How to Play a Marching Drum
- 1). Mount your drum on its harness and fit this harness to your body. Ensure that the drum and harness are mounted securely and comfortably so that you can move and walk while playing.
- 2). Get a grip on your drumstick with the right hand. Form the fulcrum of the grip by holding the stick shaft between your thumb pad and your index finger at a point about one third of the way between the butt (wide end) and tip (playing end) of the stick. The index finger should curl around the shaft of the stick -- do not point your index finger. Lightly wrap your other fingers around the stick shaft to support your grip.
- 3). Get a grip with your left hand. If you are using a marching drum with the playing surface or "batter head" parallel or perpendicular to the ground, you can use the same grip in your left hand to achieve what is known as a "matched grip." If your batter head sits at an angle to the ground--as with most marching snare drums, which sit angled in some harnesses or straps--you will find the "traditional grip" more useful. To form the traditional grip in the left hand, place the drumstick in the "V" between your thumb and palm. Again, the fulcrum of this grip should be approximately one third of the way up the shaft from the butt end of the stick. Next, wrap your thumb over the stick so that your thumb pad touches your index finger at the first knuckle. The middle finger stays in relaxed contact with the stick; the remaining fingers lie relaxed underneath the stick.
- 4). Imagine a penny taped to the very center of your drum's batter head. Place the tips of both drumsticks on the surface of this imaginary penny. Adjust the angle of your elbows and forearms so that the angle between your sticks is about 90 degrees.
- 5). Keep your wrist low--almost level with the drum head--and lift the drumstick in your right hand so that the stick tip is approximately four inches above the drum head. Using your wrist flexibility, bring the drumstick down quickly to strike the center of the drum head. After striking, let the drumstick rebound and come to rest about half an inch above the surface of the drum.
- 6). Perform the same action with your left hand. If you use a traditional grip with your left hand, the motion used to strike the drum will serve as a kind of turning action with your left wrist. Remember to keep your wrists and arms relaxed.
- 7). Alternate right and left strokes at a steady speed. Congratulations--you have learned your first drum rudiment, the single stroke roll. Marching drumming uses many different rudiments or sticking patterns: the vocabulary of the marching drummer. Learn as many rudiments as you can and practice playing them at different speeds.
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