Pipes and Drums

So a few weeks ago I saw a posting on Craig's List for "rudimental drummers" and I was intrigued. Long story short, Madison Pipes and Drums is looking for snare drummers. They are a bagpipe band.

I'm no great fan of bagpipes...though I don't hate them either. I'm also no great fan of marching drums. I kind of DO actually hate marching drums. Marching snares have a different kind of head than a kit snare. Super tight and tough. The result is a serious crack sound. Many hundreds of feet away in the stands at a football game, this makes it so they sound clear and good. Standing next to them it makes so that your head might burst open. I don't like that. I get headaches easily.

So why would I care about this posting?

Well, much in the way that I regret that my parents never forced me to take piano lessons...I regret to some degree that I don't have formal marching drum training. I never wanted to be in band in school...but there's no denying that being forced to learn snare drum rudiments and being forced to play them every single day for 7-11 years maybe 1-3 hours per day gives a person serious chops. I lack those chops. I know that it is just a matter of sitting down with a practice pad every day and playing rudiments, but that's really a difficult thing to force yourself to do because it is boring and it is hard and it takes a long time of doing it to make any progress. I could take lessons from someone who would force me to do this. But I probably would want to kill that person and would quit.

The idea of working with this Pipe and Drum corps somehow seems less painful. Well...maybe MORE painful to my ear...but less painful to my psyche. And, since I've learned the glories of using good ear plugs, annoying loud noises bother me less.

So next Tuesday I'm heading down to their rehearsal to see what it's all about. Their website seemed really welcoming to newbies...but the guy I exchanged emails with was a little terse, so I'm not sure how the feel will be on balance. I don't actually have any interest in playing with the group, just in improving my skills on snare rudiments...so I can then translate that to better kit playing. I think they want a long term committment to play in competitions...so I'll have to see how things feel and whether that seems likely. I'd like to just go along and play it by ear. Not sure if I can be honest about that or not. Ultimately, if it is fun then I'd be ok playing with the group after I learn the basics. If it isn't fun then I'm not going to want to stick around. I can't imagine they could expect anyone to do any less.