Ok so Where I'm at, our taps are defined to be played at 4 inches. This means that the sticks go from playing position to a slight upward angle to achieve the tap height.

I have also heard from many different schools of thought that tap height should be when the stick is parallel to the drum, w/ no sort of angle. and only when in playing position would the sticks be angled down.

Just curious to see what most people are taught these days.
I don't mind the 4 in angled tap approch. It is different from what i've heard a lot of people do though.

Random off topic question: is there a reason i can't get an avatar? i've tried resizing and different formats and everything. It just doesn't show up

I was always taught that tap height for outdoor is 4" and tap hieght indoor is 3" I have heard of various groups that use tap height of 1" but I think that is a littl ridiculous if your actually taking the inch mark literally.

well, I'm talking about more of what angle the stick should be at at tap height...not the actual height of the tap.

The angle should be whatever Neal and his techs set it at.

Every group is different and there are many different tap height interps.

yeah i know. I actually kinda like the angled tap approach. I was just curious because one of my friends tried out for Spirit of JSU and was told parallel tap heights. I wanted to know what is taught at other programs too

I know Cadets use 4" and I THINK Crown might to (I know there's a Crown member on here somewhere, it would be great if you could varify that). As somebody said it's all different depending on where you go and where you meant. In drumming there are actually a lot less "wrong answers" than you'd think. Personally, Dennis DeLucia once told me not to think of inches but by dynamics. So I play pp/p/mp/mf/f/ff which from what I understand if the equivalent to 1/3/6/9/12/15.

1 or pp-set position
3 or p-horizontal
6 or mp-stand a dollar so that it's short side is across the head. the top is where your beads should be
9 or mf-between 6 and 12
12 or f-vertical
15or ff-vertical plus arm lift

that's just what I was taught but even if two people/groups say they play 3" their 3" may be different too.

Hope I helped

Well that crown member wont be able to verify anything for at least a few more weeks...

When I teach the inner beat is defined, meaning that we could be playing at 18"/9", then we have 9" taps
at the same time there are passages where our tap is 3" and our accent is 4"

To me, all a tap is, is any note in a passage that is un-accented.

that's true but to be honest anything over 6" and the occasional 9" tap is a little insane

Thats good for you, but Ive found that if you think of 9" as a tap, it helps over playing that height... I use a very literal height system, and 9" really isnt all that high.

Ah ok, sorry I misunderstood you. Most of the people I know say 9" but don't mean it per say. They mean level 9, which to them is nearly vertical.