I think on an individual standpoint, tenors are a lot harder because of all the arounds, crosses, and scrapes that come with the music, which is almost always (atleast on a high school level) the same as the snare book. From a line standpoint, they're probably just as hard because of the whole visual bit. Getting five people to look exactly the same playing all the arounds is pretty tough too.

I beg of you to see more drumlines. A tenor section mirroring a snare line in composition can generally be attributed to an inadequate or uneducated arranger. If it's the same parts just written with around patterns then why even have tenors?

Well keep in mind I'm only talking about high school level. My line is directed and written for by a guy who teaches at a once first in world class line, so he knows what he's doing. There's always the stuff like hock-its and little features but for the most part the book is very similar. But I agree that on a DCI level it's not good to do.

It's not really good to do at any level... I wrote for a teeny tiny high school drumline and I never wanted the tenors to match the snare part. In many situations the quad part should be complimentary the melody, which is usually in the high brass.

If it's good for DCI then why not try it for high school? I'm sure your instructor is a fine arranger and this is no indictment on him/her but, with your logic, anybody who teaches for SCV, BD, PR, Cavies, Cadets, etc. must know what they're doing because they were at one time first in drums. I suppose it's just a difference of opinion. People arrange in different ways and we all have our thoughts on what works and what doesn't. Somewhat like Jofus, I came from the school of thought that outdoor percussion should be arranged somewhat like any wind or string ensemble. You have a high voice (snare), middle voice (tenors), and low voice (bass). You wouldn't have a cello player mirror what a violin is doing or a french horn playing exactly what a flute is playing. They're completely different instruments like snares and tenors. Same goes for the pit. It drives me crazy to see high school pits where every mallet player is playing the same notes just on different instruments. It makes a front ensemble of 6-8 people sound like one player. A great arranger in my eyes will make that same pit sound like 12 people.

Again, I'm not saying the way I do things is the end all. It's not. There are a lot of different approaches that people use. Some work well and some crash and burn. I just enjoy hearing a percussion section that sounds like a real musical ensemble.

Eh haha I guess I don't really know what I'm saying. but to give you an idea of our guy's writing style watch This video at 0:41. Like that's a show that he wrote and was second in high school world class that year. So yeah I guess just to put some perspective on what I'm saying.

As said before, I think it strongly depends on what you're ensemble setting is like. (Hopefully) the arranger/composer will write to the strong sections. On the other hand, I can say that marching in a world class line, quads seem tougher. We play just as tough notes, not always at the same time, but are also moving them around. And it's not the around that makes them tough. They're just as hard on one drum as most of the snare book.

Has anyone mentioned how marimba and xylo players could potentially be the best? Line could mean a unit (in terms of indoor percussion, haha).

They're not battery, and it is not drumming; I know.

But keys on these instruments have NO rebound at all really. Marimba and xylo players always have really fast rhythms to play (triplets, 16ths, sixes, sometimes even more subdivided) all while moving around like three octaves (or more) of notes. Even 8th notes on keyed percussion can be trying at faster tempos.

Nonetheless, I am biased to say that tenors do have to be the most difficult BATTERY instrument. Even if only by slightly.

As I've heard from the other drummers, I definitely agree that Tenors is the Snare part with sweeps, crossovers, and allover all the drums. Pure Awesomeness

Not if the parts are written well, as akeith5913 and jofus mentioned earlier.

...agreed on the awesome part, though.