10 things to do at a drum corps show this summer

1. Meet the instructors.  All the staff members are open, just find a time when they are not in front of the section.  While they may not have a lot of time, walk up to them and introduce yourself.  Tell them where you are from and what instrument(s) you play.  Don’t be shy.  You can learn a lot by making a new contact with one of techs or instructors.  You never know where you’ll meet them later in life.
2. Watch the drumline warm up.  Don’t just sit there but become engaged.  Listen for the notes and musicality in the drumline.  What is the writing like to you?  How are the drums tuned?  Which section has it locked in?  Think about the takeaways you’ll bring back to your high school drumline.
3. Meet the kids in the section.  Say hello and tell them what school you attend.  They might live in the town next to you and you never knew it.  You might even end up “friending” them on Facebook or perhaps meeting them in a college drumline next year.  Ask them what the audition process was like and what advice they have for tryouts next year.  You’ll end up learning a lot about what it takes to march in a DCI drumline.
4. See the pit warm up. Not enough people do this.  The pit is where it’s at because it is orchestral and a lot of fun.  Remember what they are playing to warm up.  Remember that during their performance and think about the correlation between the two.  Did it make sense to you?  Where the kids relaxed or stressed?  Did it look like fun?  Look at how the gear was set up?  What can you take back to your high school pit on setting up the pit?  Did the spatial relationship between the marimba, vibes, xylophones, concert bass drum and other items make sense to you?  What mallets are being used?
5. Watch them put take gear on and off the truck.  Not enough people do this either.  Each corps has a different method for trucking their gear around the country.  Look inside the truck and see how they pack the gear inside.  Ask the kids why they pack the gear the way that they do?  Is the gear being protected and is it safe from damage during transport?  See how they take their time and are careful to protect the gear during transport.
6. See how the corps takes care of the gear.  Are covers being used?  How about cases?  Are the keyboard frames scratched at all?  Do the keyboard rails sag?  Do the resonators look damaged?  What you’ll find is that the gear is well taken care of across the board with few exceptions.  Percussion instruments are just that: instruments.  If you take care of them, they will last a long time.
7. Look at the focus of the corps members.  Who is relaxed and who is not?  Who is having fun and who is not?  This is a great way to tell what corps you may want to be a part of next year or in two years.
8. Look for traditions.  What makes the corps unique?  Do they sing a song or march a certain formation?  Look to see how the corps differs in their approach.  Some traditions have been around a long time and have meaning behind them.
9. What ideas can you take back to your school?  Think about all of the above.  As you bring your high school program to a higher level of competition and performance, what ideas do you have for your program?  Keep the ideas and change simple and get buy in from your classmates and band director.
10. Cheer on the corps.  Watch all the groups perform.  The Open Class groups are working just as hard.  While they may be younger and not as polished, they deserve your support and good cheer.

Yamaha Marching Drum Weights

We get a lot of questions about our drum weights.  Our research indicates that Yamaha marching drums are the lightest on the market.  If kids cannot carry the drum, what’s the point really?

We are sure that many of you may not know that the  shell of a drum is the most important feature of any drum.  For it is the drum shell that creates the body of the sound to produce the sound clarity and tonal color.  The shell not only has the characteristics that allow the drum resonate, the shell must also be durable enough to withstand high tension and extreme weather conditions.

All Yamaha drum shells are produced utilizing a 35 step process at the Yamaha owned drum production factory in Japan.   To learn more about the process of how Yamaha makes drum shells, please visit our recent Factory Tour Videos I and II featuring Yamaha Marching Percussion Artist Bret Kuhn.