A drum corps is composed of three types of drummers, none more important than the others. The bass drum provides the rhythmic and harmonic foundation for the band as a whole, the snare drummers provide the drive and dynamics and…
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Getting Your Drum Corps on the Same Page... Literally!
In my early years writing drum scores I used loose leaf paper, a pencil and (most importantly) a good eraser. There were virtually no music notation programs available and those that did exist could not handle pipe band drumming notation…
Underrated and Underappreciated Part IV: The Mids and The Pipes Continued
Welcome to Part IV in our series discussing note choices for the mid-section. Last week we covered the "keys" of A Major and A Minor and this week we'll learn about the other two common bagpipe "keys": D Major and…
Underrated and Underappreciated Part III: The Mids and The Pipes
In order to compose scores for the mid-section you should know a thing or two about the pipes--it is a pipe band after all. Everything starts with the notes of the pipe scale. Bagpipes play a simple scale of nine…
Underrated and Underappreciated Part II: Choosing Notes for the Mid-Section
As discussed in last week's post "The Importance of the Mid-Section", tenor and bass drums are the vital bridge between the melody of the pipe section and the rhythm of the snare section. It is of utmost importance that…
Underrated and Underappreciated: The Importance of the Mid-Section
In a pipe band, the mid-section consists of the bass drummer and tenor drummers. The bass and tenor drums are tuned to specific pitches that support the melody of the pipes but their rhythm is always complementary to the snare…