I have a new gig this upcoming season and with camp on the horizon I'm busy finishing up writing the show. I'm ultra excited about a fresh start with a new group, a group with tons of room to grow, but they are a young line (playing wise). I've put together a (hopefully) strong exercise program to build them, but I'm afraid I may be writing above their capacity.

I'm look for tips on how to write for a young line while still keep it contemporary and interesting not only to the players, but interesting to the crowd with texture and timbre. What do you focus on with a young group? Expanding their technique and pushing their hands or focusing on musicality with precision?

I'm sure most of you have been in this boat at one point or another so I'm looking for anything that may help this great group start off on a strong path.

Thanks! :)

Hand them a warmup book that is simple, to the point, and that will build a solid foundation of time, groove, and ensemble responsibility.

As for the show beats, hand them something you can build upon as their skill sets improve over the season.  It's much easier to hand over a great skeleton show, over giving them something that's too over their heads and trying to water later.

[quote author=TylerDurden link=topic=1861.msg9213#msg9213 date=1184357073]
Hand them a warmup book that is simple, to the point, and that will build a solid foundation of time, groove, and ensemble responsibility.

As for the show beats, hand them something you can build upon as their skill sets improve over the season.  It's much easier to hand over a great skeleton show, over giving them something that's too over their heads and trying to water later.
[/quote]

I agree with every single word written above (I have written close to 150 shows now for ALL ranges of difficulty levels).  Good advice here ^^

[quote author=TylerDurden link=topic=1861.msg9213#msg9213 date=1184357073]
Hand them a warmup book that is simple, to the point, and that will build a solid foundation of time, groove, and ensemble responsibility.

As for the show beats, hand them something you can build upon as their skill sets improve over the season.�� It's much easier to hand over a great skeleton show, over giving them something that's too over their heads and trying to water later.
[/quote]

I also agree.  Make sure that you are writing the exercises that are going to work on things in the show.  Make sure that you are including some of those same techniques, patterns, etc so that the kids can learn to make the connections.  Also I agree with what what was said about erring on the side of being a bit easier.  It is always easier to add more than to take away, and if they are young and learning, it is always better to add and boost their moral then to take away from them.

Thanks for the replies! I will definitely have to readjust my thinking. Writing simple and building upon that is contrary to what I've done in the past and what I've been taught, but it certainly seems like the better approach. I have some re-writing to do. ;-)

I'd really to find some examples of custom show writing that's catered to younger lines. Being an amateur writer myself, I'd like to learn as much as possible from other writers. There's a library of stuff from Hal Leonard and such but most of that stuff is (no offense meant to the authors) but cheesy and dated to me. I'd like to find examples of show writing and approaches to writing that's both harmonically interesting and contemporary in nature.

Anyways, thanks for any other suggestions you may have. Any tips for making smaller lines sound and feel fuller?

How big is the line you are talking about? Tuning will be one thing that can have a major impact on how full of a sound a line is capable of producing. Taking the top heads of your snares down a bit and using clear, plastic bottoms on your snares will give them a thicker and wetter sound which will, in the end, sound louder than having the top headed cranked (which many people still do with small lines for some strange reason).  Also, using a meaty stick like the Innovative Percussion Jim Casella (IP-JC) sticks with stick tape on them will also help you produce a full sound with your new tuning configuration.

Same deal with the bass drums and tenors in terms of tuning.  You just need to experiment. Try using the FT4 from IP on tenors. That mallet has a large disc and heavy shaft that provide tons of mass to produce a huge sound.  In terms on bass drum muffling, they should be muffled to sound good from the box/stands, not standing right in front of them.  Normally this translates into allowing a little more tone than sounds good up close.

I hope some of this helps. Good luck!

[quote author=Bryan Harmsen link=topic=1861.msg9239#msg9239 date=1184601271]
How big is the line you are talking about?[/quote]

Thanks for the tips. I'm looking at 2-1-4 on the line, possibly 2 cymbal players depending on who shows up at camp. We don't have any extra drums (hopefully next year we can pick up another set of tenors) except an extra snare, so I figured that would the best setup balance and sound wise. I also figured with cymbals we'd have another layer/timbre of sound.

I was curious about tenor mallets, not being a tenor player myself. I was going to go with the Vega mallets as they seem to be a standard and relatively easy to play with, but if you would recommend something that produces a fuller sound I'm all ears. My biggest concern is losing the tenors in the balance.

I was also thinking of tuning the basses solely in 4ths to make the spread bigger and give some weight to the bottom drum, it seems to work well for some lines.

Bored at work,
Josh

Vegas feel nice to play with but they definitely don't produce a huge fundamental tone at most tunings.  I'd let your writing guide your implement choices, but in general get your kids playing with traditional mallets until you have more than just one player.  Tuning in fourths is fine, but with that distinct tonal separation and a small upper battery be careful about how your tuning relates to blend--it's easy to overbalance.

More than just another timbre, cymbals in a young ensemble is another opportunity to get kids with a lower skill-set onto the field.  That ends up being great for developing them as players if they're not strong enough to go straight to snare/tenor/bass.

The advice you've been given about writing is good, and I resonnate well with all of it.  Really the aim is development of technique, development of musicianship, and development of performance.  You can accomplish all of that (and often more succesfully) with a simple approach to writing and programming.  Often times people write these great warmups that sound great, but you spend so much time learning them and so much concentration performing them that the intent is lost.  For young kids just keep it simple, keep it short and repeatable (in my opinion), and keep it fun.  Nothing wrong with it being pleasant to listen to, just don't go for the lot show out of the gates.

[quote author=Josh Champagne link=topic=1861.msg9238#msg9238 date=1184591978]
Thanks for the replies! I will definitely have to readjust my thinking. Writing simple and building upon that is contrary to what I've done in the past and what I've been taught, but it certainly seems like the better approach. I have some re-writing to do. ;-)
[/quote]

You can get a lot of variety from using space and dynamic contrast, which is something I rarely hear from younger lines.  It's tempting to write a bunch of 8th and 16th note check patterns at a 9-3 stick height for a lot of the show to ";fill in sound";.

Get a skeleton show going with a lot of rhythmic and dynamic variety with space.  This makes it easier to throw some rolls in over a 2 count triplet edge to center crescendo for example, and so on.

If anything, make them feel good about what they're playing.  They're not going to have any fun, or improve, if they're struggling to grasp what's going on.

Not always the funnest exercise, but something that is essential - block them up and get them tracking with the basic tap timing exercise. This has a lot of positives: puts their hands in different situations with their feet, gives them a strong base to build upon, and it allows you to see what their tendencies are as a group therefore allowing you to write to their strengths and working up the weak spots.

Best advice ever given to me, ";not every measure has to be bad ass";. I think I've seen some other people around here say something similar and it's true. Pick those key measures in the music, make it a little meaty (not a lot) and see how they respond, if they eat it up, rewrite/improve the lick as a reward. I wouldn't personally dangle it in front of them as an incentive, only if they put in the initiative themselves. Dynamics and different colors from the battery are always appreciated from a judging standpoint - they might even get the tag of being a ";musical"; drumline.

Other than that, infuse key licks from the show into the exercise book when you can. And the most important aspect, make sure YOU have fun. If the kids see that you are having fun and are excited by what they are doing, then they will reciprocate the experience.

Good luck!

[quote author=kimera link=topic=1861.msg9279#msg9279 date=1184784638]
Best advice ever given to me, ";not every measure has to be bad ass";.
[/quote]

Post of the week in my opinion.  VERY true statement!

[quote author=Dave Ratliff link=topic=1861.msg9287#msg9287 date=1184852441]
[quote author=kimera link=topic=1861.msg9279#msg9279 date=1184784638]
Best advice ever given to me, ";not every measure has to be bad ass";.
[/quote]

Post of the week in my opinion.�� VERY true statement!
[/quote]

I'm behind that too! That pretty elloquently sums up writing music entirely.  When you first start writing there's this impulse to make the most innovative, technically-creative book the world has ever seen--only to find out you have this dense, ensemble-heavy, over-designed pile of notes that sounded ";ok"; in the notation software but is a mess on the field.  Simple, tasty, and clever is where it's at; silence is as musical as the most delicate roll.

You know it's interesting... I started writing the closer very basic. I've barely written anything above an eighth note and I already like it better than most of what I did in the opener. :-P I'm going to work a lot with them on dynamic contrast, playing solid and playing clean, and I'm leaving the door open and keeping some ideas in the back of my mind on how to beef up the skeleton where we can.

Now if I could just learn to write tenor parts. ;-)

The one thing that most easy books are missing is musicality. It can really seperate a group like this from the competition. There are other things that you can do to make it easier for the kids, like writing grooves or ostinatos. Just be sure not to over do it. I also like to set up rolls or any complicated passages by preceding them with check patterns that establish the hand motion. The most important thing, though, is to care enough to write a decent book for such a group. Most of the lines at this level rarely get that.

In addition to all of the really good advice already given, I'll chime in with my two cents:

I really like using a variety of implements and sounds in my writing anyways, so this also translates to when I write for a small line. Little things like writing for snares on the rim, cross-stick or dreadlocks can be very effective -- and they don't have to be difficult to play.

Without writing a ";grocery list"; of all of the different sounds you can use, several others that come to mind are basses playing muted, quads playing on the shells or rims and of course puffy mallets where sensible.

And while you are at it, it's fairly easy to add a cowbell or jam block which can really add some color in the absence of a pit or if the pit isn't very big.

I'll admit that too much of this might toe the line between legit and gimmick, but if your technical resources are limited, I don't see why you must write dumbed-down and uninteresting parts. Your students will love having parts that aren't the standard cheese and ultimately it's about the student's growth and interest.

Good luck!