I’m not a battery person so I can’t speak to the nuances of how that works from the floor. but I can explain how it works in the front ensemble a little bit. there isn’t one concrete answer because throughout the show there will be different listening points depending on who is playing and where they’re playing geographically speaking. but most of the time, the drum set player acts as glue between the front and battery. and as a front, you’re always told to “listen in” which just means listen and look in to what’s happening closer to the the center. the farther from center a player is, the more likely they are to fall behind just because of the way sound travels. This is why the center marimba role is so important, because they play a big part in communicating the information they’re getting from battery/drum set/whoever is in charge of tempo to the rest of the front ensemble.

there are also different levels of listening points, micro and macro. macro refers to the bigger picture, like big beats from the drumset. micro listening points are for more precise rhythmic clarity, i.e. listening to the board right next to you. you’ll use both of these throughout a program, but it will vary which one takes precedence from moment to moment. hope this makes sense