im not in a show band, however i like next to North Carolina A&T and to me they are the best showband...Plus i have plenty of oldheads from my high school line playing there so it may influence my view. Also I personally practice rudiments because in my opinion its a good way to build up confidence. The other high schools we play include Dudley, Smith, and Andrews which all three have showbands and all three have friends of mine on them. Maybe my opinion is altered in some way because im white and like showbands because i think it is more entertaining. I wont be playing in one in college because in my opinion it isnt as much of a technical challenge as some other schools would be.
PS out warmup starts with 2 eights on a hand then singles at the same pace for 28 hits then we speed the singles up twice as fast for 28 hits. Switch to slow doubles, then speed them up, then speed them up and add in an accent them as if they are triplets(easier to show than tell) Its like you count 1 2 3 while doing doubles and accent on the 1. Then it switches to paradiddles then faster paradiddles, then double paradiddles, then it winds down with a few flam taps and gets quiteter til it fades out. (Ill send a audio clip of me doing it when i get the chance)

Orangecrush2, can you please name some of the people that you have seen that makes Jeff Queen just one of the crowd...maybe we have heard of them. Oh, and for the record Jeff Queen was playing in a top 12 DCI line at the age of FIFTEEN, so actually he was that good at 19. You were probably to young to know about it at the time.

Next, Jeff Queen is an example. No one is talking a cult following (as you put it). There are other people we could have used as an example, but just about everyone knows who Queen is, so he was used. If you want other names...how about Nick Angelis, Pat Fitzgibbon, Mike McIntosh, Mickey Burmer, and Tyler Dempsey. I could go on, put that should cover it.

Finally, I think you are taking this a little too far. No one is idolizing anyone here....it is called admiring. We can do that and not be a flunky. It happens all the time. Also, there are very few drummers that are on the playing level of Mr. Queen. Honestly, calling him a god in the world of drumming is not really a stretch. If you took a poll of the best rudimental snare drummers of the last 20 years...his name would be top 5 at least. Oh, and there is nothing wrong with putting someone on a pedastal as you long as you are trying to climb that pedastal to get to that level (or as close as possible).

I've have very limited exposoure to show-style marching band because I live on the west coast. So, with that in mind I don't want to steryotype the genre. But, when I was in highschool, I had an instructor for a year and a half to marched in a show band. And unfortunetly I learned a lot of terrible stuff from him. Now a days I'm working very hard to unlearn the stuff he taught me (for example, he taught me to flip my middle fingure from my left hand off the stick when playing trad. As I've gotten better (not only at snare drumming, but drumset and other percussion insturments) I find this technique to be more harm than help. And in general I just find his approach very inefficient.

Now here's my question. It is possible that my insturctor just sucked. Or, are the differences in the way he plays and the way I want to play just a difference of goals? Is he going for a different sound than I am and that's why we play differently? Someone who plays in a show band could enlighten me. Is it standard for your middle fingure on your left hand to be off of the stick?

well i alot a lot of the band i know play with their wrist not their fingers ,and the thing about sticking up your middle finger is something to give you a very good example/visual of how to get close to what he wants .thats they way i was tough in the begining when i started but i eventually got used to it and after watching the pros play and mimicing them i evolved into the way i play now wich is the actual correct way to play (it took me 2 months to achive but hey i got there).

ok we have quite a few of showbands here in the dfw area..mostly like downtown dallas..I live in tx near dallas and like some high schools are just completely horrid...well to me and my lines taste..the were cocky,undisciplined,bad over all.....they knew some rudiments but to a certain extent..there main purpose was to show off....and they didn't think it was impressive. Now, don't get me wrong this isn't my view on shownand drummers as a whole this is my view on drummers from my area...we also had a snare drummer(that had showband experience) come to our school..he knew nothing and came down on us like he was a drum god...which jeff queen is pretty freakin' close...but to close what I think my view on showband drummers is a very bad one and maybe you might clear this up...these experiences have not come from only one incident it was also like 4 or 5 times that I have experienced a showband drummer...hopefully you can clear this up for me.

I HAVE SOME PRETTY GOOD PLAYERS IN MY LINE THERE CHOPS ARE VERY GOOD. MY LINE IS FOCUSING ON THEIR RUDIMENTAL CHOPS WHICH IS GOING TO SEPARATE AND MAKE US BETTER THAN ANY SHOWSTYLE BAND.

That's awesome man...I'm diggin' the fact you're hypin' your line...I saw the mpeg...I thought it was great stuff...I'm diggin what you guys are doing...you should be proud to show them off...I know I would...It's great stuff man...

chill out on the CAPS...


Enjoy...

Thanx

no...thank you. I hope everyone here can appreciate that mpeg as much as I did...