jacoismyhero FTW

yeah thats all i was really wondering, its just that i see all these other high school drumlines that heavily utilize cymbals in everything they play and i envy them...

It's okay to envy them. I would too. Just realize that just because your school doesn't have the same type of setup does not constitute your educators being unfair or uninformed about why the instrument is so crucial. It is simply that, in the grand scheme of things, cymbal technique is not something that is always important to touch upon when other things (rightfully) require much more care.

WTF?!

Why would the technique of one section be any less important than another?

wow this could go on forever

From a musical standpoint, most cymbal effects used by high school cymbal lines can be easily duplicated in the pit. This saves the composer from writing "filler" music for the cymbals so they aren't resting for significant periods (as many groups seem to do.) This helps reserve the impact of the cymbal timbre for when it can be most effectively utilized. Also you can have one player in the pit play as many types of cymbals as a director owns during one show, whereas the marching cymbal player is practically limited to one.

From a visual perspective having a cymbal line is impressive, but the time spent cleaning cymbal visuals could be more effectively used repping other parts of the line. And let's face it, if a kid misses a stick visual a few people will notice, if a kid misses a cymbal visual, everyone notices.

For the sake of efficiency a cymbal line isn't really necessary. Don't get me wrong though, if I had the time to clean it and players who wanted to play cymbals, I'd be the first in line to buy a new set of cymbals.

Because the section's existance (on the field) is less important. If there is a cymbal section, then yes, their technique is just as important as the rest of the ensemble. However, the question isn't about their technique, but rather the time and means to teach the technique were a cymbal line to exist. So when the question comes up to a director, and the choice is between good technique to three sections or average technique to four (when the fourth section could be covered by another area of the ensemble), then the obvious choice is to not go with the cymbal line (which is less important in this case).

Just remember, we're talking about a hypothetical section at this point in the game, not a pre-existing section. I think there may have been a little misunderstanding of terms. I don't think Jaco was saying the technique itself was less important, but rather that wasting time trying to teach a technique that will ultimately come across as inadequate teaching for various reasons in that situation makes the cymbal section less important than the other three battery sections.

That's a good point, few people will care in the long run if a cymbal line is absent, but everyone will scream foul if they replaced the snare line with some concert snares in the pit.

cymbals are visually pleasing and do add to you GE score
they are slightly unconventional
dont get me wrong i did march cymbals and we had a sick line and had loads of fun (we played splits like the basses) for most schools it would just turn into that section that everyone starts out in just to get to another drum. if your school can committ to a good cymbal line that is clean and doest just create an eye-sore then by all means you deserve one. be if its too much effort to get people to take it seriously and the fund it (hey the price of metal is going up) than it might not be for your school

telling a director to go watch an scv cymbal line wont cut it. my bd is actually an scv alum and he is against the idea of having a cymbal line. there is no way a high school line can pull it off like scv.