On the drumline I'm teaching this year, I've been reteaching some basic technique stuff and a couple of the snares were holding their right hand stick very open. The fulcrum is more towards the 3rd joint of the pointer finger instead of the second and the pointer finger was almost straight. I told them and showed them how I wanted it to look and they said that their drum instructor had taught them to play that way. The other tech and I talked and came to a conclusion that it was more of a concert type technique.

I want to explain to the kids the importance of playing the right way for drumline but was wondering if anyone could tell me why the concert technique is more open and what advantages the different techniques have for each type of ensemble.

I want to make sure they know that they weren't taught wrong nor am I teaching them wrong, I just can't figure out why concert technique is more open and marching technique is more closed.

Hope that all made sense!

They weren't taught wrong. The middle finger technique is taught in both concert and marching percussion. Try it some times, both have different advantages. The fulcrum being open though, marching percussion has the fulcrum closed for aesthetic reasons. In fact, it isn't a very comfortable concept compared to the concert approach which is mostly taught as "play as it falls." The least tension is achieved by just playing as your hand position is, but having everyone's fulcrum being open will not look good on the marching field and can lead to some different sound characteristics as everyone's hands will be different. Teach the kids the closed fulcrum for aesthetic values, but experiment with your own fulcrum to see what you like best. But the technique is not wrong in any way.

I know the technique isn't wrong....I guess I said something the wrong way. I just wanted to know the benefits of the more open fulcrum. I do play around with my fulcrum and really only like the closed concept better because as you said it's more comfortable. I was just wondering if, aside from it looking cleaner as a line using the closed grip, there was a reason to use open fulcrum because I've never really run into kids being taught that for drumline purposes.

Thanks warboy for the explanation!

Wait a second, I said an open fulcrum is MORE comfortable than a closed fulcrum. It really is just because there is less stress created in the hand that way. I consider myself a more new school player when it comes to technique, but I don't feel I will ever go to a relaxed fulcrum because of the various issues I listed with cleaning both visually and musically. However, I encourage my students to play around with where they place their fulcrum and teach three different fulcrums because of the advantages of each. In case you are wondering, those three fulcrums are the index finger fulcrum (what you are describing as your personal choice as well as most other teacher's personal choice), the middle finger fulcrum (what your kids are doing and something I learned from the SCV audition video Tapspace has), and the back hand fulcrum.

I have to disagree...I believe the correct technique would be the same in both places. As a band director and percussionist, I would never tell a student to play a wind instrument differently in marching band. Still has to have good tone and a controlled sound. The same should apply to drumline, the same technique should be used, I have seen many drumlines that the reason they have trouble is that they are too tense, "hitting" the drum too hard and playing everything as "downstrokes" I follow a 4 stroke technique and preach it indoors and out. Full Stroke, Tap, Down stroke and Up Stroke. All have closed fulcrum for control (not look) in the thumb and pointer finger, the key is to not over squeeze the fulcrum. I could go on for a while describing this all but probably not the right place for it.

I agree with Drum4LF. While I do believe that there is more than one way to play a drum and more than one way to teach percussion, the technique and approach should stay consistent. Closed grip as you described, will gain consistency from player to player. Whether it is in concert band or marching band.

Everything you say I agree with. I work to achieve the most relaxation with my lines, but a closed fulcrum is not as relaxed as an open fulcrum. It is just how your hands work. I don't find having a closed fulcrum gives me more control either. Each activity (concert band and marching activities) need to achieve very different playing characteristics. Your concert snare player does not need to match the look of another player and also dosen't need to project across a football field while playing on a KevlarŪ head. Your concert snare player however does need to produce a solid buzz roll and be able to play things at super low volumes across the ensemble. Look at most professional orchestra players and they will have an open fulcrum when playing. Look at most marching percussionists and they will play with a closed fulcrum. Look at a large number of those same percussionists who have also been classically trained and I bet they will play with an open fulcrum. I am not saying you are wrong, just that most people consider the activities different enough to warrant a technique change.

There are only a few different schools of thought in percussion. If you've studied percussion at an undergrad level or higher, chances are you've been sorted into one of these. The "open" fulcrum is an orchestral technique focusing on relaxation of the hand and arm. The technique can be uniformly applied to pretty much all two-implement playing.

With marching, however, much of the emphasis is put on uniformity. With the open fulcrum, it leaves much open to the interpretation and comfort of the player; when gripped at the top knuckle, the shaft of the implement can sit any number of ways in the hand, based on the size and shape of the player's hand. With the closed fulcrum, it cuts down on those variables by giving consistent guidelines by which the grip is defined.

Neither is wrong, they just work better for different applications. On an orchestral snare drum, where the head has a lower tension, quiet playing is exceptionally important, and triple- or multiple-stroke rolls are much more common, the open fulcrum allows all of these things to be controlled at a higher level than a closed fulcrum. On a marching snare, where velocity and aggressive playing is required to get an appropriate sound from the instrument, and uniformity is a priority, the closed grip works best.

Ultimately, I just have to look at the best performers at both ends of the spectrum to see why each has its benefits. I also have a laugh when I see my favorite orchestral players shred on rudimental literature, and see renowned marching jocks fumble on simple concert rep. We, as percussionists, should understand, learn, and master ALL techniques in order to decide what works most logically for our own needs.