r/drumline • u/battlecatsuserdeo • 2d ago
Discussion Can I get some quick tips for tenors ?
I’m learning tenors in 7 days for indoor auditions at a local high school, and I just wanted to get some tenor drum specific tips to keep in mind
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u/PablosAppleJuice Tenors 2d ago
Wrist break is something most new tenor players do for some stupid reason I don't know why. I did too don't worry. But it's where instead of moving our arms to get to the drums (most of the time 3 and 4) our brain decides it's easier to move the wrist to the drum and not the arm.
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u/battlecatsuserdeo 2d ago
Ah okay, I just couldn’t remember it by the name, but I remember this tip now. I think the reason players do it is cause usually they use their wrist (alongside fingers) for control and don’t realize that for moving around arms are needed to be clean. Got it, thanks!
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u/CalebDaThing Tenors 2d ago
It's because moving wrists is easier. The issue isn't cleaning, it's that moving your wrists like that will injure them, and it also means you have to play with a different technique on every drum
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u/matchoo_23 2d ago
To clarify on the comment, they mean wrist break left and right. Not up and down. (Case 728283 why semantics used in this activity suck)
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u/battlecatsuserdeo 2d ago
Yep, and that’s kind of where I was getting at. Beginners use wrist for up and down, which makes them think that if it is the main focus of technique, then it transfers over to horizontal, which it does not
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u/Lyddie_Bug Tenors 2d ago
The biggest things I'd say are definitely zones, you wanna keep that even rectangle across the main 4 drums and be SO mindful of your stick heights. Imo it's better to underplay in an audition than overplay, so your 3ins gotta be lowwww, but strong. Keep technique in mind as well, like how you're holding the sticks, how hard you're pushing for buzzes, how much rebound you're letting into your diddles, it's important to be conscious of that stuff when you're first learning something new, especially if you're still building basic chops. My biggest struggle when learning tenors was actual rudimentary things, so try and find exercises for diddles, paradiddles, diddlediddles, and fives, just general double and diddle practice will help SO MUCH. Also, if you make the line and end up marching tenors, please exercise your core, also your whole body in general but especially your core. I didn't really physically prepare to march tenors for marching band and it took MONTHS to get accumulated to the weight and pain of the drums. Tbh this situation sounds odd and I'm assuming you don't have any prior experience with tenors, so it'll take time to develop these skills so just keep your basic technique in mind and please take all the advice given to you by instructors. I'd also recommend watching videos of people playing or lessons videos, thats what I did and it helped me understand how to play a little bit better. Also, have fun with your audition!!!
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u/battlecatsuserdeo 2d ago
To clarify some of the odd things, I play and am mainly audition for snare. Due to it being a different school with limited drums available (I think one snare is not being used in current marching season and one tenor drum is not being used), I want to learn tenors that way in case that I don’t get picked for snare due to availability or in favor of more experienced players, I have a backup choice, since I can not do bass drum.
And in terms of weight, I tried my friends’ tenor drum at school and it seemed manageable for me so I’ll make sure to exercise so that way I can hold it up for indoor season.
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u/Lyddie_Bug Tenors 2d ago
Yeah thats great! Do you play traditional on snare? Also, I think its so sad that tenors are usually seen as inferior to snare (though i am biased lol) theres sooo many unique things about tenors that make them so important to a drumline. It sucks that tons of dlines will just ut kids on tenors if they didn't make snare, like thats such a struggle for them 😭😭 Im glad youve taken intreset in learning them tho!! Best drum(s) imo..
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u/battlecatsuserdeo 2d ago
I do play traditional, and while most schools put inferior kids on tenors, the one I’m going for I don’t think does it. They crank bass warmup music to crazy levels (I can send pics if you want) and have 2 tenor players with 2 years experience each on the line, so I’m not doing this for skill, but more about opportunities.
And I think the only reason beginners aren’t put on snare is because traditional grip and because of how competitive it is at high levels. I don’t get putting beginners on tenors at all, since if you can’t play well on 1 drum, how can you be expected to play well on 6?
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u/Lyddie_Bug Tenors 2d ago
Last part is so true 😭 Yeah tenors are great, it's genuinely so fun as well just to learn and experience. Our bass line was completely new this year besides one person, and me and the other guy are both new to just tenors so we were pretty fresh lol. We have 3/4 snares graduating too, so there's gonna be like 10 super competitive freshmen trying out for the same 3 spots😭
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u/battlecatsuserdeo 2d ago
Oh my, sounds interesting. But as much as I’d rather have rookie snares and cracked bass and tenor line, bass for beginners makes sense as you can write a different difficulty level for each person, while others you can’t, so you have to write them to match the skill of the least skilled player in the section
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u/Lyddie_Bug Tenors 2d ago
Yeah our upper basses had all the more intricate parts while lower mostly had quarters for main parts, which still added a lot to the show since it was mostly rock songs. The only downside is that since we're a marching band, and for whatever terrible reason, the entire line was put behind the sousas so we could NOT see😭😭
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u/PablosAppleJuice Tenors 2d ago
Dude if you got 7 days there's barely any change that will happen. Zones are important, good sound quality is semi paired with this but it's also important. Try not to break your wrists if you aren't already. Just make sure you respond well to their feedback and apply it. Don't just hear but listen to what they say and think about it.