I was incredibly amazed by one part in the '95 show the cavaliers put on.
If you can view this...
*Site no longer exists*

My question is... What kind of sticking is that where they do some kind of multiple-way sticking and make it sound like a roll? how do they do that rolling thing while twirling the stick! it goes too fast, so im curious as to how it's done so i can try doing it too.

It's called the "claw." Do a search and you'll find stuff on it.

rofl, thanks man. i actually found an instruction written by Scott "Hulka" McCoy :P. thanks ramdrumr and Hulka.

ok, this is weird. Where should my HAND be and where should be the STICK be before i perform this maneuver? I dont get the 3 'o clock part. I could use as many tips to doing this as possible.. i have someone to impress

Man for me.. I just grabbed the stick pretty close to me middle and acted like I was shaking out my hand. (Like when you write for a long time and your hand hurts) My best tip is to stay loose.

Extend your arm straight out keeping your arm relaxed. Your hand should be around the 2 or 3 o'clock position to your drum, and as aznpride said, the stick is held in the middle (or pretty close to it depending on stick length/balance).

Leading up to the claw in the '95 show we choked up on the right stick when we pushed to the edge and back to prep for the claw and played the part right before with our hands already in position.

Thats a little harder to do that I thought. I'm getting it!!!!

I definetely could not see the snareline doing that in the video you posted. Of course, I don't really know what the Claw looks like anyway.

Too bad you guys cant see the "instructional video" that Scott did on the casey claw in Indianapolis. He did it for Josh and I while Josh was recording it

Upload it!

Bernie, I give permission to unleash the vid to the hounds, if you have the bandwidth. I know I was partly just hacking around but at least everyone will get a better look at the claw and Helicopter. If the vid was better I'd say submit it to DPLn but it doesn't really fall into the "I&E" category.

*Edit*

Quote:

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swisscheese said:
I definetely could not see the snareline doing that in the video you posted. Of course, I don't really know what the Claw looks like anyway.

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The wrong link was posted, check out *Site no longer exists.*
We're playing the claw when we're in the diamond formation. Interestingly, from the date on this video, we changed the drill to keep us in a line during the claw feature the next day (Monday before finals) to make the claw easier to see.

I already have it uploaded remember Hulka? I just need to think if I want to release the address to where its at! He he...

I think I have 500mb or 1Gig of bandwidth a month? Josh can confirm this...

I'm sure there are plenty of "non-clawers" including myself who would love to see this instructional clip. I've seen the '95 field clip, but it happens so fast, by the time I know what's going on, it's over. I've also read the step by step guide, but for some reason my angle seems off, and the motion seems very choppy. Here's hoping someone can help!

I've seen the Pat Fitzgibbon clips as well on dlpn.net, but they're too fast to get a good look at the technique.

lol sorry about posing the wrong link.
I'm trying to get a good feel and trying to stay loose, but you guys really managed to take it that fast... it was sick. How long did it take for the entire line to perfect it into that unified roll, Hulka?
Btw, i can't wait to see the instructional video - i dont care if i dont learn anything from it, it'd just look damn cool.

Cleaning the claw really didn't take that long since three of us had learned the claw from Mark Casey back in '93 and played it at UK. The center 4 snares played the claw in the '94 show so it was just a matter of getting 5 other guys comfortable with the motion and matching their interp to ours for a smooth, open sound. I'd say the claw was probably consistently clean sometime in July. For those of you that haven't march drum corps, you can get good and play crazy stuff like that because you play all day, every day.

Ive seen alot a lot of you requesting to see the video, but dont think I have ignored the request! I havent been able to post anything on DLO for the past 4-5 days because of a computer glitch, so here you go. One thing though....Please dont go spreading this link around to everyone outside of DLO. I was really hesitant about posting the link for downloading, and the last thing I want is for my bandwidth to be killed! Enjoy!

*edit* Some technical difficulties...it will be back up shortly

OK...here it is again!


*Site no longer exists.

ohhh man, that is soo sweet!!!!
So, the stick is actually going COUNTER-CLOCKWISE? its like doing a back stick but you're doing it so fast, its going sideways? i dunno, its all crazy for me. my wrist would probably break before i can get it to that speed.

i love the shirt your wearing in the video Hulka...... Tom and Jerry rules.

for those wondering about the video...
Hulka said a while back that he's meant to, but never got around to it and eventually became disinterested in filming it. Why? Because he believes that figuring out tricky things and little gimmicks by yourself is the way you should learn them...it makes the experiences that much more rewarding. When I heard that a group of the Mods here at DLO were going to the Indy regional, I knew I couldnt make it. I did however ask Josh to take a video of hulka explaining this nifty trick, and thankfully he did
on any note, consider this a treat that Hulka gave permission to distribute this.
oh yea...this also explains why Josh makes the smartass comment "ya got that kevin?" at the end. hahahaha.

Kevin, you're right - it's best to learn many of these things by oneself, and it is a much more rewarding experience. But i dont care about learning it anymore at all! I just wanna see Hulka do crazy stuff!!! hahaha

technically you're agreeing with Hulka, not myself, though I do share the same belief.

Once i saw it in person, it wasn't too hard to figure out, and then work up to speed... i dunno if i can still do it though, i haven't practiced it in forever.

You've always been my favorite, Hulka.

That was a great video.

Thanks everyone for all the kind words. You make an almost 30-year old feel loved.

Liar. You look to be early 20s.

Thanks so much for that video. I've read tons of explinations but none of them have worked. Now I feel like I know what to do.

Bernie...could you fix the video, please? It isn't working.....thanks!

Hey my name is David Beasley and im trying out for the Cavaliers in December and i wanted to know how to perform the "claw" to enhance my drumline visual sackbag and to add one more to mine If u can help m out with a link or something id appreciate it thanx

best_jay15, very off topic, but http://dci.org/news/news.cfm?news_id=d3567a51-25ac-43ea-9d6c-dd1de2ea66aa

Hulka, during the opener of the 95 Cavies show, were the red snares the snare line used the same type as the black ones you guys picked up later on in the show?

If I'm not mistaken, the red drums were the 14" sFz and the grey ones were the 13" version which the corps was prototyping for Yamaha that year. The sizes might be the other way around.

99% correct, MAM!

The red "Mars" drums were the 14" SFZ's (recovered) we received in '94 but never used because we prototyped the 13" SFZ's that summer. The marble drums we switched to were the 13" production model of the SFZ. The Blue Devils did the opposite in their '95 show...they started the show with the 13" snares then switched to 14" snares.

In addition to the different size and color, we also tuned the 14" snares much differently to achieve a distinct difference in sound.

Interesting, personally, I can do the claw, but I'm still working on the hulka helicopter

the link isn't workin anymore, I'd still like to see it and get a better idea of it.

"99% correct, MAM!

The red "Mars" drums were the 14" SFZ's (recovered) we received in '94 but never used because we prototyped the 13" SFZ's that summer. The marble drums we switched to were the 13" production model of the SFZ. The Blue Devils did the opposite in their '95 show...they started the show with the 13" snares then switched to 14" snares.

In addition to the different size and color, we also tuned the 14" snares much differently to achieve a distinct difference in sound."

Looking at four of the "Mars" drums as we speak, and tuning them as well.

But the question is... are they still red?

I've played on one of the Mars drums, and it's still red. Not as good as the new stuff, as far as snares mechanism.

hey all, i just joined this thing and i was looking through..personally i can do the claw...at least i think i can cuz i think i know what you guyz are talking about but i've never seen the hulka helicopter and i'd like to but all the links on here are broke...*cries on inside*...so could someone please get me a link w/ the hulka helicopter.

"But the question is... are they still red?"

Under the contact paper, red at heart. We have some of the 96 drums as well- the sun had some fun with those drums...

I played North Mesquite High School snare during the '96 -'97 season. Our drum teacher purchased the score to the Cavs 95 show and he taught us a way to think about the claw.

First, working your right hand counter-clockwise, you slap the two ends of your stick at the top right area of the snare to produce a two quick slaps. You want the two strokes to hit tight so it is similar to a bounce. Double stroke, back end first, tip second.

Second, you kind move the left hand back a little towards your belly so you don't hit the rim and don't tangle up the claw.

In your right hand, you'll wanna hold it towards the middle to get an even double stroke out of the claw, but you need to be able to place an end stroke with the right hand. So don't go too far to the middle of the stick, or you won't be able to end it clean.

Practice with just the claw on the drum and try to get a good double slaps out of each swipe at the drum. Soon, you'll be able to put that into a sweet claw roll.

Nice write-up, man!

For those that didn't see this link in another thread, this is a working link to the video that was mentioned earlier in this thread. The claw "lesson" isn't really much of a lesson but you'll at least get to see it up close with some tips.

yo hulk,
what's the actual name for the one handed bass drum technique that was used in 92 and 93?...and, is that technique also considered as the claw?

The technique is Irish bodhrán drumming. As one would guess, this technique as been around MUCH longer than the "claw" so the two are not connected. However, I'll have to ask Mark Casey the next time I run into him if seeing the bass line use the bodhrán technique in '92 sparked the idea for the claw.

Pretty nifty man.

well about the claw, if you really wanna rack your brain on sumtin crazy, try dooin the claw roll with one hand. The angle is the same and its more on a triplet feel but its definetely sick stuff. I was first introduced to it by watching the video of casey bradford i think dooing it in his solo for i&e. It knocked me off my rocker and i tried it myself and can get it kinda consistent but it look like butt. If anyone can help me with the look of the one handed claw can u get back to me on it?

my bad its casey brohard who did the one hand claw

can somebody help me out with this, when try to do the claw, I can't seem to keep the stick on the head of the drum, the stick is bigger then the head, do i just need more wrist movement to keep it on?

Yeah. Twist your hand and and wrist from side to side, in such a way that it's not even noticeable. Just keep experimenting until the stick on both ends hits the head.