I go to a north texas school and nobody in our area uses traditional grip. match grip is ok and everything,but its hard to ake everyones grip on the stick look uniform. does anybody else use match??

And, just to clarify, the kids who want to take their drumming out of HS (me being one) we play traditional grip when we practice outside of formal practice.) in y opinion, its good to know both.

I'm not exactly sure what you're inquiry/question/comment is, but I'll try to respond anyway.

If you mean you intend to play in a corps or in college, then it is useful to be able to play with a traditional grip -- a corps will probably use it and it's probably about 50/50 in college bands. Just don't get too attached to your particular take on "traditional" for reasons I expound upon below.

I'm not sure what you mean by your statement that it's "hard to make everyone's grip on the stick look uniform" with matched grip -- there isn't really any variation in a correct matched grip. Most high schools I know of usually play matched, as it generally applies to percussion instruments as a whole and is easier to learn and to play with correct form.

Traditional grip is where there is a lot of variation, largely stemming from the fact that traditional came about to make it possible to play with a drum cocked over your hip (think Yankee Doodle) and was later still much more comfortable with leg stirrups and leveler bars since the drum was still off to the side and the drum could still be set at an angle. Carriers have removed the reason for traditional grip and actually make the grip awkward, so a number of variations have sprung up, from "ashtray" (left hand turned palm up) to "drop armed" (palm in a hand-shake position, left arm held low to bring the stick semi-level) with variations in exact finger position thrown into each -- I believe there is a looong thread on here discussing "correct" traditional grip!

I think this is the forum DRUMS11 is talking about

Left hand technique thread

If this is indeed your question...

yeah but that not what he wants to know

Yeah, i just wanted to know who used what grip style. i thought most groups used tradish on snare, (not including my school.)

I would either stick with one grip and stay with it. If you keep changing, one will always be weaker + it will be difficult keep it consistent.

I really don't agree with the above statement. For example, if you stick with playing snare all your drumming-life, your mallet skills are gonna suck. Most percussionists need to be well-rounded in the aspect of being able to play various instruments in various situations. I think it's best to learn both and be proficient at both, and switch while you practice. Now, to the original question, our line uses match due to the lack of correct knowledge of traditional grip. My instructor feels it unnecessary to sacrifice sound quality to "look like a more advanced line" by playing traditional as a line, but he still tries to get all the snares to be able to handle traditional grip.

My highschool's line plays matched.
A side note...
I'm not on the line but am teaching myself to play and would like to maybe try out for a college band next year. Should I learn traditional or stick with matched?

Depends on the college.... you should ask someone there when you go on a tour

If they used matched then it wont help you to use traditional

My school uses traditional, and all the groups I know of in Indiana do too. Only when we went to Ohio for WGI did I see groups that used matched grip on their snare lines. Since I've been playing traditional for a while, I find it much more comfortable on snare, but less on drumset (unless it's jazz).

Well my drum corp used traditional also since it has a firm, tight grip, i think that match you can easily lose the control of it but that is just my opinion

Last year our line used traditional, but this year our instructor has yet to teach the incoming freshmen to do traditional. I have no idea when this is going to happen, but I hope it does. Until then, we'll be stuck playing match grip.

No offense to your instructor, but its a bad idea doing that. The longer the freshman play traditional grip the more comfortable they will be. Sometimes the transition from playing matched to traditional is difficult for everyone because you use completely different muscles. This can create a very dirty snare line...best of luck to you!

I agree completely, and I have no idea why he is doing this. I almost want to teach the freshmen traditional grip myself. Maybe I'll ask my instructor why he's doing it tomorrow. Luckily, our snares are being played by mostly returning band members, but this also means that while part of the line is playing tradish, and the other part is playing matched.

Btw, our line doesn't march, so in between songs, people switch around on instruments. On the first song, we have 2 pretty good snare players playing alongside a freshman and a guy who mostly plays tenors (who plays match). It looks pretty bad.

There are plenty of very knowledgeable people who would disagree with you. Tom Aungst and Murray Gusseck, just to name two you might heave heard of.

There are some instructors who teach only matched grip to their high school lines. One reason is that it translates easily to other percussion instruments. If an instructor's goal is to teach a well-rounded percussionist, they can teach a student matched grip to use on marching drums, concert drums, drum set, keyboard instruments, timpani... basically any percussion instrument. Traditional grip, on the other hand, is predominantly found only on marching snare drums. (It can be used on drum set or concert snare, but isn't necessary.)

Another reason for matched grip, and I've heard Murray Gusseck talk about this one, is consistency of sound from hand to hand. If it's a goal to make your right and left hands sound the same, what sense does it make to use a different grip and stroke for each hand?

I'm not necessarily advocating a mass switch to matched grip. I actually teach traditional grip to my own snare line. But for those guys who use or teach matched grip, I understand why they do it.

I understand exactly where you are coming from, but what i was getting at is if the instructor has the intentions of playing traditional later, it will take longer for the new comers to work those muscles up. I must admit myself, i prefer match to traditional on just about everything. I do play traditional on marching snare though.

Speaking within directly a battery situation. Playing matched grip can allow for players to take up different drums in order to help the overall line. From what I recall, most of Dartmouth's snare line this year were tenor players last year. They switched because a lot of the snare line graduated.

We play matched grip the whole line wants to switch to Traditional but the BD says no as he says we need to get a professional in to teach us.

I agree with your band director. Lines shouldn't use traditional grip unless they have someone experienced to teach it. It's one of those things that students are unlikely to get right unless they have someone knowledgeable coaching them, identifying and correcting mistakes before they become bad habits.

Everybody is bringing up very valid points. When looking at the ergonomics of different grips, traditional is outdated. However, tradition is tradition, and all crops, and many college bands play traditional. I teach my line traditional, even though I would prefer to teach them only matched. However, the school is growing and is looking to compete in a setting where everybody plays traditional. Also, my students are looking to play in marching bands in colleges, and many of the colleges in the area play traditional. So, I am stuck in this situation, and just try to make the best of it.

However, learning various types of grips for all kinds of percussion instruments (drums AND timpani, 2 and 4 mallet keyboard percussion, etc.) is the best way to go. The more one learns, the more versatile they will be, and if you are looking to become a competitive or professional musician, the more marketable you will be.

Good luck to everybody in their future conquests (be it with traditional or matched grip).

I agree too. Im just mad that we dont get to play traditional.