Claymore Drums

Here’s my simplified drum score for massed band 4/4’s. More videos to come on YouTube, comment or message with any requests. https://youtu.be/EuP5BjOlRGc

A new product from Claymore. I have come up with a simple and inexpensive method to reduce the moisture content of a reed after playing. It's called the Claymore Cap. It's designed to fit over chanter reed covers that have an existing hole in the top. If your cover does not, you can simply drill one yourself. Inside the cap is an absorbent silica pack. This will help in reducing excess moisture and any problems related to a wet reed.More info: www.claymoredrums.com

This may not seem like conventional advice, but it is important to understand the difference between your practice pad and your snare drum. When teaching, I always emphasize the importance in quality of the sound and not the quantity of sound you are trying for on the pad. This means playing everything clean, controlled and soft when practicing. There is a tendency to get, shall we say, over enthusiastic while playing on a pad. If you transfer this heavy handed playing onto ...the snare drum, you take away one of the biggest aspects of the drum...dynamics. If the volume scale of a snare is from 0-10, and you or your corps are playing at an 8 all the time, who is going to notice when you play at 10? It should also be noted that playing loud makes it very hard for a corps to play well together. Playing soft forces everyone to listen and hone in as a corps. Keep in mind, whatever volume you achieve on the pad will be 10 times louder on the drum. Again, quality of sound is the goal, not quantity of sound. See more

It is always important to learn the structure of a movement first and then it's rhythmical application. The goal is to play clean with good musical presentation.