No one from the '94 snare line has changed their name so it can't be that year.

Xanadu marched '97 and '98 so perhaps this person marched one of those years. Oh, and "Big Wet Box" is a vocal in Bunco Rules which was written by Pat "Bunco" McGowan.

You were the second snare...right?

You wouldn't happen to know if any of them went to the University of Illinois would you?

There's no such thing. After section leader there's no official ranking of snare. I was next to center but so was John Wilmarth, who march '91 and '92 so he'd have seniority over me anyway.


Yes, Dan Desena went to U of I.

Is that just a Cavaliers thing? Or is that a snare drum thing in general. I've always been told that you center is usually your best player, then the next "best" player is on the side, then next on the other side, etc.

It's not really a Cavaliers thing, or even a snare drum thing since most people really don't rank each and every player explicitly. Everyone pretty much knows how everyone stacks up to each other but it isn't like concert band or wind ensemble where the sections are ranked by chair position.

Yes, ordinarily the best player, is the center and the next best players are next to center. Setting the order of the line is done all different ways as some people like to put all the best in the middle, whereas some lines are set purely on height. Most lines tend to set a strong nucleus in the center few players then surround lesser experienced players with stronger players so the weak guys aren't left out to dry on the ends.

It really depends on the make up and dynamics of a given line. Some people are great individual players but can't play well in a line with others, or vice versa. I've always respected the ability of those guys and gals that are great line players over those that can play an awesome solo but can't play with the dude inside of him or her. I think it takes more skill be so in tune with the player inside that you can self-clean you and those around you by picking up on the most minute of ticks.

Where I have played (which isnt saying much compared to Hulka experience!), we have had the strongest on the outside.

This is of course with 5 snares, but we kept the strong on the outside. This allowed the inside players to be "surrounded" with players who were better at keeping tempo, and also making sure that the inside players would be sort of drowned out if they would make mistakes. Anyone listening would generally hear the outside players more than the inside players, making the line sound better upclose.

Of course on a field setting, it made no difference.

They rapidly hit 3 notes on the drum making it sound like a roll the center snare for my high school can do it

Your choice of pronoun confuses me. Do you mean like a Moeler sort of thing?

when i first saw it, it looked really hard to do but it was really easy after you do it a couple times. But i still haven't figured out to do it with the left and right hand. The right hand was the easy one but the left i just can't get it right.