You are probably going to think im an idiot for asking this and you are going to wonder how in the hell am I a snare drummer in a marching band, but what do you mean by chops? I have an idea what it might be, but I dont want to say anything dumb and make myself look like a loser lol.

See definitions number three and four.

The term "chops" was said to be originated by the great jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong. It refers to having stamina and technical proficiency on an instrument.

i.e. "That guys got great chops" or "Chopless Wonder!"

Interesting. <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif" alt="" /> Why did he chose "chops"?

maybe he liked "pork" chops. hehehe. Oh man that was really bad.

If I had to guess, I'd say that since he was a trumpet player and "chops" is also a reference to the mouth - which you use to play the trumpet with - it was a pretty small leap to start using "chops" to refer to playing ability/stamina.

Some other thoughts, why to they call a particular rudiment "grandmas"? I'm guessing that it was in some corps drum book and when they were learning it, a couple players were having some trouble getting the hang of it. Of course, the D.I.'s reaction to this would have been "Come on, man! My grandma could play this!". Henceforth known as "grandmas"... Just a theory...

Now what about "Book Reports" or "Hertas"...Hmmmm <img src="/threads/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif" alt="" />

Back in my day, Hertas were called cheritas, because of the rhythm of the rudiment. I guess it just got shortened a bit, like the interp was condensed.