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.

BOSS DB-90 Metronome: Dr. Beat! The most advanced metronome available. Trigger input to access unique Rhythm Coach exercises. Start no band practice without it!

Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0: Virtual drummer

Finale PrintMusic 2011: professional music software for arrangers, composers, teachers, students, and other musicians.

Give Yourself a Raise: My free report on how to make a residual income from the internet in your spare time (second edition).

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

Anatomy of a Snareline

Here's some good drumline humor for you. I know which one I am. Do you?

Funny Fridays: Backbone of the Band

This is the start of a new weekly (or bi-weekly most likely, let's not kid ourselves here) series where I'll be sharing a funny drum related image, graphic, or video. Today, is an eCard from someecards.com.

Blue Devils Win DCI World Championships

The Blue Devils drum and Bugle Corp won their 15th Drum Corp International (DCI) World Championship on Saturday (and fourth in the last six years). The Blue Devils drumline won the top overall percussion score behind one of the best lines I've ever seen.



Carolina Crown placed second (drumline 6th) while Phantom Regiment got third and the Cadets wound up in fourth place.

Five special awards were presented during the DCI World Championships awards ceremony, each averaged after combining the scores from Prelims, Semifinals and Finals. The George Zingali Award for Best Color Guard went to Blue Devils. There was a tie for the John Brazale Best Visual Performance Award, between Blue Devils and Carolina Crown. The Jim Ott Award for Best Brass Performance went to Carolina Crown and the Fred Sanford Award for Best Percussion Performance was earned by Blue Devils, who also won the Don Angelica Award for Best Overall General Effect. Congratulations to all participating drum and bugle corps. View the full recap at DCi.org.

Were you able to attend DCI World Championships or any other shows this year? Did the results surprise you? Comment below and share your thoughts!

2012 DCI Videos

These are video clips of the 2012 Carolina Crown Drumline rehearsing on June 30, 2012 for the Pageant of Drums Show at Ames Field in Michigan City, Indiana [watch in HD 1080p]

These are video clips of the 2012 Colt Cadets Drumline warming up on June 30, 2012 for the Pageant of Drums Show at Ames Field in Michigan City, Indiana [watch in HD 1080p]

My bad on that last one - I thought it just said Cadets, I didn't catch the Colts on the beginning. That tenor tuning was pretty bad no?

WGI World Championships Recap

WGI Percussion World Championships were held in Dayton, OH this past weekend. I unfortunately didn’t make it out so the event (no indoor shows for me at all this year) but I did follow the performances through the live blog, which was a pretty cool feature. Following the live blog while at the actual show would be very cool as the commentary offered great detail and insights into each group’s shows as well as pieces of WGI history.

Congratulations go out to Woodbridge? HS for obtaining the highest score ever at a WGI event (including color guard I believe). They scored an incredible 99.6! Three out of four judges gave them a perfect score. A high school group!

The Sport of the Arts (also known as indoor drumline, indoor percussion, winter percussion, etc.) has evolved quite a bit over the years. The most recent rule changes allow the use of video projection and lighting effects, which several groups including Rhythm X used to their advantage.

I’ll do my best to round up some sheet music for some of the best shows, including Rhythm X, Riverside Community College, Music City Mystique, and North Coast Academy.

Click here to see the completescores from Championship weekend.

WGI Percussion World Finals!

WGI Percussion World Finals started today! Check out all of the 2012 Championship scores here.