This Past season for the first time ever I didn't use a traditional cym line and I liked it. I know the visuals aren't there but I really enjoyed the new sounds I could get out of this new set up. I had 5 of these custom cymbal station on the field which consisted of an 18" Zildjian stadium, a 14" Zildjian hi-hat. a 12" wuhan china. and a 8 inch splash. It opened up new things i could do for cadences as well which I had fun adapting the new cym station to. Now traditionalist go off the handle I just want to say that I still like having regular plates on the field , but this is definitely a nice substitute. here is a pic of the set up.

That's pretty awesome. Seems like it takes from the pit though. Don't let Hopkins see that.

That's pretty innovative. You should patent it. What kind of show did you play? It seems like that setup would be a really good addition to a rock or pop show.

It's kind of bizarre, but definitely very creative and intuitive. It's not something I see catching on and taking the marching music world by storm, but it's definitely a great way to incorporate some variety and color into your show in an interesting way.

Edit - A few ideas:

- Implement changes (would require a stick bag) including sticks, yarn mallets, felt mallets, hard mallets.
- Putting a chain on one of the cymbals for sizzle sounds.

I'm not sure if you've done them, but second thought about this had me considering some interesting effects.

Note: Sabian makes these marching cymbal racks as well.

Back in 06, Kiwanis was slated to have the cymbal line march those during the Ballad, which was Trilogy by Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

I like'em, and I was psyched about the idea of marching cymbals on a rack for different effects. Better than holding your plates up for the snareline. It's so degrading.

I saw an Indoor Line using them at the Braddock HS show last weekend down in Miami. not sure which, though.

It'd be nice to see more of this being used around the marching community. Not as a cymbal line replacement, but an ensemble complement. Depending on the necessity's for a particular show, it can be a great addition to the many unique sounds a cymbal line creates. And it doesn't just have to be the cymbal line using these. Use battery members. Write snare books for cymbal racks. I know I like to use my Ed Shaughnessy ride as a rudimental backdrop on my drumset, along with my hats. Wouldn't it be sweet to hear a whole snareline playing bookreportchutchuddasofftheleftinvertcheesesnogoudaplease on a set of hats, with accents on the bell of a clear 19" ride, and impacts on a 18" fast crash. Or splits down the line involving different sized dampened chinas or muted splashes. The possibilities with this kind of thing are absolutely endless.

If any bigwig or smallwig reads this and gets inspired, by all means go for it and show us the end result.

We played a rock show which this fit in great for. 1. Sweet child of mine/welcome to the jungle 2. Best of times 3. You give love a bad name 3. Thunderstruck (drum feature) 4. Don't stop believing/ we are the champions. Oh before people give me two much credit I don't claim to have invented these. I just remembered a magic show back in 1996 that used something similar they had like a hi hat and two splashes, so i wanted to go a little further and I called up Ron over at www.2coolpercussion.com and told him what I was thinking and he built it for me. Since our pit doesn't use amplification and the band is quite large (385) I wanted a larger presence of the cym sound. I'll eventually go back to using Traditional cyms but, for the show type and type of band I teach for it worked out great.

I seem to remember hting similar to this as far back as 95/96. Ive actually gone as far as developing a hand activated hi hat for things like these. havent been able to use it in a show yet but it exists and works. I should apply for a patent shoudnt I?

-nod- You should. Before Sabian sees your post.

What would you use to hit it exactly, like a stock stick, just a snare stick? Or some yarn mallets?

Whatever you want. Whatever the music calls for. It's up to you. Possibilities are endless. You can have four different size/types of chinas and use a bow on 'em. Brushes, sticks, mallets, whatever.