drumming for justice in the time of corona

We are entering the second night of curfews here in Portland. The police have closed off access to much of downtown Portland and are telling people to get home by 8pm.
Being immuno-compromised, I can't join the throng of protestors anyway; but I still want to do SOMEthing. So in support of those protesting and as a voice against police brutality and police violence against black people, I'm heading to my local park at 7 tonight to play at full volume; Friends with drums can join me -- spaced and masked, of course -- and we'll lay down some beats for half an hour. (Because the curfew applies anywhere in city limits, and I don't want anyone to stay out past 8pm who isn't comfortable doing so.)

I will do this every night until the curfews end. Based on how the protests are exploding here and around the globe, I'll be playing at my local park every night until the police close that, too.

Video: Last night's curfew drum jam, in my yard.
A timid start.
With time, I hope I'll get braver.

drum joy: The finished 15, played at volume

If youve been following my progress with this drum, I scored it many months ago and finally had time during the shutdown to take it apart, clean it thoroughly and rebuild it with new heads. Add to that my old, original Ludwig webbed strap from high school (I helped myself to one just before graduation, as they were no longer being used in 1981) and a recently-acquired Perfect Leg Rest, and I now had the ultimate drum to chop on.

Only thing was that it's hard to chop at full volmue when your partner is stuck at home just like you and the studio doesn't have any sound-reducing foam on the wall or door.
So when Sweetie told me she was running errands and would be gone "a few hours," I leapt at the chance to do some drumming on an actual drum.

I spent some time working up a new exercise I'd written, playing the Malik-styled practice "drum" just for fun. After filming a good take for my HONK! friends, I jammed on it for a good hour or so.
Then after lunch, I switched gears and picked up my great big Ludwig.
Even with only 8 lugs, wire snares and a very simple strainer, this thing sounds awesome.
I can't wait to take it out and march with UBB when the shutdown ends.

Here's a little something to enjoy: a compilation of street beats from the Pratt book, strung together with a couple of my own, plus the opening bars of the overture from "1776" -- a drum solo I learned by ear in seventh grade and have loved ever since.

At some point on another lovely day, I'll have to take this over to the park and annoy the neighbors.
Cheers! And happy chopping.

My latest pad, coming soon.

I already have a fair number of pads from Xyxmox, and I can't really say why.
They are best suited for  style of drumming I'm too old for and there's not a lot of flexibility on how you play them.
But I saw this commemorative DCI champion model (Blue Devils) and knew I wanted it for my collection.
It'll be here next week.

Vintage corner: the best leg rest ever made

When I marched in my high school band in the fall of 1977, I was first introduced to this leg rest when I was assigned to carry a single tenor drum. The drum came outfitted with a pair of hard felt beaters, a cotton webbed sling, and a leg rest which allowed you to carry the drum more comfortably. The best part of the design was that included a heavy elstic band so you could strap the leg rest to your thigh for a more stable connection while you marched with the drum.

I learned to quickly love this leg rest. When the section leader tried to take it off my tenor so he could have it on his snare drum, I quickly moved to put the drum on so he couldn't take it. He had to settle for the narrower -- and less comfortable -- bolt-on leg rest that didn't come with a strap.
Fearing that he might try and swap them between rehearsals, I took to removing the leg rest and hiding it in my locker, reattaching it before each rehearsal. He stopped paying attention to me and "my" leg rest when the cymbal player began flirting with him.

I kept that leg rest in my locker for three years, until I was promoted to tritoms my senior ywear and didn't need it anymore.

Since then I've tried to find another like it. They've very occasionally turned up on eBay for more money than I could afford -- until last week I came into a couple of them through a drum corps alum network on Facebook. I need to find a heavy elastic band and some rectangular rings to complete it, but between the two I purchased I was able to build up a very fine, usable leg rest for my new-to-me 15-inch snare drum.

I found the original patent from 1961 online. Curiously, the original patent expired around the time I began high school. Likely because the first mass-produced rigid harnesses ("vests") were just coming into use by then, the patent was not renewed. But it's still a great design, and remains the most comfortable leg rest ever.

As I said, these are harder to find, perhaps because their years of production were more limited than the standard bolt-on design that can still be bought new today.

But the designer knew what he wanted, and he figure out how to make it more comfortable by expanding the platform that sat against the thigh, and using spring steel to allow for easy attachment and removal.

One note: if you find one of these today, you may discover (as I did) that the thigh cup is a little narrow. (I fit me perfect when I was fourteen!)
It's a simple fix to place one side wrapped in shop rags in a bench vise and gently pull the other side wider, a little at a time so you don't crack the metal. Keep trying it on until it fits. (If your legs are too wide for this one, get the other kind instead, as it tends to fit winder legs.)

As soon as I find the heavy elastic band I'm looking for, I'll set this up on my Ludwig and start walking around with it.
I can't wait. It' going to be basically perfect for the kind of drumming I want to do.

Vintage corner: In praise of flat pads

A number of practice pads have been made over the decades that were designed to lay on top of a snare drum. Playing the pad this way would bring out a little of the snare sound while reducing the overall volume, making them an ideal practice aid for home and travel use.

I currently own three of these "flat" pads:

1. Ludwig "Gladstone" style pad, circa 1950s. Stage and studio drummer Billy Gladstone originally designed this practice pad in the 1940s while working with Gretsch Drums as an endorsee. The rubber pad was molded in one piece of rubber with two different thicknesses, giving the player a thicker, solid rubber playing surface in the center and a much thinner, more flexible rubber surface around the outside that helped to dampen the drum.When the patent ran out on this design, many other companies copied it and sold it under their brand. The pad is still manufactured today, though modern versions don't seem to feel as flexible; my guess is that more nylon was added to the rubber mixture and that has altered the feel and sound.

2. Camco practice pad circa 1960s. Similar in design to the Gladstone pad, but with a solid rubber disc glued to the center of a thin, wooden fiber platform. This more rigid design blocked out much more of the snare drum sound and further dampened the drum.

3. A. Stubbs Percussion drum mute, circa 1980s (?). This was a product designed and made in small batches by Amy Stubbs, who is currently on faculty at the University of Pittsburgh and performs with orchestras and small ensembles around the country. Stubbs designed this pad for concert use, less as a practice tool and more as a snare drum mute. Due to the specialized nature of the pad and its marketing limited primarily to college and professional percussionists, my guess is that there are likely no more than a couple hundred of these out there now. This is of similar construction as the Camco pad, but the hard platform is made of a fiberglass/plastic composition and the underside is covered with a layer of fake lamb's wool.


Here's a little demonstration of each pad, beginning with the newest and progressing to the oldest.

The finished really big drum: a video

As promised, here's a short video of the finished drum.
This was quick and dirty, shot in a hurry and played at mezzo-forte so I wouldn't disturb the neighbors too much. Just for fun, I grabbed an old pair of 3S sticks from my high school days (re-taped many years later) to play this video. Not my best playing, but you get an idea of this drum's potential.

I hope to take it to the park later this week, so I can explore more volume levels playing into the huge Mylar head, the way we all used to play before the advent of Kevlar.

Ludwig II: a big snare drum

Last year, I purchased this drum from an online seller. I had kept my eye on it for almost a year, and watched as the price fell and no one bit. I made an offer below the most recent price and it was accepted.

The drum arrived with a fine layer of dust, and two batter heads that looked like they'd never been played.

I let it sit, dealt with other things, and sort of forgot about it for awhile.

Then the shutdown came along, and suddenly I had time to take the drum apart, clean it and rebuild it to make it playable.

 I dismantled the drum, looking carefully at each part and seeing how much time and effort it would require to clean and improve and learning a little about drum construction in the 1970s.
(Left: Note how the wrap is integrated with the mahogany ply; taking that off would be above my paygrade.)

Then I looked at the hardware.
The rims, though showing rust spots, were not warped and would clean up nicely.

The snare strainer was incomplete and missing parts. Having encountered the same model on Ludwig I, it was easy to decide to replace rather than repair. It's a lot of metal for a pretty lackluster design, and since I only had the strainer and no buttplate, I felt no guilt at all. I replaced it with another, simpler strainer set of the same vintage that I knew would work fine.

 

Ive run into this issue before a couple of times when restoring/rebuilding old drums: when is it preferable to repair an original component, and when does it make more sense to replace it?

I asked friends on the FB marching percussion group for their thoughts. Most rushed to suggest I try to repair the original snare strainer, even though the strainer itself was incomplete and not so special to begin with. Then someone else pointed out that my drum had only eight lugs, not the twelve lugs which came with the drums outfitted with Super-Sensitive strainer. Those fancier drums were used by a few championship drum corps back in the 1960s and 70s (Including the Des Plaines Vanguard, whose drums were finished just like this one). But my drum came from a guy who took it home from his high school at the end of his senior year, because the school was buying all new drums for the following year. While I have no proof of any of this, I'm pretty sure a drum corps back in the day would've spent the money for a high-grade drum.

I would say that it's probably best to take it on a drum-by-drum basis. If you're planning to resell the drum one day, keeping everything as original as possible means a higher resale value. If you're going to keep it and play it, I'd say there's no harm in installing non-period parts to make it dependably playable. That's what I chose to do with this one, with no regrets.

I also had to decide which batter head to use. While I like the flat, wet sound of pinstripe heads, the Power Stroke head would require -- or invite! -- more tightening than I really felt comfortable doing on a drum this old and lightweight. So I chose the CS black dot, which provides a more focused sound and would have been perfect for the period anyway.

Cleaning the drum took about three hours total, including some problem-solving and adaptation.

I had to drill one small hole to accommodate the replacement strainer; the butt plate fit the old holes perfectly.
I used a rust-eraser from my bike tool kit to buff out the rust spots by hand, which took some time. Then I polished everything with a bit of Never-Dull, a polish that has been on the market since the 1950's and which is still sold in stores -- because it works and it's non-toxic.
My can dates from probably the 1960's. I scored it for fifty cents at a yard sale and it's mostly full.
And it works like nothing else, which is why I always had a can at my bench when I worked in the bike shop. Just look at how gleaming that chrome is.

I also had to decide whether to actually remove the lugs in order to clean them. To test for rattles, I pulled off everything but the lugs, and shook the shell hard. Nothing. I set it on a lawn chair, and tapped it all over. Nothing. No rattles and clicks. A good sign, so I decided to leave the lugs alone. I tightened the bolts inside very carefully, each gave me about an eighth of a turn, just enough to make sure everything wouls stay put without risk of stripping the threads.

Finally, it was time to reassemble the drum.

I am pleased with how it turned out.
It's bigger than the marching snares I've played before -- my high school band used 14's when I was there, and this is a 15" snare, with a big sound.

I plan to take this to the park tomorrow so I can try it out and chop a little on it, while fine tuning the sound.

Assuming everything works, I'll shoot a little video and toss it up here.

when cheaper doesn't suck: Chinese-made practice pad

Practice pads have, through a combination of slick marketing and a focus on drilling the basics, gained a certain cache among young people in the marching arts scene.
In smaller schools, where band programs are underfunded and kids often have to pay in order to play, a pad retailing for $40 or more may be out of reach.

So I got one of these very affordable, Chinese-made drum pads on eBay.

The pad itself is really simple, a top layer of rubber (I think silicon, in this case) glued to a particle-board platform with a dense-foam layer on the bottom to prevent skidding.

The underside could be played on softly, but it's not intended for that purpose and playing too much on the side will wear out the foam.

These pads retail on eBay and elsewhere for $9-15 including shipping. They come in 8" or 12" across and the playing surface comes in a variety of colors (with no difference in the rubber composition).

I got a 12" gray pad, which looks quite similar in design to The Evans Real Feel pad (which retails for around $28-32 at most music stores).

The difference between the Evans and this imported imitation is subtle, but very evident as soon as you play. The import pad surface is denser and a little harder, making for a livelier response than the thicker Real Feel pad.

For what it is, its not bad at all. I'd be fine giving one of these to my student on a budget.
Just note that these import pads seem to work better with larger marching drum sticks; the thicker, heavier stick provides the mass needed to get the bounce. The Evans will make you work just a little harder, which has its purposes.

Here's an example of some farting around on the import pad just after I unpacked it.

For my money, it's not bad at all. But it does beg the question -- at what point are there too many practice pads on the market all trying to answer the same question? And how many of these pads seem redundant as a result?

Worth pondering, especially now that kids will mostly chopping out at home and therefore much more in need of a practice pad until schools reopen.