How to Play the Marching Tenor Drum
If you've ever been to a sporting event or watched one on television, you've probably seen and heard the marching tenor drum, a member of both the marching and pep bands. This drum is actually a set of four (or in some cases five) smaller drums that don't have snares. They're played with malleted sticks. Each drum has a different pitch so that the set can be melodic. With practice, you can play the tenor drum and have fun doing it.
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Instructions
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1
Secure the harness to the tenor drum. The harness usually slips easily into position with the drum coming down on the harness points.
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2
Carefully lift the drums using the harness and put the harness over your shoulders. Use your thigh to help guide the weight if needed, being certain that the thigh touches only the shell of the drum.
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3
Take one mallet in each hand. Hold the weight of the stick with your thumb and first finger and use your other fingers to control the mallet. Make sure the sticks are angled at 90 degrees with each other (they'll look kind of like an upside down V together as you look down on them), that the wrist is free of tension, and that there are no spaces between your fingers. Keep the elbows slightly out.
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4
Hold the mallet heads approximately 1 inch above the middle left drum head, about 1 to 2 inches from the rim. Bring one mallet up about 3 inches and let the mallet fall onto the drum head, controlling and guiding the movement with your wrist and lower arm. Raise the mallet 9 inches for accented hits.
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5
Repeat Step 4 for the middle right and outer drums. For the outer drums, the hitting area is in the top left or right corner, but you should still contact the head 1 to 2 inches from the rim.
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6
Repeat Steps 4 and 5 with the opposite hand. Then play each drum from left to right, right to left, and in descending and ascending order of pitch, alternating right and left hand strokes on each drum. Conclude by playing alternating hits on any drum.
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Tips & Warnings
Many different strokes can be played on the tenor drum. What is described here are basic taps and accents. If you want to play more complex musical figures like diddles, crossovers and rolls, which involve techniques like letting the stick bounce and bringing one hand over the other, two great resources are the rudiments page from vicfirth.com and drumsdatabase.com. (See Resources).
Tenor drums are heavy to carry around. They weigh 20 pounds or more, depending on the harness used, the drum material and whether the set has more than the standard four drums. The arrangement of the drums, which is intended to facilitate playing, means their weight is distributed a little unevenly because the largest drum is on the left rather than in the middle. You should be aware of this and compensate by leaning or shifting slightly to the right. If you get tired, practice with the drums on a chair or bench, building up your endurance for wearing them a bit at a time.
