heheeheehee....He said "bullflop".

Some good stuff there man. I like that you took the initiative to start this post. You rock dude.

EnsErmac, I really think you did a great job with this post and I think that alot a lot of instructors need to be told this if it's their old high school or not. I do want to add something to you post that I really think that you missed and that is explaining what is taught. Many instructors tell their players that they need clean rolls or this has to be this without explaining why it has to be like that. I know when I was first starting to instruct I was really stupid, I wrote music that was too hard and taught stuff that just because everyone else did it. When I started my freshman year of college as a percussion major, I learned alot a lot of teaching stuff from my percussion professor and it really helped, he taught that when you teach a concept you also need to teach how it works and why it is used. This is really important about a drumline(excluding pit) because compared to other percussion ensembles, it is a really limited. You have to teach that taps are this high and accented taps are this high because it's apart of musical expression. You play opened rolls because they're easier to project than a buzz roll. Sometimes things like this are totally left out and remember that when you're an instructor, you're a teacher, and teachers need to have the knowledge to teach.

I agree stick heights are the most important thing. But are you talking about the standard stick heights 3 6 9 12 or monkey arms, stuff like that? Good uniform stick heights are a MUST and once you get those all down, you got to throw in a few little tricks, not just backsticking. And if your job is not trying to please the crowd then what exactly are your performances for? Are you performing for yourself? Your fellow band members? The football players?

But back to teaching:
Lalo Davila is one of the best teachers out there, if not the best. I suggest buy his book Ziggatabuzz and start from there.

After attending BOA's Drum Instructor Academy I more and more am believing in ignoring stick heights first... check out the sound they make and focus on downstroke, upstroke, tap, and full stroke (especially with younger players). Older players could use this too. Then once it comes to musical playing, the height of "tap" should be at a set dynamic level and go from there.