Ok I need our DLO community to begin what will no doubt be a spirited discussion about about how many drums is enough in a battery line.

I have purchased Mapex Quantum marching drums. I purchased two snare, one tenor, and four bass 18, 20, 22, 24. This was all the district money allocated would buy. (no carriers) I will have to purchases a few more pieces as fund raised money makes itself available. I have plenty of musicians for a larger line. So here is the hard question:

What is the musical and acoustical justifications for a specific number of snare, tenors and bass? How many cymbal positions? 4 bass vs 5 bass?

I am looking at setting a line at 3 snare, 2 tenor, and 5 bass. I am looking at purchasing another snare, tenor, and bass-possible skipping 26 and going to 28 for the depth. I have been teaching a long time and I am not swayed by what "looks good". I want musical, acoustical, and dare I say educational reasons to use a specified number of each instrument. (remember I am a brass guy, please explain thouroughly) I welcome your thoughts.

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3/2/5 is a pretty common setup. The convention in the marching percussion world is 2 snares for every tenor player. Other than that, matching the number of winds is the other priority.

In my experience the only section that can really overpower a wind section regardless of staging on the field is the bass section. I guess enough snares could do the same, but typically numbers don't get high enough for that.

I always march 5 basses, it's just easier to write for. If the bass drums end up really overpowering the balance, you can tune them up, write less unison hits, or leave the big hits to bass 5 only.

Changing stick heights is also an option, but in my experience that's never been successful. The stick heights a drumline learns in the first rehearsals tend to be stuck there and never go away, sometimes even with dozens of reps.

SFZ pretty much hit the nail on the head.

A 2:1 snare-to-tenor ratio is the accepted norm to balance within the battery, although a number of lines have tried different mixes successfully. It depends on what you write and how you want it to be heard.

My preference is for five basses. The math just works out. Basic splits just fit better, for one. Going down and up the drums (1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2) fits perfectly into 2/ or 4/ time signatures. And while doing those basic splits, the parts for the majority of the line are easy. Top drum plays on beat one, bottom on three, and the #3 drum has "rock-n-roll" parts, playing on beats 2 & 4. Four drums are acceptable, too. Four notes are enough to write semi-melodic parts, but the individual players' parts tend to require a bit more thought. Six drums can work, but there are only so many notes to go around and the notes per player can start to get a little sparse.

When you pick up a fifth bass, a 28" is my usual preference for a high school's bottom drum. Good bottom presence, but the drum's not so big an average high schooler can't carry it. 26" is the absolute minimum I'd use for a bottom outdoors, but it works well for a bottom drum indoors.

Teaching a small line myself, I had only 4 basses this past season. I prefer to write for 5, without a doubt, but 4 is a good steady number, for me. I PERSONALLY don't see the purpose behind marching 6 basses in a show, even with a line with 9 snares and 5 quads. I don't have a set reason for that, other than that writing for 6 basses flows so much less smoothly than writing for 5.

But other than that, my preceding posters were right on the money. 2:1 ratio for snares to quads, and I try not to have 2 quads unless I'm marching at least 4 snares. My reasoning behind this is merely because in battery ranging, I DO feel like you can have a quad sound that over powers your snare line if you don't have it ratio'd out properly.

I don't have much more to add to this topic. I echo what has been said for the most part. I do think the 2 to 1 ratio is not a stead fast rule. I have had 2 tenors 2 snares and the balance was just fine. Its more in the writing and tuning that makes the difference.
Deep shell tenors have projection but won't cut as much as a shallow shelled set of tenors. But for most cases the 2 to 1 ratio works well


As far as cymbals. Personally I would have no less the the number of your snare in your line. For me less then three really looks odd. I usually won't have a cymbal line with two or less.

Just like everybody 5 is preferred but 4 works too. It is just more pleasing to the ear with 5. When we bought our drums we did 16,18,20,22,24,28. now we only use the 16 for indoor. outdoor is 18 on down. Your thinking is correct the 26 just doesn't give enough bottom end outside. If this was an indoor group I would say no larger then 26. but the sizes will work well for you.

The line up you suggested sounds good for me as long as you have a decent amount of winds. I had a smaller line with around 50 winds and we cut throw them pretty well. For me and my band director its always about balancing how many in the battery to how many in the winds.

I have never used 5 bass, mostly from not having enough people. I have written some of my own parts off and on for years. this past year bass drum parts were actually quite good (4 drums). How do I change my ear when I write for five to make sure it is a logical, melodic line. i get 1 is on one and 5 is on three. what about 2 and 4? are they relegated to "e" and "a" on the 16th? can I write for the top to or three and then the bottom 2 or 3 for contrast?



Ok what about 3 snare to two tenors? I will have to buy 1 snare, tenor, and bass BEFORE I buy snare number 4.

Ok, let's talk cymbals. I have only marched cymbals one time and it was a terrible experience. I think I may have enough to march four. I will have to buy at least two more pair of plates. What size? I want crash cymbals that the sound has some body to it, and not sound like the monkey with the battery in his back! (eep, eep, eep)

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Your 3 posts have been merged together. Please use the Edit button to change your posts instead of posting another within the edit period. The edit period lasts 10 minutes.

Thank you. I thought It was appropriated to reply to each post. I will observe that in my future post

The funny thing about basses, just about anything sounds good. There's only 5 pitches and the ear doesn't think of them as pitched, particularly when surrounded by winds and mallet instruments. Don't worry too much about what drum goes where in a 4/4 sixteenth note count structure at q=185.7 while the tubas and and xylophone have the melody etc...

Just do what sounds good to you, it probably sounds good. The thing that sets good bass writing apart from great bass writing isn't what voice sounded where, but more how interesting or boring a part is.

Along those lines, stepwise motion (5 to 4, 4 to 3 etc.) is a very neutral sound. Leaping motion (5 to 3, 3 to 1 etc.) creates tension, which releases nicely at either the top or bottom drum going back to stepwise motion. I could give more of these hard and fast "rules" but it's much better to do some writing on your own and hear it played. I got most of my practice importing MIDI files I found online to Sibelius, removing all percussion sounds and writing for battery and front ensemble on top of them.

3/2/4 and 3/2/5 are probably the most common numbers in a high school line. Tried and true, these numbers tend to sound great up until around 100 winds. Then you might need 1 more of each of the upper battery.

I recall some excellent threads throughout DLO about cymbal lines. Try searching for them.

Well my high school drumline has 2 snare, 1 tenor/quad, and 4 basses and a pit. and we do just fine.

Having 5 doesn't really impact that much more then having four. I actually found that 4 drums kind of boxes me in on some runs I like to write. Personally I love to follow melody lines with the bass drums. have that drum 5 gives you some extra room when stepping down. The most obvious way is in a 4/4 measure if you write simple 8ths notes down the drums, drums 1 and 4 would have to double. with adding a 5th drum. it balances it out. and feels more natural like a scale. As far as 2 and 4 stuck on up beats.
that is all up to how you like to write bass drum parts. Generally that happens a lot(2 and 4 ending on upbeats). but I write to my players talents. I always stick the best player on bass 2 second best on bass 1. third best on bass 4 bass 5 is just having a big enough body to carry it and bass 3 usually works out to be the best for a newbie. With my writing
I like to double some snare parts on bass one and two. especially with a smaller battery. It makes them sound bigger.
but really there is no rules to writing bass drums. Just always keep your talent in mind.


3 snares to 2 tenors is perfectly fine. Marched that set up many many times with success.

As far as crash cymbals. Really only two sizes work. 16 and 18
I would say 20 but for high school i found them to much for the players. we marched 4 plates last couple years. for me I really don't hear the pitches so much. So I bought 4 sets of 18 2 sets medium heavy 2 sets medium. all four Zildjian Stadium series.
The definitely sound like crash cymbals. Avoid non cast cymbals at all cost. the price is cheaper but you get what you pay for. Poor sound and poor durability. ZMACs are also a good choice if you need those cymbals to double up as drum set crashes. Sabian AA marching band or drum corps version are comparable too.

Well of course it is. That is what we used this past year. Last year it was 2-1-3. and 4 seasons ago it was 2 snare and 3 bass (no tenor). You do what you have to. We are just in a position to grow now.

My view from the cheap seats