Percussion, woodwinds, and brass instruments make up a marching band. The drum line or battery is a term used to describe a marching percussion group. When selecting the best marching drum, keep in mind the organization with which you’ll be performing, your role in the band, and your budget.
Many marching bands at high schools and universities have all instruments on hand and do not require students to buy their own. Serious players often buy their own drums at the university level. Many marching band members also participate in a rock band or a jazz quartet outside of the marching band. Before buying a marching drum, the player should figure out what position or role he or she will play in the band.
The percussion section of most marching bands consists of snare drums, tenor drums, and bass drums. A harness rack that typically fits over the shoulders and around the waist supports each marching drum. High school marching bands have four to five lines, while university bands have seven to ten.
Snare drums are the deepest of the marching drums, with standard diameter x depth measurements of 13 x 11 inches (33 x 28 cm) and 14 x 12 inches (33 x 30 cm) respectively (36 x 31 cm). A snare drum weighing 16 to 44 pounds can be purchased depending on the size of the player (7 and 20 kg). Lower-cost models start at $100 USD, while higher-cost models cost more than $600 USD. While snare drumskins rarely break, it’s a good idea to have a spare in the case in case of an emergency. Snare drums are held in place shoulder straps that encircle the player’s waist.
Multi-tenor drums are extremely popular for tenor drums. A single drummer plays a set of high-tuned tom toms. The skin is kept off the drums’ bottoms, leaving them open-ended and allowing them to project more sound. The drums are hit with mallets with disc-shaped heads. These toms are usually arranged in an arc around the user’s waist in a set of four. Single tenor drums start at around $100 USD and multi-tenor sets can cost anywhere from $600 to over $1000 USD.
The marching drum ensemble’s bass drums are the largest and lowest-toned drums. These are played with mallets similar to those used tenor players and are worn on the user’s shoulders. The mallets are larger for bass drum players to bold the low tones. The price of a bass drum starts at around $200 USD.