I was asked this question today from a guy on my drumline ---

"Can you make two drumset crash cymbals into marching crash cymbals with the right equipment?"


I was embarassed because I didn't have an answer for him. I'm not really into drumset so i didnt know what to say. So i pose this question to you guys, is it possible to take any two cymbals from a drumset and turn them into marching crash cymbals?

Well, yeah, if you put straps and pads on a matched pair of cymbals, you can bang 'em together. But that doesn't necessarily mean they'll make an ideal pair of marching cymbals.

I've seen it done before, often by people or schools who just don't know any better. Sometimes it works; other times, not so well. I guess it really depends on the particular cymbals.

The only luck I've ever had with that was using china cymbals, just because I'm unaware of anyone that makes a marching china. I think we used two 18" Sabian AA's or something similar. For marching applications, I still prefer the wuhan plates because their abrasive sound is thin and cuts well.

As a joke, my indoor line was goofing around and marched a K/Z combo for one of our last run throughs. We were fortunate enough to have two pairs of K's and Z's laying around. They got the idea from one of their drumsets having the K/Z Dyno beat hi hats.

Our line last year needed one more pair, and I found two 20" Ziljian A rides. They actually worked pretty well, but man were they heavy. The kid who had them made sure we would have a lighter pair for him this year