I've been going around watching a lot of cymbal lines lately and I have to say that I'm annoyed.

I keep seeing a consistent theme. Lot's of air pockets and people unnecessarily clanging cymbals together during preps and releases. What I'm also noticing is that instructors and players are more concerned with looking and acting bada$$ than actually playing well.

It's simple. If you want to act like you are tough, fine, but if you can't play the cymbals well, then you are just looking like a tough idiot. People need to get back to playing the instrument well without making dumb mistakes.

These instructors aren't correcting the basics. Quality of sound comes first. What's the point of being tough and doing tons of visuals if you can't play the instrument?!

My rant is done.

I agree, to an extent. The modern "badass" factor is what keeps a lot of cymbal lines around. If they didn't do their arm acrobatics, cymbal lines would fade away quicker than MC Hammer. It gives cymbal lines much needed hype in a time where they just disappear if they aren't successful or just don't catch on.

I can't say that I had the most amazing and consistent sound quality when I was marching them, but my tech would never finish a warmup exercise until airpockets and tings (from going to A form or back to closed position) weren't evident.

I think a lot of people also forget that cymbals, although just round pieces of metal, are also a musical instrument. As badass as it is to see a line like SCV running across the field smashing the hell out of them, there are plenty of opportunities to be less visual and more musical.

But in the end, modern cymbal lines are more about visual.

I will agree with this and go a step further in saying that one of the biggest causes of this issue, is that there aren't enough cymbal techs teaching cymbal lines.

More often than not you have guys that played snare drum for all their life teaching four hs kids how to smash two plates of metal together and "try to look _______(insert synonym for tough)".

Sadly, marching cymbals on the field is becoming a lost art. Thank god we have wgi to keep it alive.

I have no problem being more visual. My lines do 41 techniques and they are very visual, but if you are moving all over the place and poofing away, what's the point?

What bugs me is that some of the instructors I've seen were cymbal players from good programs and should know better.

I understand. I'm quite glad that I have the instructor I have now in PDX to teach me how to play Cymbals correctly. I've seen platelines that try to look like beasts, but instead sound like scheissa. If you can't play a good crash, then don't bother lowering your chin and slicing your throat with your plate.

I've been unfortunate in that I've never had an opportunity to march in a cymbal line at all, let alone a great one. However, at some point that I can't quite remember I became very passionate about this instrument and started devoting a lot of time to learning about how to play them as well as how to teach people to play them.

My biggest jumping off point was teaching the '04 cymbal line at the university at which I am a grad student. I had 5 folks who had never played cymbals in a marching context (although a couple of them were accomplished orchestral players). We had basically no precedent to fall back on, since we hadn't had a cymbal line since '98 (my freshman year), and that line didn't have an instructor or any sense of good technique anyway. It was a learning experience for all of us, myself included.

That first season, I overwrote in a big way. We had umpteen variations on every basic technique you can think of, and did all of them at some point or another...very poorly. Then, for '05, I was fortunate to have 3 return members, and I myself had figured out a lot of what worked and what didn't. I changed our primary crash style from A-V-A to flat, because it was so much easier to clean visually and still gets a good sound to my ears. However, I continued to teach A-V-A crashes, both vertical and on the 45, because there are instances when those crashes just work better visually or musically. I didn't waste time teaching a half-dozen variants of the bell ding or anything, because it's easy enough to figure that stuff out mid-season if necessary (it seldom is necessary though, in my experience).

Basically, I figured out that I needed to keep the technique program as uncomplicated as possible, in order to foster good application of technique to the handful of sounds we were going to make in a show. The old "KISS" mantra ("Keep It Simple, Stupid") never came in more handy. Bear in mind that my approach here was based on the unique circumstances involved, as any good approach to any situation should be. This was a college marching band, focusing on higher, faster, louder sort of stuff. 99.99% of our audience are there for the football game, and could really care less about the "how" as long as the "what" sounds and looks good to them. We had just started the cymbal section after a long period without them, as a response to getting rid of our front ensemble for logistical reasons. The cymbal players were all new to this, as was I. All of these factors and many more dictated the best approach to the program.

With my high school indoor line this year, which is a first year PSA class line, there are a whole other set of dictating factors. The net result is that their cymbal section is much different than APSU's, in terms of the "what" that they do. Nonetheless, "how" they do it is pretty similar, and the same approach was used. To sum up, I don't worry about teaching every line all bazillion variations of a technique that I may know. I evaluate each new situation and teach the "what" accordingly, so that the "how" will always be as good as it can be.

APCenter, that's a great post and reflects my philosophy. I'm bringing back a cymbal line at the school I teach at this year - first one in 7 years. And three players too!

I've watched Jeff's video and it's the "UpFront" of cymbal playing. There's so much great information in there. But sometimes you gotta Keep it Simple. I would love to teach my kids an AVA form for crashes, as well as the other umpteen techniques.

That said, it's just not realistic. These people might be on the instrument for two years TOPS. They see it as a dumping ground to get in the line. Therefore, sometimes it may not be that the instructor can't teach right, but rather that the student doesn't want to let them through.

I disagree with you on that one. Their sound quality is not great. I've heard many an airpocket from them in recent years.

i completly agree thats why my cymbal line i teach them technique first, playing second, marching third, and visuals last

Very good Rain! That is the right approach.

I agree, sound quanity come first then lookin cool. : )

I think band directors and instructors really do tend to overlook the cymbal players. My freshman year, I played cymbals. I had no idea what I was doing, which is a shame because I'd really love to know the correct techniques for getting a good quality of sound.

The cymbals can be a great instrument if the player is taught the proper way to use them.

Cymbals are musical instruments, yes, but can only accent music. When you get a good line you can have a cool beat and ensembles at I&E are pretty sweet, but visual effect can't be sacrificed. Nothing should. The sound quality and visual effect that a cymbal line add is unmatched by any other section in the corps.

Sorry, stupid cymbal question, guys... What are air pockets?

Air pockets are the poof you hear when two cymbals hit with the edges lined up. There is nowhere for the air to go, so you get a poof. It's an awful sound and can cause cymbals to crack.

Or invert . . . Now THAT is a nasty thing that can happen.

I'll take a picture of this Sabian B8Pro Marching cymbal I still have from last season at PDX . . . It's been inverted and reverted over 10-15 times. By the end of the season (Actually, while in Ohio for Champs), we decided to destroy it. We threw it down a 200-300 foot high hill, down a set of 100 foot high stairs (and then on the stone path next to it), stomped on it, sliced it into an old, dead fallen tree trunk, kicked it, frisbee'd it, tossed it, flung it, and basically just treated it really badly.