Ok so i was looking over some cymbal audition music and there was a few terms that i was not familiar with. For example it said you must be able to perform a smack and a grind. Now im a pretty decent cymbal player and i know there are a lot of different names for different techniques,for example a crash muffle,crash choke,choke crash would all be the same thing, but i have no idea what a smack would be. Could anyone explain it for me? I kinda have an idea of what a grind is, either where you spin the cymbal and make it grind on the other or you push against inside of the cymbal to make a grinding noise. Any help would be appreciated thanks.

OK so a smack is really tricky to explain without being able to see it too, but I'll do my best. A smack is performed by placing the left hand cymbal out in front of you at about waist level, as if the bottom of the cymbal were resting on a table top, and having the right hand cymbal down by your side with the bottom of the cymbal facing out in front of you at about a 45 degree angle. You then take the right hand cymbal diagonally up and across your body, making contact with the left hand cymbal. Contact should be made not dead on, and no more than about a quarter of the way down each cymbal. The force of the impact of the two cymbals will cause your wrists to rotate so that the bottoms of the cymbals are still facing each other after impact. Dampen the cymbals against your forearms at this point, and hold them there to cut out any noise. The diagonal motion of your right arm is continued until the right cymbal ends up at head level at a 45 degree with the bottom facing down, with your forearm in front of your face. Your left cymbal remains at waist level with the bottom of the cymbal now facing up at a 45 degree angle. All of this is done in one swift motion. Smacks sound similar to tap chokes, but crisper. They are typically performed for their visual appeal.

Grinds are performed in one of two ways, both of which involve spinning and making a grinding noise by touching the other. Either set the spinning cymbal on the other in the hinge choke/hihat position, or place the nonspinning cymbal out in front of you at about sternum level and bring the spinning cymbal's edge up to make contact on the under side of the other cymbal. To spin the cymbal, take your arm and move it back behind your body, rotate your wrist back, and grip the cymbal with your fingertips really well. You'll then bring your arm forward to initiate the spinning motion. When you do this, flick your wrist forward hard and let go of the cymbal with your fingers. To get a really good spin, make sure to keep the spinning cymbal parallel to the ground at all times.

I hope I didn't make this all sound too complicated, as both smacks and grinds are very simple to perform. If anything, reference Cymbal Technique 101 and the accompanying DVD, by Eddie Capps.

Ok wow thanx for all of the info.It took me a while to visualize the smacks but i thought about a visual and it came to me.And the grinds i can do i was just making sure. Thankyou again for all the help.

No problem. Check out Spirit's cymbal ensemble from 04. They start it with a series of smacks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53jU5lTwpjs

Haha yeah one of my old instructors was in that video.

Oh yeah? Who?

Please tell me it's Obed.

No mario taylor hes a really amazing cymbal player. He teaches quite a few different lines.

Oh ok. Yeah he's helping out with Spirit this year. And He helped out at Mystique too. I've never actually met him, but I have met some of the other guys in the book and DVD. They're all a bunch of cool dudes.

Yeah, Mario. I met him back in 06 while he was with crossmen, he taught teal in 07. I've met that entire line aside from Colin. Although last I heard he was marching bass with boston. Think he aged out though.

My best friend is the skinny dude in the book and DVD. Well, one of two skinny dudes. He's over at teal sound right now. Beasts, all of them. I feel honored to have been taught by my instructor, a good friend of Eddie Capps, and being apart of that close circle of talented cymbal players. There are far too few. But I guess that's why I like it so much. You won't find any sort of breed like ours.

Agreed. Eddie and his crew are one of a kind.

You guys are way too cool for me.

You bet we are.

Haha yeah and im actually trying out for teal sound or spirit this year.Can anyone give me a little information on what to expect at tryouts for Teal? On the audition page I know I can perform everything on there confidently.Recently my instructor cut the cym line at my school, And im not allowed to play cymbals anymore for our indoor line,so i feel like the only way i can keep playing cymbals is to take it into Drum corp.I feel like i just got started playing cymbals good and i cant let it stop there.Thanks again for all the info guys, i really appreciate it.

Just . . . Audition.

They changed techs a few times over the season.

When I went in to audition my original tech, Mr. Robards, was the instructor. I auditioned just like everyone else and got a contract in february. His style of auditioning meant giving everyone a chance. If you show dedication, a good disciplined attitude, you can gel with the other members, and you stay on top of your technique and music, you're pretty much in.

Then again, this was with the original tech. I don't know how it's going to be next year.

Stay in shape, pay all your dues on time, learn your crap, you should be good to go.

Ok.. one more question haha i know i ask lots of questions but bare with me.I need help with my penny roll. What do you guys think the best way to learn how to penny roll is?? Thanks again everyone for all the info.

Muscle control. It's all in the fingers and palms, with support from the major muscles in your forearm. With the cymbals held at vertical (like you have in your avatar), bring the edge of both cymbals together from the bottom, roll outward (if you're not wearing your cymbals, the bottom of your palms would be touching eachother, and as you perform the move you'd go from touching your palms up to your pinky's, the tips of your fingers, the sides of your thumbs, back to the bottom of your palms.). it takes a lot of muscle control to keep those cymbals together. Your arms will want to go faster than you intend, and that will make you lose control and come up with a nasty not-a-penny-roll sound.

Basically, it takes practice. Keep performing the move correctly, even if you can only do three full penny rolls at speed with decent technique, it's still something. Keep working on it, do it when you're not wearing the cymbals. your hands shouldn't make any sort of noise besides a light "friction" from skin-to-skin sliding contact. No slapping or clapping.

Biggest thing: Keep relaxed. Don't tense up, you won't get anywhere. There's a difference between being hardcore, and being tense. Hardcore means you look like a rubber band being pulled to the brink, but you're always in control of every single thing you do. Your muscles know what they're doing, each group knows its specific job. Tense means you're forcing everything to get somewhere, and it leads to a lot of frustration and eventually bad technique.

Font your a lifesaver thanks again for all the info. Oh yeah i just ordered Eddie Capps book hopefully that will help me out a lot too. Thanks again.