Practice Sticks: Why?

Over the years, drum companies have developed sticks specifically designed for practice, and/or for warming up. So far, my research shows that this idea was being considered as far back as the 1960s.
Why?

Various schools of drumming advised students to use a bigger, heavier stick to "warm up" with, so that when they switched to their "normal" sticks their hands would feel lighter and the sticks livelier.
At first, since most concert and show drummers had been trained in rudimental, military drumming (either because they'd served in the armed forces or because they'd marched in a drum and bugle corps), warming up with marching sticks was a logical choice. Later, as more refinements to drum studies were being espoused by various professional drummers, a few drum companies developed practice-specific models that were not intended for use in performance, but strictly for practice.

I've collected a few models of these practice-specific sticks and thought I'd share a few of them here.

1.  Swingmaster warm-up sticks by Capella, circa 1980's.

Calato developed this stick strictly for warming up. Made from solid aluminum, these sticks are really heavy, and designed for use with a practice pad only. They are ideal for slow, careful warm-ups of a short duration. I obtained these primarily for my collection, and I actually never use them for warming up as my hands are smaller and frankly a little too arthritic for these. The other drawback is that these can only be safely used with matched grip.

2. Matt Savage Practice Pro sticks, circa late 1990s.

Matt Savage marched with the Bridgemen drum and bugle corps, then rose through the ranks as a drum instructor for corps and college marching bands. Today he runs a marching drum line camp and works as a clinician with others' camps as well.
Along the way Savage has developed a few different incarnations of his practice stick. This early design from Johnny Rabb's company H & R Innovations (which would later morph into Malletech), features a thick, heavy marching stick with the playing end ground down to accommodate a rubber cover that approximates the size and shape of the tips of its performance model, the Field Pro:



In both cases the shape of the tip doesn't make for a great connection with the drum head. The sticks are not very well-balanced and they feel klunky in my hands. Still, if I had nothing else to practice with and I was in need of a quick way to blow off some steam, they would suffice. Again, I got these for my collection and not for practical use. (I also got a pair of the Field Pro so I'd have a "set".)

3. Vic Firth Corpsmaster MS4, "Magnum", circa 2010's.












These sticks were originally the Dennis Delucia signature model back in the late 1990's/early 2000's. Made of laminated layers of wood called "Sta-Pac", they were designed for use with Kevlar heads on high-tension snare drums. When Delucia left Vic Firth and became a Promark endorser, Firth renamed the stick the Magnum, and eventually just the MS4. While some drummers have used these in field performance, many only use them as warm-up sticks because they are noticeably heavier than the same model made of standard hickory (formerly another Delucia stick, and dropped by Vic Firth when Delucia left). I have occasionally used these for warming up, but their weight gave me pause and now they are mostly for show in my collection. I hope at some point to find an original Delucia signature pair to swap in.

4. Vic Firth Corpsmaster "SCOJO" practice sticks, Circa early 2000's.

This stick has gone through a few incarnations as well. Designed with Scott Johnson, the current percussion caption head of the Blue Devils drum and bugle corps almost twenty years ago, this is the original design made and marketed by Vic Firth. Subsequent editions were renamed when Johnson fled to Promark, and today it's known simply as the MS6 Chop-Out model. (A similar design made with Sta-Pac bears the signature of Ralph Hardimon, formerly the longtime Percussion caption head for the Vanguard and currently a staff clinician and product development adviser for Vic Firth. As you can imagine, the Sta-Pac version is quite a lot heavier, but with the rubber tips is still meant primarily as a practice stick.)

While practice sticks are not a major focus of my collecting interest, since they are practice aids I will sometimes obtain them if they're interesting (like the unfortunately-named Tomahawk practice sticks I reviewed earlier in this blog).

Here's a video demonstrating the sound and look of these four pairs of sticks, played carefully on my Drumslinger marching pad.

I am always looking for interesting, unusual practice pads and practice sticks.
If you have something to re-home, contact me here.
Happy drumming!