| W. Lee Vinson, percussion |
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| Below are questions often asked of me by friends and students. Have a question not answered here? Send Lee an email at lee@vinson.net.
What's with the website? What's with all the snare drums? Do you actually play all of them? What kind of snare drums do you play? How do you tune your drums? What kind of drum heads do you use? What kind of drum sticks do you use? What should I look for when buying a concert snare drum? How do you organize your practice time? What's with the website?
I like to say that my website is equal parts shameless self promotion, resources for my students, and a place to share my snare drum collection. If you're wondering who I am, at least in a professional sense, there's the bio page. If you're looking for practice tools of the technical variety or suggestions on various aspects of orchestral percussion, there is the music page and the articles page. And for information on many of the snare drums in my collection, there's the gear page as well as a complete listing of all my snare drums.
What's with all the snare drums? Do you actually play all of them? No. The drums on my gear page fall into several different categories. The instruments listed at the very top of the page are the ones I use most frequently for orchestral playing. Some of these instruments are antiques and some of these are modern instruments. Towards the middle of the page are drums which are very much playable but are in my collection more as pieces representative of the era in which they were constructed. Most of these drums were built in the 1950s and 60s and are more at home in jazz and rock idioms.
Nearer to the bottom of the page are drums which I collect almost purely for their historical significance. While many of these instruments are still playable, others have outlived their usefulness as practical musical instruments and now live to serve purely as historical examples of the companies which built them. Many of these instruments were made in Boston, Massachusetts in the early 20th Century and represent a lost chapter in the history of American drum building.
What kind of snare drums do you prefer for orchestral use? I have used use a variety of different drums over the years many of which are detailed on my gear page. As for a general purpose snare drum, I prefer a 5" or 5.5" inch drum with a combination of cable and wire snares. I'm quite fond of brass shells but also use some wooden shell drums. For many years I used a 6" x 14" drum with a 1/8" thick brass shell for most of my general playing. More recently I have found this drum to be lacking in that the snares don't seem to be able to achieve the aggressive cracking sound I've grown to prefer. I have since moved to a 5" x 14" brass drum with a thinner shell which I have been very happy with for general playing where a full crisp sound is desired. I have had three snare drums built for me by Joe MacSweeney at Eames Drum Shells. My favorite of the three is slightly larger and thicker than the other two and projects extremely well. It has a very aggressive and focused quality which I find effective for many pieces in the orchestral repertoire.
For pieces where only soft playing is required, I have several antique Ludwig & Ludwig drums, my favorite of which is a 4" x 14" nickel over brass standard model with 10 tube lugs. This drum, equipped with Puresound 12 strand concert wires, is extremely sensitive yet is crisp enough for some light orchestral playing at lower dynamic levels.
How do you tune your drums?
It all depends. Every drum is unique and the tuning will always be somewhat conditional based on the instrument in question and the sound I would like to achieve. That being said, for general purpose drums I prefer for the overall pitch of the drum to be an A natural. I normally tune the snare side head about a third (minor or major) lower than the batter head. I have found that this usually allows for more snare sensitivity and achieves a more 'barky' characteristic out of the instrument. For drums designated specifically for softer and lighter playing such as my antique Ludwig & Ludwig 4" x 14" brass drums, I prefer a slightly higher tuning, about a Bb. For this drum and others where I'm looking for both a brighter sound and a slightly dryer snare response, I tune the snare side head about a third higher than the batter head.
What kind of drum heads do you use? I'm most familiar with and most comfortable with Remo plastic drum heads. I find these heads reliable for a wide variety of applications. I normally use a Coated Diplomat Batter head on top and a Clear Diplomat Snare Side head on the bottom. Occasionally I will use a Coated Ambassador, which is slightly thicker than the Diplomats, or a Coated Diplomat M5, which is slightly thinner, on top for specific situations.
I also occasionally use white calfskin batter heads, both domestic as well as imported, on my snare drums. Calf offers an unbeatably warm, natural, organic sound with less attack and unwanted overtones than plastic. Calfskin, however, is extremely susceptible to changes in heat and humidity making it inconsistent and difficult to maintain. For these reasons I use calf heads sparingly in performance.
What kind of drum sticks do you use?
The wooden kind. For the vast majority of my orchestral snare drum playing, I use one pair of general sticks. I'm especially fond of dense, heavy sticks such as the Malletech Tony Cirone models which are made of rosewood. On rare occasions where only very soft playing is required, I will sometimes move to a different stick which is similar in diameter and weight but has a smaller bead.
What should I look for when buying a concert snare drum? Some things about choosing a snare drum are merely based on personal taste. Careful consideration should also be made as to what kind of performance situation the drum will most frequently be used in. There are however a few general criteria I suggest that my students look for when buying a drum. I recommend for a general purpose concert snare drum, and especially if this is your first drum, that the drum be 5" or 5.5" in depth. I also recommend that it have a combination of cable and wire snares which are individually tunable, and that it have die cast hoops for a drier more focused sound. Beyond that, the choices become more subjective such as the shell material, shell thickness, lugs, and strainer.
How do you organize your practice time? This all depends on what I am working towards. I find it very helpful to have a clear goal in front of me such as a concert or an audition. When there are no pressing performances to prepare for, I mainly try and keep my chops in shape with regular technical work. When the concert calendar is more busy, I spend much of my preparation time studying scores, listening to recordings, and taking notes on playbacks of my performances. Preparing for auditions requires much more practice time and an extremely disciplined approach to time management. For more ideas on audition preparation, refer to some of my ideas discussed on my articles page.
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