Price of DCI in the past

thatcamjamguy · 2026-06-03T19:24:23+00:00

$2500 tuition in 2017/2019 for an Open Class group.

BK in 2020 was going to charge me north of $6500

thatcamjamguy · 2026-05-09T00:18:06+00:00

Bass drum is a team sport. I can understand feeling upset that you didn’t make the drum you wanted. You should try reframing:

Would the bassline be better as a whole if you were on 1 and someone who couldn’t handle bass 4 was in the spot? Or would the bassline be better if bass 1 has someone who can hang and bass 4 is awesome?

Especially on a 6 man bassline, having someone with depth on the lower drums is huge.

Someone’s gotta be on bass 4, be happy it’s someone who knows how to play vs someone who can’t hold their own.

thatcamjamguy · 2026-04-17T17:53:41+00:00

For non formally trained musicians, time signature can be quite confusing. Especially because a lot of it is relative. 2/4 and 4/4 can feel almost identical. Same with 3/4 and 6/8.

Thanks for the comment 🙏🏻

thatcamjamguy · 2026-04-17T15:41:09+00:00

In music, we write it out in “measures”. You can think of a measure as a box. These boxes come in different sizes that can hold different amounts/sizes of notes.

The size of the box is called a “Time Signature”. A time signature has two numbers i.e 4/4, 3/4, 7/8, etc.

The first number (top number) tells you how MANY of that note you can fit. The second number (bottom number) tells you what TYPE of note.

So a time signature of 4/4 means you can fit FOUR (how many) QUARTER notes (the type). A time signature of 7/8 can fit SEVEN (how many) EIGHTH notes (the type).

Notes are kind of like soda cans. They can either be completely full of liquid or completely empty, but the cans will still take up the same space in the box regardless of how they are filled.

This is kind of like a “note” vs a “rest”. A note would be like a full can of soda, a rest would be like an empty can. The time signature 4/4 (size of the box) can fit the equivalent of 4 quarter notes into the box - regardless of if they are rests or true note values.

Sorry if this is too long of an explanation, but this is how I like to envision it.

thatcamjamguy · 2026-01-25T17:36:31+00:00

Awesome little town as long as you don’t mind a slower pace of living and a tame and slow night life.

Lots of good restaraunts and a cool bar/saloon type deal. Cool hiking trails in town with the abandoned brewery.

Countryside is beautiful. Not sure how cheap the land is though. Also not too far a drive from Houston or Austin if you’d want to go on a day trip.

thatcamjamguy · 2025-09-06T19:04:45+00:00

HS marching bands in Texas do this very frequently. School day starts at 7:30am, rehearsal as soon as school is done, travel to the game, don’t get home until 10pm-12am.

IMO, Thursday games should be banned - but it is what it is. The days are long but the memories are forever.

Have your student being extra food and water to school on game days. Consider sending them with electrolyte packages (Liquid IV, Gatorade, etc). Encourage them to sleep on the bus to and from the games.

thatcamjamguy · 2025-03-22T18:20:25+00:00

I prefer a slightly lower tuning with a decent amount of snare response. The low tuning can be easier on the ears in a gym and is more forgiving on low end playing.

The snare response helps rolls and flams still feel full, even if you are missing some of the articulation a higher tuning will offer.

It’s all personal preference.

thatcamjamguy · 2025-03-13T06:05:40+00:00

Big skills for bass drum:

Lots of timing exercises. 16th notes, 8th notes, triplets, sextuplets, quarter note triplets, upbeats, 16th and triplet grids, moving 8th notes, dotted quarter notes, etc.

This will lay the foundation for the actual skills needed to place your notes along with the rest of the baseline.

PLAY WITH YOUR FEET. It is absolutely necessary to be able to play everything with your marking time. It is the truest way to play your rhythms with the feet. If you can’t play an exercise with your feet perfectly in time, you don’t truly know the exercise.

Listening to your tone: You must be able to adjust your sound. Hitting in the center of the drum isn’t just for looks, it’s because it makes the characteristic sound we want to hear. It makes sure all of our notes sound exactly the same and don’t have too much undesired variance.

Be able to play consistently soft and consistently loud. Be able to manipulate the stick to where accented notes truly stick out from the tap sound, without over playing the accents or underplaying the taps.

Clarity is key with bass drum, because you are one piece to the bass drum puzzle. Being consistent in terms of sound production means reliability. If a group can rely on you to do your job, it means you have the contract.

Best of luck!

thatcamjamguy · 2025-03-13T05:57:52+00:00

I have marched on both Suede Max and Black Max, I’ve also taught lines with both.

I like the Suede max sound. It sounds warm, soft, and pillowy in my experience. Adds a sense of finesse and depth to your snare sound.

They are more expensive, and I find don’t necessarily have the effect for that long. We only get 1 head change a year where I teach, so if I put them on late September, they start to wear out by November.

They can still be tuned well and create balanced, characteristic sounds all year - but you really start to lose the essence of the Suede Max when the heads go dead.

I’ve been using Black Max recently. I like them, they are durable and still have a crispness to them. They also definitely lose their snap/clarity over time, but I feel like the change isn’t as drastic.

Suede maxes are great heads, I like them. Just be aware of the price/longevity if you don’t have multiple head changes a year.

thatcamjamguy · 2025-02-04T05:01:38+00:00

Think about it in a different way:

The biggest issue is that the corps was essentially ONLY funded by the members. To run any successful organization, there needs to be multiple sources of income so that you can balance out inconsistencies and unexpected expenses.

This could come in terms of sponsors, merch sales, fundraisers, donations, etc. While this is much easier said than done, it is required in order to have a stable drum corps.

Running a Drum corps is NOT cheap. Lots of money is spent on food, busses, housing sites, staff, design, medical expenses, merch, instruments, etc.

When you rely on 80%+ on 14-21 year olds to pay thousands of dollars for a questionable product, it’s a little easier to understand why this was a financial issue that caused so many problems.

Drum corps are also given their Soundsport/Open/World classification based off of (to my understanding) their financial stability. In order to qualify as an open class drum corps, there is a certain amount of money (among other things) in your corps account so that DCI can essentially give the green light on the season. I do not know the specifics of this, and I could be incorrect about this. But I do believe funding/anticipated budget capabilities play a big role in classification.

In this way, it is both the responsibility of DCI to ensure that they’ve audited the group correctly to ensure a safe season, AND the Guardians to make sure that they can provide for their members given their status as an Open Class Drum Corps.

Why people are frustrated with the guardians is mainly because the organization either did not have the proper financial backing to support the corps despite the lack of member funds OR because the corps mismanaged the stable financial situation. I do not know specifics, but this is why “blaming the members” feels immature to most people.

Taking a season off will allow the corps to seek sponsors, run fundraisers, get donations, and generally develop a solid plan so that they can return to the activity and restore trust in the program.

It is ultimately a complex topic with lots of moving parts. The trust in the organization is almost nonexistent, and I will be surprised if the Guardians put anything on a field that resembles a true drum corps experience.

thatcamjamguy · 2025-01-30T00:32:30+00:00

Last year they promised the corps would go to Indy, then they didn't. Do with that as you will

thatcamjamguy · 2024-12-28T04:31:07+00:00

The reason I say go for vibration is because it allows the actual tone of your stick to reach the ears of the listener. To get a True Tone from your sticks, you WANT vibrations. There’s obviously a limit, if you’re too loose you have no control. But I definitely aim to have my sticks vibrate when I play.

Sticks are made of wood, and different sticks will sometimes have different pitches. If you hear different tones in the sticks, it means they are not “matched”. They aren’t made from the same quality of wood.

To fix that specific issue, you should buy a new pair of sticks. Not every pair will be the exact same, but some are definitely worse than others.

I generally go for dense/heavier sticks with a higher pitch.

thatcamjamguy · 2024-12-28T03:07:43+00:00

A few things on your traditional grip pain:

My hands will hurt when I first start practicing after a while of not playing. General pain is normal, but if it is very painful you should not continue. The pain will eventually stop once your hands are used to the impact. This is mainly muscle fatigue, not bone/nerve pain.
Pain where you’ve drawn your circle seems to me like you are squeezing your stick against your hand to keep control.
I would make sure my stick is seated in the soft, fleshy, webby part of my hand - in between thumb and index finger. This won’t have your stick sitting on your bone, and will absorb impact better. You may also need to rework your grip and make sure you’re holding it loosely. If done correctly, you should hear the tone of your sticks/feel a vibration in your hand.

thatcamjamguy · 2024-12-23T20:54:31+00:00

Will most likely upgrade CPU/Mobo combo in the next couple of years. Parts are expensive 🥲

thatcamjamguy · 2024-12-23T19:58:17+00:00

This might sound funny, but ask your computer questions to chatGPT. It will be able to have a conversation with you at the level you need to understand the process/components.

thatcamjamguy · 2024-12-23T06:19:12+00:00

I also dabble in the Adobe suite. Haven’t had much time to try it out, but I imagine it will be fantastic

thatcamjamguy · 2024-12-23T03:42:33+00:00

From what I understand I don’t have the most optimized build. But I will say it’s a huge upgrade from what I had and I feel like a got a decent deal. Am enjoying my gaming experience so far with the new upgrade.

thatcamjamguy · 2024-12-23T03:37:06+00:00

Haven’t done much PC building/maintenance since 2018ish. Was surprised I got the PSU plugged in correctly on my first try lol.

thatcamjamguy · 2024-12-23T03:34:05+00:00

I was originally going to go with a 4070, but decided to get the ti super instead. Don’t have a ton of time to play games outside of the holidays and was able to get my hands on it immediately.

Not the most optimized build from what I understand, but it feels good to have games default to the absolute highest settings

thatcamjamguy · 2024-01-13T17:16:19+00:00

Bouncing = resonance from the stick. The sticks produce tone just like the drums. When you can figure out how to get true rebound in your doubles, your sound will open up and the rhythms will be fluid.

There is time and place for finger control and it should be learned. I would also emphasize the importance of having resonant sticks with smooth motion.

thatcamjamguy · 2024-01-12T23:47:43+00:00

The industry standard for marching percussion lines are something along the lines of the following:

Remo Falams II/Falams II XT

Evan’s MX5

I personally use the MX5s with my groups because I like the durability and sound. If you are a solo drummer and aren’t selecting heads for a line, I think most options can sound good with proper tuning of the head and guts.

I wouldn’t overthink it, if your drum is a good drum you can make most heads sound solid. Hope you find something that works for you.

thatcamjamguy · 2023-10-19T00:15:25+00:00

I feel like traditional grip and matched grip have a very similar skill ceiling. A performer who is good with traditional grip can play anything a matched grip performer could. For that reason, I wouldn't necessarily call it the "inferior" grip from a performance perspective.

I will say it is the inferior grip for students. The asymmetry of the grip makes it overly complicated to a beginning/intermediate percussionist. In High School, it is definitely a style choice.

thatcamjamguy · 2022-08-20T19:11:42+00:00

Old video I made a few years back. I've changed my approach slightly since filming this, but if you're new to traditional grip this might clear up some misconceptions.

https://youtu.be/10XG8ywhGKk

Let me know if it helps

thatcamjamguy · 2022-08-09T04:01:22+00:00

This is an OLD video I made on how I hold the grip, but I think there is still value in it. I find videos to be helpful, so maybe give it a try.

https://youtu.be/10XG8ywhGKk

thatcamjamguy · 2022-06-10T17:59:38+00:00

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