a serious wind ensemble guy) who told me that playing in the university’s jazz ensemble would “harm my tone quality” as a brass player.
What is the DUMBEST thing someone taught you?
i was taught one time by a sub in band to play snare with mallets to amplify the sound lol
@Christopher Bill tried to teach me today that the slide whistle was a trombone instrument and that the trombone was supposedly the greatest instrument of all time...
My rim shots were to loud...
I was told that shots were somehow play on the top of the drum... What!?!?!?!?
Your drums are too loud, turn it down. I was playing an acoustic kit.
i remember the dumbest thing my bd told me was that i was "wasting money" all because i bought a practice pad to do drumming as a side hobby, even though trumpet is my main instrument. thankfully he realized a day later how dumb that was and apologized
Bruh
Dude I’m a trumpet who pratice snare every now then
Atleast he apologized, but that was still pretty dumb
Dumbest thing I was taught - slide whistles are part of the trombone family
Lmao
That guy (He who shall not be named!) should never dis-respect a Member of The Commandant's Own! 😱🤢🤮
Dumbest thing I was taught- slide whistles are part of the percussion family even though the definition of a percussion instrument is an instrument that's sound is created by the scraping, shaking, or striking of the instrument. Pretty sure slide whistle doesn't fit that definition.
Same
@@lesteryu Ummm.... errr... you don't strike it? Sooo, how you use it?
Not percussion related, but my highschool director thinks that the difference between baritone and euphonium is that euphonium is played classically and baritone is marched.. I tried to tell her there is a significant size difference and slight shape/tone difference and she told me that there must be a mistake and the corps I march with is wrong when I told her that I'm contracted as a euphonium in DCI and that the corps I march with has a euph section AND a baritone section. The a u d a c i t y
Edit: spelling
Yeah that’s odd. The instruments also have different origins. The baritone horn is almost identical to the baritone saxhorn in B-flat, but the euphonium doesn’t really fit the saxhorn profile.
People make mistakes
Their music says "Baritone 3". Neither marching baritone nor euphonium sound or play like a "classical" euphonium. And that's not a bad thing.
I've been told by many educaterds that DCI will ruin my musicianship, it finally affected me so much I quit. I wish I hadn't, I miss it very much.
dmndsol dumbasses
Why do they say that? I’ve seen POV’s and it looks epic.
@@timmyc9915 its a mega ton of work, doesn't mean you shouldnt do it though
The worst thing I was ever taught in drumline was that if you are learning a piece of music that has sticking, diddles, flams, etc, that you should add them in one at a time relearning the ENTIRE PIECE Each time. So you first learn just the rhythm, then re-learn the whole price with sticking, then again with the flams, learn it another time with the diddles, and so on.
This may work for pieces of music that you learn in your first week of playing drums, but for basically anything else, it’s the WORST possible thing you can do when learning a piece of music. You should always learn those things as you are playing the piece.
An alternative to doing this is just to play it slowly. Focus on certain parts, and play them even slower. If you learn all pieces by learning each thing completely separately, you are basically learning the piece several times over. Since a piece can change drastically based on these things, it’s a waste of time to do it this way.
For the past several years at my school, the drumline was taught by someone who really didn’t know how to teach a drumline, and she made kids learn this way (this is absolutely no hate to her btw, amazing person and amazing music teacher, just a bit lacking with drums). Kids who had been playing for 3+ years played like they started 3 months ago. When we got a new teacher for the drumline, suddenly both the beginners drumline and the main line started improving. The beginners line surpassed 75% of the main students within half a semester. The one crucial difference between the two teacher’s teaching styles was that the old instructor taught the bad way I described above, and the new teacher incorporated everything at the start. If students were struggling a bit with a phrase, he would slow it down, explain what’s happening, explain any rudiments in the phrase, and make the kids practice each of those rudiments on their own, and then put them all together to play the phrase.
This is a much more effective way of learning percussion music as opposed to relearning the entire piece multiple times.
Well that turned out way longer than I thought it would lmao
I feel like that’s a good way for beginners to learn sheet music, but I would absolutely hate doing that for every piece.
That’s fax man all it does is develop your knowledge of the music in a way that doesn’t showcase all of what your hands are supposed to do, but it doesn’t help that this method is backed up by plenty of instructors around the world 😒 It definitely helps when breaking down rudiments and such but the point of breaking down rudiments individually is so you can put those skills into practice with actual literature
Wait that’s exactly how my school Learns music lmao
I feel like the concept is good it’s just the teachers way of executing that’s flawed. The idea of breaking down a measure into its core rhythm is solid and something I use consistently both for piano and snare. The problem comes when it’s applied wrong, like learning the rhythms without the sticking, bc then you’re just playing another piece with no gain at all. Or when it’s used for the whole song, I’d only ever play without flams and diddles if we’re sightreading during the rehearsal. The point is that it needs to be taught used with other techniques, like slowing it down and going measure by measure, and that the base level that you practice at reflects the actual rhythm accurately.
Burnt Grass agreed
As someone who has marched a season of drum corps, drum corps only makes you better like 99% of the time. The majority of directors who outright DISCOURAGE their students A), certainly never marched, B), got cut from a corps audition and are perma-butthurt, and/or C), severely hamper their students’ encouragement to branch out and be better and more diversely-skilled musicians, thus cutting off enjoyment often times.
THE worst advice I’ve ever gotten was: “You should only do Open Class, you’re probably not gonna be good enough to do World Class for a while”, then I proceeded to make Genesis, which while it ain’t a Top 12, it’s a World Class corps.
Edit: I’m personally a music ed major, and I seek to ENCOURAGE my students to try out for corps, to broaden their horizons and be the best they can. I don’t want to have them look back and see ME cutting off opportunities for any single student.
How is the culture at genesis? I’m auditioning for bari/contra this season and I’m really curious
@@tylerjack6018 Genesis at the time I marched was overall good, I made some mistakes that wound up making me unpopular with some people, but I realize that I was foolish and didn’t invite good things for myself with how I performed and treated others. Hindsight’s 20/20 unfortunately, so my advice is to worry only about yourself and you’ll be happy. I figured that out this past summer at Phantom Regiment (2022), and I am carrying that new approach into my age out in 2023.
@@jalakor sounds good, thanks for the info and good luck at phantom.
The dumbest advice I was given was to learn any music you need/want to learn at full tempo but only one measure at a time. I have no idea about anyone else, but this was probably the most frustrating way to learn. While we were in a room with this instructor, he made us learn this way. This was my second rehearsal in a DCA. To let you know what it was, this was a blues scale run at 160 with many accidentals relative to a blues scale that spread up and down between 2 octaves. It's not the hardest thing to learn, but it was the hardest music I had learned up to that point as a junior in high school
I mean, you can drill hard passages one measure at a time... but a WHOLE PIECE?
That’s awful, that pretty much just defeats the point of practicing with sheet music lmao. If you aren’t looking at the sheet music in order to understand the rhythms throughly (i.e. slowly and taking time to carefully place each note) then that instructor might as well just play it to you guys and ask you to play it back based on what you see his hands play. Sorry about your instructor dude, doesn’t sound like the line could’ve been all to together that year with teaching like that
I'm hoping whoever it was just miscommunicated, 'cause there's actually some truth to that one. Certainly not for "all music you ever want to learn ever" but if you come up on a tricky passage two approaches you can take are:
1) Play it super slow so you do it perfectly and gradually speed it up.
or
2) Play it at tempo, but only a tiny bit, then add a little more, then a little more, gradually until it's the whole thing.
Different things will be addressed by the two approaches, I don't think either one is always wrong or right, but they're both useful.
I've heard someone say never to do the slow playing. The explanation behind it was stupid.
I would practice difficult sections syncopated and then flip the beat. Doing this would help with getting the fingers sorted out for passages with a lot of 16ths, etc
Good morning! Eric could please play my favorite cadence of all time “Football crowd hype by EMC”
Most of the time, a lot of the drummers that I know who talks bad about Drum Corps and haven't marched Drum Corps, don't usually play as good as Drum Corps drummers do.
Good video Eric. Btw, I've never seen anyone play the Scheherazade exceprt with singles. I always played it with the double stroke sticking myself.
you gotta be pretty sure you're going to get all those singles out without any issue, and at that very low dynamic too.
I would think it would be easier to overplay using the singles, but I guess if you practice it a bunch you can get it. Just don't know if it would be worth it or not
"Drummers for pop artists are over-paid and under-talented". This came from a guy who got fired from his only session gig ever for doing "wicked chops" over a four-on-the-floor pop song for a corporate presentation.
That dude has clearly never seen Brendan Buckley(Shakira) play. There's a lot of reasons he's paid six figures and endorsed by DW, Roland, Vic Firth and Sabian. Living, Breathing metronome. Perfect dynamics. Perfect sense for the music. A lot of drummers that think they're good drummers are actually really bad drummers, because they don't serve the needs of the song. They serve the needs of themselves.
Why does Dr. Chip Tooth look like Murray from the Impractical Jokers?
First a ferret and now this🤣
These segments must take you a long time! loads of work! very funny. The funniest thing I was taught or told, a clarinet instructor told me, "I'm a sax player and this is a sax." I asked, "what's this?" ( pointing at the side F# key) He said, "I don't know, they're a lot of keys on the saxophone." me..... "oooohhhhh!!!"
I'm a sax player too. I know what every key is on my saxophone. how could you not know that? especially as someone in a teaching position. Don't teach an instrument if you don't know what every key is on said instrument. That one really annoys me idk why.
Could Charlie Parker have answered correctly? Who knows.
the audacity of that one masterclass clinician
Nice
My HS band teacher marched DCI for a couple years then DCA and was a caption head at one point, and a substitute teacher at our school who was a principal at once (Mr. DeGroote) who is the DCA marketing manager, so we are pretty lucky to have such drum corps supportive people at our school who promote to kids to actually do drumcorps.
Brass player here. I heard this all the time too. I marched and went to school in the late 90's/early 2000's. While it was definitely wrong when they said it to me (my time in DCI made me a MUCH better brass player) unfortunately I kind of get it. It's an "era" thing in DCI. If you go back to the mid 80's or earlier, there was a TON of terrible technique info for brass players in DCI. Like...really bad. If I was a college professor in the late 90's that probably means my exposure to DCI teaching was in the 70's, and it's understandable I'd hold a dim view of it. I can't speak to drums, but I'd imagine it's similar. The DCI approach to playing technique really modernized across the board during the 90's. Nowadays it's fantastic.
Also brass player, specifically a horn player. Marching a mellophone actually does screw with a player's embouchure. First there's the issue of the mello mouthpiece being different from a horn mouthpiece. Second even when using a horn mouthpiece, it is not at the same angle as when playing the horn.
So the concept of being able to play everything with your feet the same as your hands isn’t actually bad advice. If you play Latin music, you’ll quickly find the each limb is often playing a different rhythm. Go watch Keith Carlock play and watch what he does.
Oh and the cam on that left kick pedal needs to be rotated so that the chain is behind. 4:45
Dude you’re so on point about this. Always investigate what you’ve been taught, a lot of it is crap.
Honestly, injuries are too common in musicians
My band director told me that it was a waste of time trying to learn any instruments besides my main one.
Good morning. Last time I was this early pio still fielded a corps. I think it’d be super cool if you got on the aged out podcast at some point, they’ve got a ton of United and crown people on so you fit the usual bill very well
Also another injury is when your spee practicing and your rims are rough on drumset, i cut myself. Twice on my set
I’m still just a junior trumpet in high school, but finding out about drum corps has made me the best I’ve been. Practicing the music on RUclips has increased my range and musicality
Nice what's school
can you do a lesson type series on playing tenors
in the mean time, plenty of tenor lessons on my channel!
@Paper Airplanes 4 Kids gotta do what you gotta do :) this algorithm is a b
@Paper Airplanes 4 Kids I’ve seen some of his videos, they’re pretty good, very underrated youtuber. Still shameless though lol
I played drumset for a year and a half before joining my highschool drumline. It has absolutely helped by an incredible amount with my drumset skills and drumline skills
You should built a set of *L O N G* tenors. Tenors just made out of wide octobans.
9:25 - 10:05 was the funniest thing I've experienced this year. Have not laughed that much in a long time. Thanks, Eric!
Your video fires me up! My collage prof discouraged me from marching drum corps too. But I said he's lame and marched 5 years at BK and had a blast
When your middle school soccer coach tells you that playing for a traveling team with hinder you abilities as an athlete.
If anything I started playing in my schools indoor percussion if that counts as drum corps and if anything I feel like it made me a better musician
I saw the thumbnail and INSTANTLY clicked. I'm a current music major at college, and SO many people are telling me that drum corps and marching band don't make you better. Well, it made me better at sax, which is why I'm now trying out for drum corps on Mello.
Not in any particular order:
Don't listen to Wynton Marsalis (never heard this one personally, but I'm aware of the attitude).
Bach Strads are the trumpet to own.
Never practice below performance tempo. It will ruin your technique as you approach performance tempo.
Even though it's only a cue note that isn't actually part of the cornet solo, you need to play it (the judge dropped me to a 2 for not playing a cue that isn't even part of the solo).
I hate how everyone who’s never marched Corp are always saying it’s bad
I mean i find drumline to be physically amazing. Tbh ive had so much back pain and drumline is the only group that can fix that easily. I feel physically fit after practice and i feel good about myself from it
I definitely have experienced a lot of bias against marching music in my education... if anything, marching made me stronger (as I am sure it has for many). I never marched a corps, but even going to a university with a well-known marching program for a couple of years, there was a significant bias against it from many of the faculty. Looking back, I don't think they fully appreciated that many students were there because of the marching band and that their bias was misplaced. Marching can ruin a student's ability; however, most of the time, that's from bad technique or poor application of technique and the inability to self-correct... rarely is it ever the activity itself that lends to negative consequences musically. I've seen guys leave for summer break, march a corps, and come back for fall semester in beast mode... never have I seen the opposite.
EMCproductions you incourage me to play snare drums while quiting trombone, thank you so much!
I've heard this for brass players in old skool drum corps due to the use of bugles and the loud and louder approach, but now that brass staffs are among some of the finest music educators
in the country , I don't see this holding water any more. As for percussion-this has never been
true in my opinion.
That Audacity amplification part of the story had me cryin. Good stuff. Yeah, I was always told drum corps was bad for me too (in the 90s.) Too bad I got injured while playing tenors my third year. lol (torn rotator cuff...). Still did two more though.
Had an instructor tell me that a little mold on my reed is good because the reed is now broken in. I usually practice for a long time to break a reed in, I don’t need to get sick
"Before playing marimba, you want to shake your hands vigorously, continuously for 5-10 minutes until all the blood has left your hands and you feel that tingly sensation of them being asleep."
"Even if it's not written in, always play glock parts in octaves cause it reinforces the sound."
(On his first day): "Hi everyone, we're gonna start with running a lap so you know who's in charge here."
(After writing nothing but straight 16th notes over a swing tune): "DCI does it all the time."
Attended a masterclass that taught "flutter pedal" for vibraphone, which is where you spam the foot pedal...it sounds awful and makes you look really stupid.
Lastly, my least favorite, when a teacher's unable to correctly diagnose a problem: "you just gotta feel it."
this is straight up just a copy paste of a more popular comment. why?
@@heavymachete6235 both are mine, looks like it double-posted
@@dylanjc ohhhhhhhh ok. makes sence, thats fair.
Love hearing about your life stories, love that you are real about things
4:46. The chain on the slave pedal is backwards. The pain. The agony😭
Bruh I really dumb. I thought the background was actually real😂
When I came back to HS Band from tour, the new band director told me that I didn't know anything about dynamics as I always overplayed everyone in my section....summer fortississimo is different than fall fortississimo.
I would love to see him travel to an HBCU and go thru HBCU training for atleast a day and learn HCBU cadences.
"Lets see what this sounds like, shall we?" . . . 9:33
You got 11k likes time for the triangle concerto
I was told by my drumline instructor that playing marimba was ruining my marching snare drum technique. In reality he was jealous I could play triple stroke rolls and he couldn’t. The stupidity runs both ways.
So I have a story now about my first year on bass line. I didn’t know technique for holding the mallet correctly. My teacher fixed how i was holding the mallet and put me behind the drum. Not being use to how to hold my hands on a marching bass drum, my hands were at different angles. My left hand was to flat, and my right hand was too vertical. So he only sees me left hand and fixes that, and I implemented the same thing on my right hand not knowing. I ended up having my mallet further than 90 degrees back. I start playing and i feel something it wrong and I mention it to him, and he just says you’re not use to it yet, It’ll be fine. After a full day of learning music, I get home from my practice and couldn’t move my wrist correctly for a week.
For those going to marching bass, ASK THEM TO CHECK BOTH HANDS, IT HURTS
Rolling on the drum (floor) laughing
The amplification thing was beyond funnu
“Don’t add drum set fills
It’s not written in the part so don’t add it”
There r 2 types of drum set parts
Aux-more drum corps style or where it’s mainly effect where u want exactly as written
Backbeat-jazz drumming or like a disney tune and some other orchestral pieces
My orchestra director stopped my friend who was on drumset when he was playing a common eighth note ostinato with rim knocks so like a light straight jazz piece and he added a small tom fill which is what the director responded to
I know wht he means but this isn’t like the piece i wrote or my other friend where we wrote like aux drumset where we wanted low brow backbeats but stable and a specific timbre; this was phantom of the opera with an ostinato groove
Musicals r usually a mixture of both types of drumset, so pieces like this specific phantom of the opera piece is backbeat where the main theme of phantom is aux with like cymbal crashes and tom runs
i actually knew quite a few people who sacrificed a LOT for drum corps. This one girl took a year off of school in order to pay for 1 season of drum corps. Another girl was so desperate after paying her season's tuition that she sold a few of her eggs.
"Ok let's hear what it sounds"
*B A S S*
My teacher says a similar thing. I agree. I was told about a student playing wilcoxxens 144th solo on double bass. I often find it easier to play it on bass slowly, while following the music in my hands. I can definitely do things with my feet other people can't. But I'm not great. Plus I don't want my dw9000s to rust from lack of use. You are playing so loose on the pedal like jazz. I naturally enjoy playing double bass. In the same sense, never touched a quint. Maybe it's about what we have around us to use musically. I was limited.
It’s rlly funny, One of my dads friends said drum Corp gave him really awesome listening skills within the ensembles lol. Complete opposite of the truth of what some instructors say
The audacity part has me howling 😂😂😂
8:20 ah yes the return of Chip Tooth
Even though I had a terrible drum corps summer I think everyone should give it a shot!
Are there any things that you can remember teaching others that when you look back now you know was stupid
Scheherazade with singles? I just realized I need to to practice
I know this is a pretty old video but when I auditioned for spirit in 2018 I was still a junior in Highschool and when I told my directors about it they told me I could either be in the band program for my senior year, or march drum corps. It was pretty crazy, they also told me it was only for college kids which is just false lmao
My sax teacher, who was Sax professor hated when her students took jazz. Said it would ruin my classical embouchure.
Dumbest things I was ever taught were variations of "You can't play ____ because you aren't ____", specifically involving things you don't choose and can't change. That it's somehow inherently disrespectful to want to play music you enjoy
On the 'foot' thing... the first thing I thought of was "Bleed" by Meshuggah, lol
5:25 ok. As far as i was taught to hold it, you grip on the stick/mallet but u relax the hand yet keep it firm on the stick and loosen both the pinky and ring finger a bit
for the first one, I don't know about SHOULD but... it certainty couldn't hurt to know rudiments with your feet for some styles of music. Could definitely open up a lot of new possibilities.
Like the 2 Cool Percussion drum set rack on wheels in the back ground.
I went to an undisclosed College in the Wisconsin University system, and tried to introduce marching percussion into they're bubble. I had already been a member of two Drum Corps prior, and had taught high school lines in the area for five years, the experience I had in Uni didn't work out well. I had to go through the Provost to get permission for our percussion program to obtain marching drums from a Drum Corps that I had been involved with which was gracious to do so. My percussion professor and I had no issues working together doing so.. Down the line in my third year of attending the educational institution, the Director (tenure) of music told me "why do you even bother? This is a college of higher education, marching bands do not fit here, and I do not understand why you and you're professor are pushing this so hard, it's not making us any money". Needless to say I immediately returned the drums back to the drum corps, and left the University.
My elementary band teacher taught us to play a flam with the grace note after the primary note
There actually are drummers out there who can play flamiques and crazy stuff with their feet but it's not super fast and it's usually only used for short fills
Marching snare drummers didn't always play with such legato technique as they play today. So I think there really used to be a day when you saw more injuries than today. I'm think this started to change in the late 80s when people saw how the Blue Devils effortlessly played so many notes....then the advent of the Kevlar heads (87, 88) just made that upstroke type technique the only thing that made sense.
Prof. Chip Tooth was definitely my fave.
Honestly between the 2 ways to hold the stick in number 3 the drum corps style is actually the one that works for my matched grip better, i’m more of a rudimental drummer and drum corps is very very rudimental
To be fair, the drum corps one has a point specifically for brass players (only imo). Because dci values volume and agility in brass playing more than anything (emphasis on volume), it's really easy for brass players to form an embouchure during the season that does not transfer well to the concert music playing. They can also hurt themselves from overblowing and forming bad habits on sound production. But, it is entirely possible to avoid these mistakes, and to recover from them as well. It just depends on how badly you can hurt yourself.
Yes! And especially if you are a horn player.
Story 3, that guy must've been talking to the mallet players in the room.
A dumb jazz I was taught was that reading was a waste of time and that I should only work aurally because tradition fallacy.
“always play congas wit yarn mallets “
that last story had me laughing the whole time.
Question. Did you have to go through the school of music before reporting to DC after MCT.
No. Only the fleet bands have to go there.
@@EMCproductions I guess that is because that if you're chosen for "The Commandant's Own" they already know you are an Excellent Musician, and worthy of your spot in the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps!! 😎😉
Most underrated percussionist RUclipsr of all time (coming from a trombone player)
Please react to Vandegrift High school 2019 Grand Nationals finals run... I just want to know how you think we sounded...👍
this man be getting a live show of expert village
Ok, so I'm a synth player for WGI, so not drum related, but this is good. This happened my Junior year of high school. First, some quick backstory. I had been playing piano for about 12 or so years at that point, and that was my 4th season (2nd winter season), playing synth. So, let's just say that I knew how to play my instrument pretty well. Secondly, we had a new Front ensemble tech that season, as our old one (who was the most epic guy ever), moved out of state. Well....this new tech, wasn't the best. And...he was also kind of a jerk.
I should also mention that Front Ensemble techs (especially in high school), are always focussed on Mallets, and barely rarely know anything about electronics. So...that sucks. Rise us electronics!!! Go Team-E!!!!!
So anyways...on to the story. I'll try to keep this short. Our tech...who I'll refer to as Sam (not anywhere near his real name), wrote us his own warm up piece. First...it just sounded horrid. Like...it was not pleasant to listen to. Which was kind of the point. It wasn't a "basic" exercise. It was meant to be more of an entertaining piece, to play in the lot.
Well...there was part in my music towards the end of the exercise. It was a quarter note triplet rhythm. And the notes were just mashed together chords, alternating left and right hands (bass and treble clef). It was literally just hitting random notes. And, there was some text above that part that stated "play with palms". Sooo....that's pretty weird. Piano is basically all technique, and one of the biggest rules is to never rest your palms on the keys.
So, my initial thought, was that Sam meant for me to just flatten my hands down. Like if you went to play the piano, and just completely relaxed your hands, and then pressed down on the keys. But no...it gets even stupider. this is going to be a little hard to explain. Basically...Sam wanted me to face my hands towards each other, inwards. (so, turning my hands so that my fingers were facing each other), and then hit the notes like that.
I legit thought he was trolling me. Guess what? Was was 100% serious. We stared at each other, for what felt like 5 solid minutes (probably only like 10 seconds, lol), and I said "I am not playing my instrument like that. That is the stupidest thing anyone has ever said to me about music" (basically word for word). Then Sam kinda got upset at me, and almost poked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about, and then said "Fine", to which I also replied "Fine", and I didn't say another word to him for the rest of the season.
Also...this was literally the first or second week of the season...sooo yeah. That was fun. Ugh...the struggle of being a synth player, lol.
I thought the thumbnail said drum chops
The last story was absolutely hilarious!
Just come across this a year later so noone will probably ever read this, but playing what your hands can play on your feet is absolutely a good tip. Once you've learnt to play 8th note grooves that sound good or learnt to swing or to blast beat in metal, having the competence to play rudiments and patterns that you can play on you hands, on your feet, opens up so many avenues of drumming you never know existed. There's a jazz exercise in which u swap all the limbs around, so let's say your left hand plays time instead of your right, your right foot comps instead of your left hand and your right hand plays 2 and 4 instead of your feet on the hats, then switching them again and again. Having the independence and pedal competence to do these exercises is the strongest bit of advice I've ever been taught and makes everything I play sound 10x as clean so I don't get the criticism here I'm ngl. I understand that you physically cannot play a dci snare solo on your feet, it's impossible, but it only negatively effects you as a drummer if your ignorant to your development of your feet individually because you can't buzz roll on your feet.
Also with regards to holding the stick wrong, honestly I agree from a purely drum kit perspective. No obviously marching drummers don't deathgrip the stick, that's stupid, they desever credit, I mean yeah they're just great. But from a drumkit drummers perspective, you want a much looser and a much more open grip, as it allows the fulcrum to move withing your hand, as well as much more subtle finger work that physically can't be done from a more "drumline" esc grip. Yes he's stupid if he assumes drum corps just squeeze the sticks and that's it, but there is some merit to it, especially if presumably he was a jazz player as that wouldn't surprise me.
I wonder now, was the Audacity guy the same guy that Chip Tooth was based on in the first place?
hell yeah, uploaded while i was pooping!
The first story sounds like a Thomas Lang situation.
Good morning!
You should do a video on what its like being in a drumeline, what to do to prepare for drumeline, and what to do to prepare for a musical carrier. Like this video so Eric can see please. Thanks!
My drum tec told me that I played mallets like a snare player
Dude- for #1, I think I may have gone to that same masterclass
Recently my cousin's been trying to get me to join the drum core that he's in which is in my old town and I've been debating it for a while and I think I'm going to do it but I can't be sure
I think if you took it seriously enough you should be able to play all non drag rudiments with your feet. It would be awesome.
Absolutely agreed. And also maybe be cautious making videos wearing a t-shirt containing a pic of a “white rabbit” in today’s climate. We’re not talking Grace Slick & Jefferson Airplane here either .... not that white rabbit. Entirely different (& nasty) white rabbit (symbolism). Great video topic & subject matter. I think we’ve all sadly experienced these kinds of things & some “music professors” who’ve told us all these ridiculous things. I once had a semi-notorious (jerk) director of bands (who was a serious wind ensemble guy) who told me that playing in the university’s jazz ensemble would “harm my tone quality” as a brass player.
although Thomas Lang is close to lesson 1. haha. Love this channel.
Aye, got the child prodigy Olander in there.
Drum corps can set you back in life, compared to someone who interned instead then gets the job over you. How often does this happen, who knows.
Lol, I had a masterclass that was exactly like this… pretty sure it was the same percussionist 👀