How to Make Your Own Drum Line Music Sheets

Write your own drumline music on staff paper.

You write drumline music to distribute on sheets of staff paper in several ways. Although you can simply write the music on blank staff paper, a more organized way is to enter the music into a music-writing program on your computer. These allow you to print separate instrument parts, as well as a score for yourself.

Things You'll Need

• Finale, Sibelius or other music writing software

Instructions

1. Enter a time signature and, if you are including a pit arrangement, a key signature. Choose how many staffs you will need; typically, a drumline score consists of snare, tenor drums, bass drums, cymbals and one staff per instrument in the pit (including marimbas, vibes and xylophones). If you are writing the sheets out by hand, give one staff line per instrument. Draw in the bar lines so that they line up consistently down the score, making it easy to follow along and see how each section's part fits with the ensemble.

2. Decide on a consistent method of notation. For example, if you indicate a snare rim shot with an x, be sure it is always an x every time you want a rim shot. Snare notes are usually notated on the second space of the staff. Tenor drums use the four spaces, as does the bass line--if you have five basses, include the space below the staff for the bottom drum. Cymbals are notated on the middle line.

3. Start writing the notes. Begin with any instrument you want, jumping from staff to staff as necessary. While there are some points when certain instruments will be featured, a good drumline arrangement is cohesive, with the parts complementing and playing off one another.

4. Add dynamics, time signature changes and other special notes as you work. If you are using Finale, Sibelius or another music writing program, use the playback feature to listen to your work and check for mistakes or inconsistencies.

Tips & Warnings

• Writing percussion music requires a lot of different notation. To keep them organized and ensure that your writing is consistent, make a notation key by writing on the staff the different notation you use for things that include rim shots, accents, different cymbal crashes and rim clicks.

References

• Finale
• Sibelius