Not like the movie

How many times have you had to explain this one to your friends?

2013 Holiday Gift Ideas for Drummers

It’s that time of year again! The holiday gift giving season is upon us so it’s time to head to the store to purchase something unique for your special drummer. Many of these items I personally use myself each and every day and others are items I have on MY holiday wish list.

Tools to Create Your Own DRUMLINE Sheet Music

How to Write for PERCUSSION: An extremely detailed and helpful book, not just for beginners but intermediate and advanced musicians as well. Whether you have years of percussion writing experience or no idea how to even approach it, this book will give you hundreds of great new ideas and will show you exactly how to realize them in your music.

Finale Print Music 2011: Simply the best professional music software for arrangers, composers, teachers, students, and drummers too.

My Practice Essentials

BOSS DB-90 Metronome: Dr. Beat! The most advanced metronome available. Trigger input to access unique Rhythm Coach Exercises. I never practice without it.

 

Evans 2-Sided Real Feel 12 inch Practice Pad: The most popular practice pad and for good reason. It serves its primary purpose well - QUIET practice with REALISTIC feel. Definitely a must-buy for drummers who have whiny neighbors.

Percussion Hobbies

Beat Generals: Beat Generals helps you unleash your inner super producer by teaching you all the techniques and tricks the pros use to create the hottest beats on the radio today. I love playing with this in my spare time – try it today!

 

How to Build a Marimba: Really fun comprehensive guides to build your own xylophones, marimbas, vibraphones and other quality percussion instruments.

Other Tech, Gadgets, and Toys

 

Google ChromeCast HDMI Streaming Media Player. Stream my Dumline YouTube videos right to your TV using your smartphone, tablet, or laptop! Perfect for parties, creating playlists, or sharing pictures with grandma and grandpa.

R/C Helicopter. This Brand New 3 Channel mini rc helicopter is the world's newest, most durable and stable helicopter. The item comes with the latest gyro system for precision control. The metal frame has proven to withstand dozens of crashes.

HDMI Pocket Projector. Projects up to 1080p HD images up to 60" diagonal. Rechargeable and portable. Connects via HDMI to most smartphones, tablets, computers, video players, cameras and more.

Breaking Bad: Complete Series. All seasons plus tons of amazing extras for the greatest show on television. The episode titled "Ozymandias" is my favorite episode of any TV show I've ever seen.

Amazon Prime

I highly recommend joining Amazon Prime. If you order something off of Amazon on average once per month then it pays for itself, or if you're ordering a bunch of gifts this holiday season it probably will too. The FREE two day shipping is awesome and everything I've ordered really has come in two days or less. You can also stream movies, TV shows, and get a Kindle book every month. Great alternative for Netflix or Hulu and well worth the investment in my opinion. Cheers!

What gifts are you getting your fellow percussionist for the holidays? Please let me know by commenting below!

Cadets Sheet Music: 2012 Snare Break

Looking for some Cadets sheet music? Check out the 2012 snare solo below.

And of course the video so you can play along. Man that's fast!

 

Download the Cadets 2012 snare solo.

Carolina Crown Wins 2013 DCI World Championships

Carolina Crown won their first ever DCI World Championship last weekend. For only the third time in DCI’s history, (in 1992 and 2004), a record nine corps broke 90 points at the World Championship Finals. The top ten scores were:

1 Carolina Crown 98.300
2 Blue Devils 98.050
3 The Cadets 96.950
4 Santa Clara Vanguard 96.850
5 Bluecoats 93.350
6 Phantom Regiment 93.250
7 The Cavaliers 90.500
8 Boston Crusaders 90.400
9 Madison Scouts 90.100
10 Blue Knights 87.750
11 Spirit of Atlanta 86.400
12 Blue Stars 85.450                

View a complete recap from DCI.org.

Here are the 2013 World Class Caption Award Winners:

Donald Angelica Best General Effect Award
Carolina Crown

Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award
The Cadets

John Brazale Best Visual Performance Award
Carolina Crown

George Zingali Best Color Guard Award
Blue Devils

Jim Ott Best Brass Performance Award
Carolina Crown

 

Posted below is a video of Carolina Crown's victory run after winning the DCI 2013 World Class Championship.

Download drum corp sheet music.

Snare Drum Sheet Music Warmup: Blue Devils Spree 1999

 

One of my favorite snare drum warmup exercises of all time is the Blue Devils Shopping Spree 1999 version. The Blue Devils used to have a warmup exercise every year called Shopping Spree but there's something about the 1999 line that stikes a chord with me. Download the complete Shopping Spree snare drum sheet music. Embedded below is a video of the actual Blue Devils drumline in the lot going shoppin. Check it out. What Spree is your favorite?

 

Download Blue Devils Shopping Spree 1999 - snare drum.pdf

Get more drum corps sheet music.

Colby Beers Tenor Solo Sheet Music

Colby Beers was the 2007 DCI Champion of the I&E Solo competition, scoring a 95.5. His tenor solo was called Free Mind and the sheet music is now available to download for free. Below is a video of the solo for you to play along with and a link to download the sheet music.

 

Download Colby Beers Tenor Solo Sheet Music - Free Mind.pdf

 

Visit our downloads page for more tenor drums sheet music.

How to Create Beats with Beat Generals

Beat Generals is a site that uses FL Studio to teach you how to create beats with easy to follow HD video tutorials. In case you don't already know, FL Studio is a pretty cheap, easy to find, music creation software suite responsible for hit records by Drake, Jay Z, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross and others. It’s easy to make simple drum loops but takes a lot of skill to pull off a well-polished song.

 

So, naturally, I was excited just to find some awesome video tutorials that could help me to start making the beats I loved faster than ever possible before. So now, all I needed were some good drum sounds to make my beats sound better. Luckily, Beat Generals also provides drums for you to use to really get that professional sound quality in your music. Practically anyone can create full radio-quality songs with little more than their home computer! Here is a video tutorial example:

 

 

It's simply amazing to me that one of the most popular programs out there for making beats has so few resources to teach quality techniques. Sure, many things come with experience but where do you get the basics and the advice you need to help elevate yourself to the next level? Beat Generals isn’t something made by some kid in his parent’s basement. We're talking about industry professionals teaching you what you need to know and showing you exactly what to do. If you’re even remotely serious about making beats and making money within the music industry, or you just want to create cool beats to play for your friends, you should check it out.

Beat Generals offers a free trial, so you really have nothing to lose. Try them out today and start making your own beats now.