This year I am working with a drumline in a small school district. We have combined high and middle schoolers. Here lies the problem. None of these students have had any percussion lessons, except for the one on one that I give them. They have been able to choose what instrument they wanted to play which has caused problems. NO CHOPS, or rudiments or technique. I am doing this on the fly, we are doing indoor drumline, this is their 3rd year and they have had problems in the past 2 years. Now I am trying to help clean up a big mess to make them better. Any one in this situation, or if you have any comments to help me with this, I am more than happy to hear from you.

Well, I have some suggestions, if you'd like.

First, and most importantly, have patience!!!
I really do commend you for taking on this responsibility, but you will be stretched pretty thin, so always keep some patience stored away, and look on the bright side.

And you should try to talk to your band director and see if you can find an instructor, if at all possible. If you can't, try to give them lessons if possible. Since they choose their own instruments, they'll be willing to learn them. If it doesn't work out, then try to find something they can be good at as well.

That's all I have. I sincerely hope this helps you out. If it doesn't, then there are always people here to give their advice.

- Tenortoad

P.S. - I'll be in the same situation soon, so that's what I'm going to do. =)

I'm in a very similar situation. The school I have been working with is a small private school. This year is the first year they have had a drum line (they don't have enough kids to put together a marching band yet). I'm not fully in charge of the program so I didn't get to make decisions such as who plays what instrument. Not one of my students has ever had a private lesson and only a few of them could read music. Although this situation may seem like a nightmare, it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Patience is an absolute must. Try not to forget that these are kids, with no experience and varying degrees of dedication. I tried to push my students to act like a competitive high school line and I quickly learned that was not the way to go. When I backed off and tried to make things a little more fun, I got a much better response. The hard part for me is to keep the older kids challenged while not over doing it on the younger ones. It's a balancing act and a constant challenge.

My advice to you would be to try to keep it fun and challenging for the kids and don't forget your allowed to have some fun, too.

I can definitely relate to you on this one. So far everyone has said some good things. But here’s my 2 cents...
I am assuming that you are the instructor (that was hired to work with the group). The first thing you need to do is to get the Band Director on your side. Let him know that you are going to run the percussion section. (My current BD allows me to do whatever I want with the Brass Sections. With that said we’ve also spent a lot of time making sure that we are on the same page and have the same goals as a staff.)

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None of these students have had any percussion lessons, except for the one on one that I give them.

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I would remedy that. When I started at the school I am at now we had the same problem with the brass section. I started giving lessons to the high school students. I don’t charge my usual rate; instead, I only charge them $15 per half hour. I even provide the materials for them at the lessons. By doing this, I have given them an affordable way to improve, plus it allows me a more hands on approach to each individual in the sections I instruct. This next semester I am going to offer lessons to the students that are coming up from the middle/junior high school next year. (That way I can “prime” them for marching season.)

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They have been able to choose what instrument they wanted to play which has caused problems.

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Make next suggestion is to get the group together. Tell them something on the line of “I know this isn’t the way that you are used to things being done, but we are going to audition for parts.” They may grumble and complain but that’s ok. You may even want to give them audition materials and etudes. Then give them a week to practice and hold the auditions. Assign the player that fits to the parts that you have. It’s up to you to allow them to audition on more than one part or not. And don’t feel obligated to use every single student that wants to be in the group. But if you do “cut” someone be sure to tell them what they need to do to earn a spot. Or maybe make them an alternate. (Again, I had a similar issue at the school I am at now. They assigned parts by seniority. After I held auditions they were shocked when the first chair player was a freshman.)

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Now I am trying to help clean up a big mess to make them better.

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With that statement in mind, here are my suggestions. The first 2 weeks of your winter line rehearsal work on technique only. In fact, you can even use the first 2 weeks as their audition process if you like. That way you can observe them improve or not and you can use that in helping you decide what part to best put each student. (Along with the audition etude or solo.) During that time, don’t give them the show music. After you “set” the lines, continue working another week on technique. (With each player on there assigned instruments.) Make them earn the show music. Set goals with the group. (Be sure to be realistic.) And when they reach the goals give them the opener... Etc.
If this is a gig that you plan on having long term, you may also want to start “priming” them for fall marching band.
Sorry for the long winded post. I hope that this helps. I think all instructors that have been around awhile have been in similar situations. If you need to talk or vent your frustrations feel free to PM me.

I can't really give much advice on your situation, but I must admit that the idea of putting middle and high school students together is quite brilliant. I am definitely going to ask my band director if he could help me organize something like that when we get back from break...Thanks for the idea!!

Well mate, I being a student in the Exact same situation that you are in, this is my suggestions:

I am a Senior and the last of the problem that is with my Drum line. You see, when new teachers come in and start to... "Take over" a drum line and tell them all what to do, it tends to anger the older players because of how long they have been there and how things have been BEFORE your comming. What you Need to do is basically start after school practices and teach them the Fundimentals of percussion and give them the steps on being able to read notes and figure out rythems so you won't have too. Remember, holding there hand and playing the part for them to hear isn't always great. You should do visual lessons as well as audio and mental. There are three parts, if they are able to tell you 1e&a 2e&a ect ect then that's just one step, if they are able to play it but not speak it aloud back to you, thats another, and if they are able to hear it and play it, but not read it and speak it back, that's another problem.



Well, not to mumble on, basically mate, Start from square 1. Yes, that is very boring, and that is very annoying, but they ALL need to aquire the muscles needed to play all the instruments the correct way, so starting from square one is the best solution no matter how high in school they are. Remember Patience is the greatest thing to have with these types of children, don't let them push you around either becuase the old men will do that every chance they get IF they don't like you . I would be happy to print off anything and everything to help you with lessons if you'd wish mate just say the word.

Edited for double-post. Welcome to Drumlines.org Jake. We hope you enjoy your stay. Please take the time to read through the rules again and make special note of Section 9 Paragraph 3.

BTW, If you are the instructor/Teacher for the school district, or if you are a Assistant band director, speak with the Head director and see how far you will be able to go with the drummers as far as you picking which instruments which person plays. Thankfully, this year my entire drumline consists of 2 seniors and 5 Freshmen, so My drum instructor was able to start fresh with them without any of them knowing how the drum line USED to be which all in all makes it a lot better in the long run. Well, I've got a lot of tips I can give you, if you would ask specific questions, I could give you my personal experiance to help you with it. I am planning to go to Stephen F. Austin University here in Texas and eventually become a Band director/Professional Percussionist myself so this could benifit the both of us .

Just a comment on who plays which instrument, PLEASE, have a tryout It really helps. The students who don't get the parts they want will work hard for next year.

WOW, I can't believe how many are in my same boat. There was comment about combining high and middle school. We do this to not only help our future drumline, but to help the marching band build since this is a small school. I appreciate all the comments and ideas. As for tryouts, we let them pick their instruments and told them it could change due to their skills to play that particular instrument. Your right, if they pick, they will try hard. We only moved 2 out of 14 students.........not too bad. I will also tell you that we don't have all the fancy sticking, but the quality of playing and the sound has improved 400% since we started. I still continue to work on the basics one on one. Without basics and technique, you have noise. As for my, I am not the director, I am volunteering my time. I have no kids in this school system and I am 54, have been around drum corps and indoor for many years. I had a son that played in drumlines for about 5 years, and I helped every moment I had. Now I am helping what I consider a country school that has given me a whole new outlook, considering all my years have been spent with kids with a lot of talent and basically drum corps material. My kids aren't drum corps quality or large high school quality, but they put every bit of effort they have into what they do and that makes them pretty special to me.

Guys - Take a look at this thread:

http://www.drumlines.org/threads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/115409/page/0/fpart/all/vc/1

PS - Search first, ask second.

O.o mate, why arn't we able to create a new thread and start a New discussion about the topic. I think it's weird to have a discussion forum where you are criticized for making new threads that are on topic... This is the second time sense I've been here that I've seen such an act. It must be in the rules... Does it have something to do with bandwidth... or? This isn't a spam or flame or what have you, more just out of curiosity.

BTW, I saw that you posted another thread about the same, or relitive to this subject, but again, why be criticized for making a new thread?

The purpose of this website is to act as a one-stop resource and to help educate people about all things drumline related.

As part of that mission we try to organize all of the content relating to a topic in one location. We, the staff, have found nothing more annoying than to be looking for information on a particular topic and have to weed through dozens if not hundreds on threads that may be somewhat related to the topic in question but do not contain the information we are looking for. For example, let's say you were looking to find out how to play a flam. Would you want to have to search for and look through 20 different four or five post discussions each of which has a differrent method for learning flams or would you rather have one thread with dozens of different methods listed and debated so that you can choose the method that best works for you?

For that reason the staff of this website asks that all discussion regarding a topic be located in the same place. This way members or guests new to the site can quickly and easily find what they are looking for and it also helps to make the user experience much more enjoyable.

I am a bit surprised by the last posts, but my question wasn't about 8th graders, it was about dealing with kids that have had no lessons and trying to help them play better individually and the drumline overall. I have had some good responses and have used some of what was posted here. We had a practice last night, and I am proud to announce that they are starting to sound like they have experience. Its been up hill, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have also found someone to do lessons and the kids responded to this overwhelmingly. Thank you all who gave me ideas.

Well, I'm glad that this was a good source for you to find what you needed mate, I hope your drumline grows into a successful one.


@ Middle Age Man

Aighty, Tis all I wanted to know. Thanks for the Explination explanation.