Our snareline has a member who is obviously on drumline just to look cool (cuz lets face it, the drumline makes the band)...but she feels that since she made it on the line she doesnt really have to practice. Not only that, but she sucks and is obviously the worst snare player and therefore needs the most practice. She is also creating a lot of friction between the line because many people (myself included) find her very annoying. Please, what do i do? The only time the snares sound clean is when she is not playing!

Sounds EXACTLY like my snare line. We told our B D, but he really hasn't done anything about it yet, which is uber annoying. But that's really the only thing you can do.

Me and my friends who feel the same way talked to our BD. He basically said "deal with it"...and let me say that I could not be more furious or frustrated about this whole situation!! She makes the snareline sound so unclean, and even though I'm the section leader and center snare, she won't accept help from me because of..."personal issues". We have a really cool snarebreak this year with tight backsticking, and I know she won't be able to do it and our drum instructor will pull it. I practice that Monkey Man at least 2-3 hours a day, but i know she doesnt practice and its unfair to everyone on our line who loves drumming and practices so we sound good. Please, I need some advice...I'm starting to hate our drumline now cuz of this one STUPID thing!!

dude that is exactly like my line.
my suggestion... put a pillow in her drum.
i want to with our uncleanliness(her)

yeah we have the same problem but she plays tenors. No offense to the girls on the forum but most girls just are not drumline material. There are exceptions however.

uh oh..

you just opened a can of worms with that one, boy!

Talk to her, have her practice more. We did that to my guy, and he is getting better.

I say make her play in front of the band like play offs things well not just her but the whole line and see how she feels. After that she might want to practice since she would be embarrased about her doings.

If you're starting to hate the drumline because of her, because of one person, that's pretty bad. After awhile, you will get disinterested because of her too. Sheesh.

So anyway, the way you should probably deal with this to do what I like to call the big ol fashioned, verbal wake up call. The girl won't ask for help because of her pride. So, pretty much the way you're going to have to deal with this is to just tell her to quit her skitchin(replace the "sk" with a b) and moaning, stfu(shut the fudge up, replace the f word with the apporpriate word), and play. You need to ask her if she is going to commit to this line like the others, and that is the way to do it right now.

Why are you dealing with this anyway? Where is your instructor? He should have done this a long time ago. But that would be advised right now. Give her an earful, and see how she likes it.

My drum instructor is the moron who put her on line in the first place (don't ask me why)...there is this really cool freshman who i think should have been put on snare instead of "her", but our instructor said that since he had a better sense of rhythm he would be better on bass. I say bullshiznigit to that! And even so, he could have put her on cymbals...but my instructor does not believe in cutting, so we're stuck with her...

Awhile ago, we were practicing triplet diddle, and quiet uncleanly, so our instructor had us play it individually...well, when it got to "her" it was obvious she couldn't even play a didle...so our instructor had her play straight triplets through it...

Is there a way for a snare line to sound clean if there is a member who can't play diddles?? Thats like putting me on the blue devils' snareline (sort of), no matter how perfectly 9 or 10 of them play, if I am playing badly then they will all sound like dirt.

I guess I should just come out and say it, me and her used to go out...and it's pretty obvious that the reason she is on drumline is to make my life miserable (she's trying to turn the line against me). What do I do, how do I keep my line? I don't care if she's on drumline if she works hard, but she doesnt!!

Oh goodness, I didn't know it was like that. Man you are right about your instructor, that's a boneheaded thing to do. The thing I will have to tell you on this one is stick to your guns. If you let this break you, you'll end up losing interest and quitting. Don't want that I don't think. While dealing with this as well, make sure you have a friend you trust to confide this stuff to. It does wonders to release the steam with testy situations.

You can also talk to the BD about your instructor. Tell him what he is doing right, and/or wrong. The BD could deal with him/her accordingly.

There was this guy like that on my line, and we would turn his snare of and loosen it up so that there was hardly any noise sometime just to be mean. But later he got lessons and he became a good bass drummer. I don't know why my director him on snare to start with.

well...we have had 2 competitions already (1 for drumline, and 1 for whole band), and our line got GOODS at both. The first one i can understand, it was our first one, we were nervous, and we were against some awesome lines. However, the last one we had (yesterday), completely frustrated me. We were competeing with horrible bands that had horrible drumlines, and we STILL couldn't pull the caption. I thought we didnt do too badly on the field (because i only listen to the snares right next to me...the good ones, and we sounded together), and i realized how bad our drumline was. This girl that im whining about was happy with our good! She doesnt care that we find that score unacceptable, and she will not work hard enough to help us raise our score. Our line had a huge fight on the bus coming back, and it was basically 15 against 1 (her). Even with all of this, she is not changing her attitude, and she just will not committ to this drumline. I wasted an entire friday practicing, and an entire saturday riding in a bus, just so people like her who are not striving for excellence can destroy our performance. I've had it with this drumline, and if i could, i would quit as of now. Since i cant, im calling this my last year unless some major changes are made next year. What would you guys do in this situation?

Man that sucks well my problem with my line was more than the line itself. Maybe you need to blow some steam at home. What I did to blow some steam was I just sat down by my computer and started drumming and wrinting in here. Try that and see if that works for you. Your line is not worth it for you to quit what you like best( at least I hope so). Someone gave me great advice and said that if you really love something you will not quit and let the years before you go down in flames.

Thats true what you said...
I have no intention of quitting drumming altogether, i just think ive wasted enough time with my high school line...i will be trying out for a division 2 corps in my state in december, and will keep working as an individual...as far as a high school drumline goes though...it's too much of a committment with few rewards

how bout this-ask your director if you can have playing tests on the music. have everyone play a part memorized for a GRADE. or even just have a serious talk with her, just be all official and throw your weight around. section leaders who get scary will be behaved...i once had one that smacked and bit people who messed up/mouthed off..we had a good show that year. it was hell, but we knew we couldnt slack off. also if i were you i would call a mandatory three-hour or so practice just for the DL every week/twice a week even and if people complain? "well, ___ can't seem to get it together so we all have to practice." nothing like having an entire line mad at her.

this is a little devious, but I'd "borrow" her drum during one of the practices and mess the heads up some so they sound bad enough that the BD will make her stop and try to fix it, I mean if she hasn't been there for most of the practices, I'd say she prolly wouldn't know much about snare repair and tunning. If your not feeling so devious though, just tough it out till next tryouts and hope she doesn't make it, or if the BD knows shes as bad as you say she is, he/she won't let her into the line.

-mike

We have the same problem, except it was with like 2 drummers. One of them shaped up, but one still isnt practicing, and really isnt that great. (its not like it matters now, cuz marching season is over.) We were gonna tell him straight up, "you wont be on the line next year if you dont practice." but we decided not too, because it was just before a huge performance, and we didnt want him to not play as worse than he already did.

Or you could talk to your director about it. Show your concern for the section as a whole.

well here is what i would do. have your snare line show up to rehersal early and have a snare sectional for a couple of hours having people play the parts individualy. that might show her that she isnt up to par with the rest of the line. if that dosnt work the you, along with the line, should confront her and let her know how you all feel.

First of all, she knows how most people feel about her (except she justifies it by believing we are just negative a-holes), so i dont think confronting her will be very effective. The other problem is that we have a huge band (160-some people), and our director and drum instructor feel that we have to fill every single spot (5-snares, 3-tenors, 5-basses). I see that to be the biggest problem (for next year). Instead of fitting the drums around the available talent, our instructor is stretching the talent around the spots. Even now, when he knows how much trouble she is causing, i have a hard time believing he will pass up someone who already has a year's experience on the instrument.

Well, in december i'll be trying out for a Division II corps, and if i make it (ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease) i will most likely give up high school band. If not, then we'll have to see...

There is a snare player just like that on our line. All my drum captain does to shut em up is say "Get down and give me twenty!" But were all always goofing off. It's just that this one is really bad and he is a really dirty player too. Without him, were clean.

Dude, stand up. Don’t let her play. That’s what it comes down to. Take apart her harness, take apart her drum. Don’t let her play. It’s your line. And get the rest of your line to support you when the director and drum instructor come and reprimand you. Seriously. When it comes to it they will have to listen. If the people in charge wont do anything you have to stand up man. So she's not cut, she just doesn’t have anything to play on.

Dude, that totally sucks. Our drumline here at NMSU has had the same problem this whole season, and it's all because of TWO snare guys. They aren't even snare players to begin with. One of em' was fifth bass player last year, and another guy is a tenor player. TOTAL DIRT! The bass player only got a slot because he played pit for a Div 2 drumcorps. I dunno what our instructor was thinking. He should have made cuts at the beginning of the camp. As a matter of fact, our section leader quit the line because he got frustrated that these guys could not play. And well he marched snare for Blue Knights, so being in a really dirty line got to him. So I feel your pain dude.

Yep,
This snare player is not a drummer either...she played sax last year. In fact, I don't think she had even hit a drum until band camp started. Thank god the season is over, I was beginning to lose it.

My concern for next year, is that she recently spent like $100 to donate stick bags for the snares. I cannot see ANY reason why she would do this (i mean, after next year she will graduate) except to buy her drum spot for next year. What's funny is she didnt clear the stick bags with anyone on our drumline, and I get the impression that no one wants to use them.

you know what makes me sick! ever since that drumline movie came out, tons of people suddenly want to be in the drumline.

and also, this year, there are going to be about 10 other people trying out for JUST SNARE ALONE that play tuba or trumpet or anything...you name it. most of them think they can just tryout and make it...even though they dont know how to read music for what they are trying out for, have horrible technique, and just plain out suck. makes no sense to me.

We had the same problem most of you had, but it was with our 5th bass player. The runs were messed up so bad just because he played to freakin soft, you could never hear him. he hardly showed up for important practices too...so he is kicked off next year if he trys out a again.

yeah, what gets me is when 'people' flirt with the instructors and make it on the line...that really makes me mad. i play flute, but i've done percussoin for two years and i can play any rudiment you set before me and some pieces, depending. and even I'M not going out for snare! i'm just going out for bass cuz its easier and thepeople w/ more experience should have snare! but then there's this girl who might get my spot cuz she hits on our instructor, and she cant even play a paradiddle. ERRR.....sorry.

I'm not too good at advice, but I say if she is there to make your life miserable.....make hers even more miserable. Have a time set for the drumline to reherse their music (one by one) for music memorization testing. If she plays in front of the entire drumline and completely bombs it she will feel as miserable as she has made you feel. Well what i'm getting at is eye for an eye.

Here is what I would do. If your line REALLY wants to see her practice, you will have to kinda trick her into practicing. For in-school rehearsal (drum class) get a whole
bunch of extremely easy exercises for the snare line that work your diddles. Take the exercises very very slow and, with time she will be forced to learn how to play diddles.
Then repeat these on any other thing she needs to improve on. Sooner or later she will learn how to play snare and may even find a interest in practicing. Of course this is only if you really want her to get better.

I hate those types of people who are just in the drumline to look cool for all of their friends. I have a few that are in my line now. What I did and am planning on doing is to let them stay on the line and then make them audition for a spot. If they can't hack it and their attitude still sucks then they will not be on the line. Or as my Band Director nicely puts it, "They will be invited to not join the band next year."

WOW, your band programms sound nothing like my old High schools. Being in band made you a dorky band geek. Being in the drumline meant you were less likely to get in fights.
I say sit down with her and let her know what you as a line want to accomplish and what easch of you need to do to allow that to happen. I would however sit down with your B and Director and or drum staff. Also let her know what level of committment is expected and what amount of pracrice time is reasonable. Set up a support network for your line. Where you can call each other and ask question so you can practice the right things the right way.
Obviously this is all geared towards her but it can still be ebenifical for the rest of the line. Make it an open forum for comments as well good or bad.