Were a new school and my band director is a retarted claranet player that never buys the right things. Anyways he bought a bunch of concert crash cymbals and their all concert and now he dosent have any money to buy field cymbals. So my question is how bad is it and what are the disadvantages of marching concert cymbals?

really it shouldnt be too horrible at all as long as you get some marching straps/pads

we used concert cymbals for two seasons before we got field cymbals. it wasn't bad on the field - it's just the cymbals just didn't sound very good in the concert hall after that. it's ok though, they were paistes :P

also, those cymbals were 20". thank goodness we had a built cymbal player.

^ were they the alpha series?? those cymbals are HEAVY!!!!
and didnt scv march with the 20" zildjian orcestral series one year?

that sucks. I hope your cymbal players have strong arms.

SCV has used 20" Viennese when Jim was still there.

Concert cymbals aren't as thick typically as field cymbals, but will still work.

What cymbals did your director buy?

TWO 18" and TWO 16" Zildjian Avedis concert stage cymbals

there should be a problem with those, but make sure you dont overplay them, as you could kill the cymbal in as little as two seasons. youll play a lot more crashes than concert series cymbals are made for.

Yeah kinda sounds like the plateline at my highschool.You have to be very carefull and gentle with them especially when putting them down.The concert cymbals will crack very easily we have gone through about 3 pairs.If you dont handle them right you will get these tiny little notches on the edges of your cymbals.Then they will slowly progress to a giant crack i will see if i can post picks of ours.

Just be careful when you put them down. That is pretty dumb he bought 4 pairs of concert cymbals???

They probably won't project as well, being thinner than field cymbals..Right?
Im sure it will work out fine.The two different sizes could make some interesting splits too.

Some Drum Corps (namely SCV) have actually used Orchestral Cymbals on the field, mainly because the quality of sound that they produce. Like others have said, you have to be extremely careful handling them because they are not made for the rigorous activity of outdoor programs. Also, make sure that you have leather pads, not the puffy sheepskin pads normally used in concert percussion because they will affect the projection of the sound. Other than the care issue, they can actually be better than stadium cymbals.

i used a pair of 20"s one year and by the time we got to state the crack in em was like three inches long haha

so we borrowed a pair from a high school in San Antonio and good golly miss molly were these things heavy.
they were 20" but there were like big heavy rides that im pretty sure they just took two off of a stand and gave em to me


but we just bought a sweet pair of new cymbals
Zildjian 20" multi-use. they sound great on the field, great indoors, and sweet as a jazz ride cymbal