Whats Up Guys,
I guess Im new here, Im going to get serious about playing the Tenors... Anyways, I have a little background information that Im going to state.

So I'm going to be in 9th grade this year, and I am the 1 and only Quad(yes 4, it sucks) player in a drumline of 7, in my crazy small school. Needless to say, This will be my 3rd year of playing Quads(thats what Im used to calling them, sorry) in high school band, and this is my first year of high school. I haven't really done much on them the last couple years, and i just play a drum beat and fills on them(Im a drummer, like drum set), and whatever cadence i made up, and taught the others. Well....I want to get serious, and commit to be able to accually play them the way they are supposed to be played. I got me a set of quads to play on at home. But anyways, what i want is some help on a number of different equipment issues. Here Goes:

2 years ago, we bought a set of Pearl Competitor Quads, 8,10,12,13 in size. And tomorrow is when i get to put the first set of Heads on it, that arent single ply stock heads. We got a set of Pinstripes. And beings i have never done much tuning, because those single plys wont hold a tune worth a darn, a really have no expirence tuning something with 1 head, and is tuned specifically. I have done some reading, and some places say 4th, some say Minor 3rds. Well, i can play piano and guitar, so i know what all those are and such, but i dont know where to start. People say "find the tone that you like of the lowest, and go from there"....well, the tone i like is not what a tenor is supposed to sound like, so i would like a place to start. Basically, can someone tell me how i should tune the new heads i put on tomorrow. I know proper tuning method, and all that stuff, i just want to know what tones to find.

What specific stick/mallet should i purchase? Right now, i use Metal mallets, with a hard plastic tip, and i hate them. I cant spin them, and they have real slow action. I, as i said, am the only quad player in a line of 7, and Im told to "overpower" the snares(dont ask), so it would be nice if they are fairly loud.

I need a carrier for these. THe school bought one of those $50.00 carries. Im over 6ft, and that thing adjusted as far out as it will go, hits me about mid-low stomach...way above comfort level. So me and my dad, who is very crafty and such, took and old fiberglass carrier, that used the rods that go down at an angle, then back up(sorry, i dont know what a technical name for those would be), and me made a mount on the rail of the drums to fit the rods. Well....that was a good thought, but those freaking fiberglass carriers SUCK!!! I have broken 1, and the second is showing a lot of wear. I am looking purchasing an MX T-Frame quad carrier, but i need to know if its compatible. I dont understand, does the carrier come with the rail that runs between the 12 and 13, that is used to mount the drums to the carrier(again, cant come up with a technical word), or do i have to buy one of those too...I hope you understand what Im saying, if not, i will post a picture or something.

Is there a good way to make a Quad Stand...cause i really dont want to spend 200+ bucks on one. Me and my dad(mostly him) can figure out a way to make one that is somewhat transportable. Because.

I think thats about, thanks for what ever help you may be able to provide.

If you're teaching yourself, I'd recommend getting a copy of Quad Logic by Bill Bachman. While I don't personally endorse everything taught in it, it is all very good, relevant information. Quad Logic will start at the very basic fundamentals and help build you up to a decent tenor player. There is also information about tuning in this book. My personal preference is slightly different than Bill Bachman's. I like to tune the drum 4 to an E and then tune minor thirds up the drums.

As for sticks/ mallets... I really like the Pro-Mark TS7 Tenor stick. It plays like a stick (good 'action') but has some properties that a mallet offers, like a disk head. The Pro-Mark TS8 (Sean Vega Tenor Stick) is also a great stick. Both are available for under $15 a pair and shouldn't be hard to find. The Vic Firth MTS1 is almost the exact same stick as the Pro-Mark TS8 and may be easier to find locally for you.

If you're gonna fork out the money for the MX T-Frame carrier, I'd recommend spending a little extra money and getting the CX Airframe. You'll be much more happy with the result. The carrier does come with a rail (part that attaches to drum 3 and 4). But, you shouldn't need to change anything for the CX Airframe or MX T-Frame carriers j-bars to fit into the existing rail. The newer rails are quite nice though. If you and your dad are handy, you may want to install the new rail that comes with your new carrier. (This may require a little bit of drilling into the shells of drum 3 and 4.)

Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of ideas for a tenor stand. I hope the rest of my info has been helpful though.

Best of luck!

Thanks for all the help.

I am still a little off on the New Carrier, and want to verify something. I wrote a big long load of crap, that really made no since to me. Here it is in simple version.
I just ordered my CX Airframe. When i open the box, what all is in the box?


Thanks again.

First off, welcome to DLO you will find an amazing abundance of knowledge here and everyone here is cool to talk to. Those who aren't usually get the ban hammer. Anywhoo, back on topic.

First off, just like drummer343 said, the cx airframe is like heaven on your shoulders and is definatly worth the money but there is no shame in going for the cheaper model because either one is a solid model and will serve you right. Another option is the randal may carrier which i use for school and is adjustable to me and i'm 6'5. i saw one on ebay for 50$ and it does the job.

I will second quad logic because it is an amazing book and Bill really explains everything well so you understand it instead of just putting out pointless knowledge. also i like Julie Davila's book modern tenor techniques because it has a lot of good solos for reading.

Also, check out crow's posts in the tenor thread. Some of the most amazing insight to playing quads i have ever read. he is indeed the quad zen master.

for sticks I like both the sean vega stick or the Tom Aungst tenor hybrid because the hybrid is like a wood mallet with a plastic cookie head that makes scrapes easier plus it doesn't have the finish that makes it slippery after a while.

Finally for a stand, i don't quite know how you would be able to make something sturdy and portable-ish without having to sodder or weld pieces of metal together with four legs and it wouldn't be adjustable unless you get really good with it haha. i have seen two chairs used as a stand, one on each side but then again i have also seen garbage cans used as bass stands; both of which, i would advise against. Do we have any engineering majors here that could help?

I (being me and my father, mostly him) own the equipment needed to sodder and weld. And i have could easily find a heavy duty cymbal stand or 2 to use as the base. I just havent been able to get very crafty with how to hook the J-bars on the rear, and have a support in the front. But then again, i havent tried too awfully hard. But i just got home from 4 hours of practice, and i was holding the Tenors for 90% of that time. The fiberglass carrier really makes me hurt about everyware....something that old allumium one didnt, it just didnt drop the drums below my stomach. So Should i go for getting a Good Carrier, or a Drum stand. Because i can only afford 1 or the other at this time, and in 4 years i will have no use for 1-2pieces of $200each+ worth of equipment. Which one should i go for first, if i cant make a stand?

If you're going to be carrying the equipment AT ALL. Swing for the good carrier before you get a stand. A bad carrier can really cause back problems from poor posture and even techniques issues. There are ways to rig tenors when you don't have a stand. I have seen people set their tenots on the floor, prop them up to flat by placing their carrier under drum 1 and 2 and then play kneeling down. It's not ideal, but will work. In my opinion, you're better off owning a good carrier.


To answer your question from before... When you open the box for the CX Airframe carrier you will find: The carrier and back support strap that is part of the design, a wrench to adjust the j-bar mounts and the new tenor rail system.

Well in that case....i think i got all my questions answered. Although i am still "breaking in" the new tenor heads, so they are not tune properly, they still sound good.

Thanks You Guys.

I built my own MacGyver tenor stand out of parts. It has been great for personal use, but I can't vouch for any kind of rehearsal durability, since I'm old and I (or my students) don't play tenors outside my home. They are my babies and they just don't travel. Period.

It adjusts from gnome height to stork height.

Anyhoo, it is composed of: A Pearl double braced cymbal stand bottom, a piece of threaded pipe that fits in the stand (I don't remember the diameter--I just took the stand bottom to Lowe's), about a foot of pine 2x4, 2 long carriage bolts, washers, a whole lot of nuts, and a little pipe clamp thing that supports the wood.

The only tools I used are: a screwdriver, wrenches, and a drill with both a drill bit and a bore bit. I bored the hole for the pipe a little smaller than the pipe so I could thread it in (which was hard work), and I bored it at an angle to the front (or drilling down away from the tenors) because I knew the weight of the tenors would compress the wood downwardly askew in the bored cavity. This was all a guess, and I had several lengths of 2x4 ready so I could keep guessing if needed, but I miraculously guessed correctly the first time. I don't remember the exact angle, and it wouldn't matter anyway, since each piece of 2x4 will compress differently. I would suggest trying to buy the highest pitch 2x4 you can get, because that is likely to be the densest (and therefore, strongest) piece. The bolts/nuts I used are slimmer than j-hooks, so I also adjusted everything to have a little more angle as a compensatory measure. It also took a while to dial in the bolt lengths for the tenors to sit level. That's why they protrude below the wood--so they can be adjusted upward and downward.
The stand has been continuously supporting the weight of the tenors for years without even one issue.

I put some crummy low-res pictures here: Tenor Pictures http://www.myspace.com/stefancadra/photos/albums/tenor-stand/1185434

Let me know if they aren't accessible for some reason.

*shameless plug* While you're there, maybe you should listen to my solo for timp and recording.

As for the tuning, I get the feeling you have a good ear. So yeah--just match the pitches to recordings of awesome players/lines, but keep in mind that your #2, #3, #4 will need to be as tight as most people's #1, #2, #3 and your #1 is the size of an 8" (2nd) spock, though you might not want it quite that tight. I fact, now that I think of it, maybe you should actually see what it sounds like if you match the pitches of a bigger set, since those small drums torqued up and playing by themselves might sound thin and insubstantial unless you're playing gobs of notes.

As for sticks/mallets, I prefer playing with sticks, but you're gonna need all the meat you can scrounge from those little guys--especially if you're the only tenor. It would be worth your while to pick up some standard tenor mallets just to see if that helps you to blend better and not sound too thin. Remember--what the big groups do is fantabulous, but it doesn't always apply 100% to tiny ensembles, so sometimes *ahem* "numerically challenged" groups have to deviate from the norm to increase effectiveness.

BTW--the image on the custom xymox in my avatar is a pic I took of my 12. I love that pad!

"Quads" works for Tim Jackson and a bunch of other guys. No need to apologize. And really, modern tenor setups are all quads at the heart of it. Even if you've got five or six drums, you've got the four main drums and one or more spocks as effects drums.



It's already been said: Quad Logic. Great book.



The two most common sizes for tenors are 8-10-12-13 and 10-12-13-14, sometimes called "small block" and "big block". Like Brian Mason describes on Vic Firth's "Percussion 101" page, I approach tuning a little bit different depending on the size of the drums.

On a "big block" setup, I start with the bottom drum. I want a full, deep tone from that 14" drum, but with enough tension for good feel. Get it right and tune up from there.

On a "small block" set, that 8" drum has a narrow tuning window. A little too tight and it sounds like a spock. If it's a little too loose, its tone goes out the window and the head feels like mush. Get that 8" drum settled into its sweet spot and tune down from there.

One major catch that a lot of novices miss: It's very important to keep your heads balanced, or in tune with themselves, from lug to lug. As you're tuning your drums, check the pitch at each lug on a given head and tune them so all the lugs on a given drum are at the same pitch. If you don't, the head will produce different tone depending on where you hit it and you can get some nasty, dissonant overtones. Keeping heads in balance is super critical when you have multiple tenor players, but it's still important for a single player to keep heads reasonably balanced.

Oh, and tune often. Drum corps lines tune multiple times every day. With my high school line, I try to fine-tune the tenors at least once or twice a week.



There's no single right answer. Ask a bunch of different people and you'll get a bunch of different answers.

On "big block" drums, I tend to favor tenor sticks like the Vic Firth MTS1 as my default implement. The length fits the drums' layout well and I like their sound.

Smaller drums present a few problems with sticks, though. The drums' layout is a little more compact, so it's harder to navigate long sticks through the smaller airspace above the drums when playing crossovers and such. Also, the playing area on an 8" drum is awfully close to the rim. (Like timpani, tenors aren't supposed to be played in the center of the head.) If your rims are situated high, you might have to attack the drum at a steep angle with a stick to avoid accidental rimshots. For those two reasons, I generally prefer mallets on "small block" tenors and my favorite mallet is the Vic Firth MT1A-S.

Other stick/mallet observations:

• Most people don't care if you can't spin a tenor mallet like a stick. It's about the playing, not cheesy visuals (although they can be fun at times).
• Mallets aren't slow. I honestly don't know offhand if I'm faster with mallets or sticks. They handle a little bit different, but both can be plenty fast.
• Because there's some weight to their heads, mallets can generate strong, full sound with round tone. Might be a good match if you need some additional presence or volume.

As for "overpowering" the snares... You said don't ask, so I won't. But I'll still comment. You should be BALANCING the snares, not overpowering them. With decent technique and tuning, it's generally accepted that snares and tenors balance well at a 2:1 ratio. For every two snares, one tenor.



Yes, it can be done. There are a lot of ways to come up with a two-prong stand similar in concept to a Pearl MTS-1000. (Or MTS-2000 if it tilts.) I made one out of miscellaneous spare parts and some metal stock I had laying around.

If you wanted to buy a stand, you don't need to spend $200, though. A lot of good stands are in the $140 range. If you catch a clearance sale when a manufacturer releases a new model, you can find brand new stands in the $50-75 range.

I have found that The Aungst hybrid is the best of both worlds. it is a tenor stick but has the feel in between a stick and a mallet. the cookie head stops you from hitting too many accidental shots on small block but has a great full sound on big block and isn't too short or too long for either. That's just my general opinion though.