Drummers Service

By John R. Dowlan
DCN Aug. 29, 1962 issue

ARE BIGGER DRUM SECTIONS REALLY WORTH THE EFFORT?

For years now we have sat back and watched our drum lines dwindle to a bare minimum. At times we have even seen entry into competition with blank files that should have been drummers. I will admit that talent and instruction may be limited in certain areas, and many "would be" good drummers will just not devote the proper amount of time, practice and study necessary to master the techniques of rudimental drumming. However, another, and possibly the most important aspect to consider is our present scoring methods.

According to the current American Legion Score Sheets a General Effect caption of only 3 and 1/3 points is available to give proper credit where due and most drum judges I have seen do not take advantage of this, but would rather group the scores closely together and appear to be afraid to give a justified spread by any large margin. This is hurting our better and more experienced drum lines and by the same token is very misleading to sections of lower quality standard. Many judges associations have been deducting up to one full point for a missing snare drummer, which can definitely show bearing in the final outcome of a tight contest by hurting the entire corps; but, under our present system of judging, which reflects mainly on the score sheets themselves, we can gain practically nothing by adding one or more drummers and stand to be severely penalized if we have a missing man.

It appears to me that it should work both ways. . .
if we are going to deduct for a vacancy then we must increase credit build-ups for the inclusion of additional personnel. On several occasions in recent weeks, I have witnessed the larger drum sections do better than an adequate performance execution-wise, but receiving no extra compensation for this exhibition of talent. Naturally, more errors are to be expected and this stands to reason, but on the other hand, it should be realized that many extra hours of planning, preparation and toil are involved when an accomplishment of this nature has been undertaken..... not to mention cost of additional expenses involved in the purchasing of new equipment, uniforms, etc.

Horn lines are growing all the time and now balance is the new problem confronting us. Must three snare drummers "pound" in order to achieve maximum volume for proper balance? This is hardly the way to attain clean execution and showmanship. To overcome this problem, it becomes apparent that an increase in percussion manpower is now justified.

Now don't misunderstand the true meaning of this discussion. I am NOT saying that a drum line with only two snare drummers for example, should not be penalized, for I feel this is only fair, but my feelings are that a larger drum line, maintaining proper balance within itself and the bugle section, while doing at least a mediocre job in execution, should be given a higher General Effect score and by a substantial amount ... not just one or two tenths! Unless we get together and voice our opinions and express our viewpoints where and when it counts, I feel certain that the situation will get worse before it gets better.

One possible solution might be to deduct 10 points from the 30 points now allowed in field drums and put these full 10 points into the General Effect Drum sheet.... and until this or something similar is done we will not see the bigger drum sections that we should have in our Drum Corps today.

While on the subject, I should like to congratulate Archer-Epler "Musketeers" for the nice job their new six-man snare drum line did at Lewisburg, Pa., a few weeks ago, which was a pleasure to see and hear. Too bad, fellas, that the GE Drum sheets will not permit due credit for this accomplishment, and the GE Drum Judge did not appreciate something different when he witnessed your performance. I wonder what it must take to impress some people? I would appreciate hearing this man's side of the story..... maybe we can all learn something!

In conclusion . . . Are bigger Drum Sections really worth the effort? . . . What do you think?