I've seen some previous posts about high tension drum questions and some DLO members have offered fairly detailed information about high tension drums and information about the history of high-tension technology. But the fact that it's presented on a drumline forum makes it a secondary source to the reader. I was wondering if anyone can give me a primary source for information on the research and development of high-tension/"free-floating" technology.
I am interested about the following topics:
(feel free to answer yourself, but I'd ultimately like to find a primary source)

-Who was the first person to invent/develop a model for high tension snare technology? When?

-What about the integration of high-tension technology into Drum Corps International? Was the research and development of high-tension technology a result of DCI demand or was high-tension technology developed and then introduced to DCI and the marching world in general? Assuming there was a demand for a high-tension drum, why was there this demand?

-Where can I find a detailed primary source that documents the switch from low to high tension marching percussion?

A primary source is going to be very difficult to find unless you contact someone at one of the drum manufacturers and ask why they brought their high tension snares to market. But without a primary source, you can still make observations and deductions, and from that I've pieced together the stuff below:

It had been customary for a number of corps to crank mylar snare heads as tight as the heads could go. Tighter heads can produce a crisper, more articulate sound with shorter decay, allowing details to be more clearly heard.

Remo introduced their Falam (kevlar) head in 1987. It allowed for higher tension than mylar heads, but the problem is that the new heads were able to withstand tensions that the drums themselves couldn't. If you over-cranked a mylar head, the head would give. If you over-cranked a kevlar head, the drum would break. Lug casings could crack or shear, rims could crack, and shells could warp or collapse. A sturdier drum was needed to handle the tension demands of these new kevlar heads, which led the drum companies to come up with new designs.

I don't know the first person to invent/develop a free floating high tension snare drum, but the first company to have one on a drum corps field was Premier. Star of Indiana used Premier free floaters in 1989. The Blue Devils also marched a free floater in 1989, but it was sort of a hybrid. BD had an endorsement deal with Yamaha, who owned Premier at the time. BD had Premier free floaters in 1989, but with a Yamaha snare strainer and Yamaha logo on them. Pearl's free floater hit the field in 1990. From 1990 through 1992, Yamaha's answer to high tension drums was their Corps Custom model. It wasn't a free floater, but had a reinforced shell and heavier-duty lug casings. Around 1993, Yamaha introduced the sfz free floater as their top-of-the-line high tension snare.

I don't know for certain about 1989, but Star did use mylar on free floaters for a few years. The Velvet Knights also used mylar on free floaters in 1991.

Star absolutely used kevlar in '89. They had some sweet 'Scottie' licks all over that book. And yes, they were on the Premier free floaters.

Star used Premier until 93 when they made the switch to Pearl. Many corps used free floater drums with mylar heads. The last corps I can think of was 03(maybe 04)Glassmen until about mid season or so.
Corps used to double and even triple hoop the heads to achieve the highest pitch possible and still have rim left to hit. Yamaha had a field corps drum that was not quite the all star marching snare but still a good axe and this drum had a batter hoop that was very tall(almost two times the height of todays rims) so you could crank down mylar heads without having to triple hoop or possibly double hoop.

Honestly I think the free floating snare drum was first introduced to the world of pipe drumming. The tuning schemes in the pipe band world are sky high. From what I have heard the free floater was partly through the request of Jim Kilpatrick to come up with a drum that could achieve higher tuning without shell failure and with a significantly reduced chance of hardware failure. To the best of my knowledge the Premier HTS drum was out in the UK just about a year before it hit the market here in the US and the fields of DCI.

Hulka,
I know you're the master of drum corps trivia so I'll trust you on this one. But I could've sworn I remembered them using kevlar in '89, especially because Rich Viano's solo was on kevlar and in retreat we were next to them one time and they had kevlar....I think. Getting old = memory sucking. Now you've got me obsessed over it!! Way to go Hulka.

Haha, glad I could help out.

I looked all over for '89 Star pics and all I cold find were tenor line shots. Check out the following video at 2:48 and if you look REAL close they have Marathons on top: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W176GSUcEQM

Now, I suppose at some point during the season they used kevlar since that would make sense with their show concept, but by late season when I saw a clinic of theirs they were playing on mylar.

Well, there you have it then. Nice seeing you again Hulka!