My fellow instructors, I need your advice. I`m having a problem with my 4th bass drummer. He is a freshman and has never marched before. We(my staff and myself) have been working him for nearly 3 months on that spot. We have not seen any progress in his abilities and the rest of the bass line is ready to kill him, not to mention the rest of the line.
Anyway tomorrow morning in percussion techniques class I am going to be tell him that we have to move him to the pit so he can get more of a positive experience. By the way my pit is not a dumping ground for the wanna be`s. It is a place for younger and inexperienced percussionist to learn about marching band. So lets not go down that road.

I do have a person in mind to replace him and he has chops and is experienced at marching. This has been on my mind all day and the BD and I have discussed this in detail and have come to that conclusion.

In your professional opinions out there, what would you do?
Thanks for letting me vent.
Chad

I think that sounds like a good idea. You seem to have thought it through very well, and as you said pit isn't for the "wannabe's". I think as long as you try and make everyone else understand that concept, you will get positive feedback.
Good luck!

Thanks for the feed back on this. We actually went with it this morning and talked to both parties about the idea. The student we took off the line was very relieved to our surprise. He was under a lot of pressure as a freshman to get it down not only by my staff but by the rest of the line. He understood that this was not a demotion, but it is a way to have a good experience and a chance to learn more about the activity. I was really worried about this situation and the possible out come. The new student we put in the 4th bass spot was at the first rehearsal and is learning the drill, the exercises and the music at a good rate and should have it down for the first performance in 3 weeks.
We as a staff came at it with a very positive attitude and it went better than I could have hope for. I know this is a little long but I want to share this experience with new and younger instructors.

Thanks,
Chad

Let me update you on what has happened since. The new bass drummer learned 78 pages of drill in 2 days. We are one day away from our first performance and he is still learning music and it is taking him a little longer to do that. But once he has it, he really has it. The other student is really glad that the pressure is not as intense as before and is having a very positive experience. I just wanted to share that with you.
Thanks,
Chad