Content Cow

Welcome Guest

Give Your Articles

Use Our Articles

Information

Categories

38 users online.

Navigation: Home » Formatnewsletter » Format Article for Newsletter

Newsletter Article

Here is The Drum Line: The Bad Boys Of Halftime formatted for a newsletter with 65 characters per line.

Return to The Drum Line: The Bad Boys Of Halftime

The Drum Line: The Bad Boys Of Halftime

by vgevge

When I was in high school, I was on the dance team and during
football season, we worked with the band for the halftime show. I
remember there was a running joke about the drum line, the upshot
of which was that if you did not get out of their way, they would
run you over, and you would have no one to blame but yourself. In
the world of show bands and football halftime entertainment, the
members of the drum line are the bad asses, the bad boys, the
ones with the attitudes. Heck, drum line performers have such a
reputation, there was even a movie made about them. "Drumline,"
made in 2002, presented a band director who recruited a Harlem
street drummer to play at a Southern university-Harlem. Think
about it. If you saw a bunch of drum-toting, regimented-looking
people coming toward you like a freight train, wouldn't you
move?

Drum lines play a crucial role in halftime show performances.
They are, after all, the percussion, the beat by which the entire
band measures its music. Show bands can be big, sometimes as many
as 500 people. In order to control that many musicians, the
performers of the drum line have to be strong artists. The drum
line can actually be divided into two sections: the battery,
which moves around the field, and the pit, which is stationary at
the front of the field. Because the battery is the portion that
most people associate with the words "drum line," that is portion
I will deal with in this article.

Drum lines are generally comprised of three different types of
drum: the snare drum, the tenor drum, and the bass drum. The
number of each instrument depends simply on the size of the band
and the sensibilities of the director. The first instrument, the
snare, provides the center rhythm of the rum line. These drums
are typically played in unison, possess high tension heads, and
form center of tempo for the battery. Next on the list is the
tenor drum, which actually comes in mounted sets of four to six.
Thanks to their varied sizes and tuning, tenor drums add pitch
variety to a drum line. Number three, the bass drum, differs from
its smaller cousins in that rather than being played in unison,
each instrument is assigned a unique part. These drums produce
the deepest sounds in the battery and are the largest on the
field.

There is one more instrument usually found in the drum line, and
this is they cymbals. Although not a drum, it is perhaps the most
dramatic member of the battery. Cymbals are typically pairs of
crash cymbals and can be played in a variety of ways, in unison,
as split parts, or like hi-hats. In addition to being played,
they are sometimes spun and twirled for visual effect.

The next time you watch a halftime show, take a moment to pay
attention to how you hear the music. If you find yourself with a
sudden urge to bob your head and march in time to the rhythm, you
can thank the drum line.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums,
keyboards, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio. You
can find the best marketplace at these sites for <a
href="http://www.4guitars.info">drums, snares</a>, <a
href="http://www.4sheetmusic.info">sheet music, guitar tabs</a>,
and <a href="http://www.theateraudio.info">subwoofers</a>.

Syndicated by Content Cow - www.contentcow.biz

	Quick Search:
Home \| Submit an Article \| Advanced Search \| Grab an RSS Feed