Reddit reviews Championship Corps-Style Contest Solos: For the Intermediate-Advanced Snare Drummer

Id say the two biggest things looked for are Leadership and chops (duh)

If you hold traditionally, i HIGHLY recommend you dont when you practice. If you hold matched while you practice, traditional will come naturally, and any setback you have can be easily adjusted with some extra time. Also, it would be in your best interest to avoid playing on a kevlar style head or practice pad while practicing. The amount of knockback on those heads may feel great, but the less knockback a head has, the more it forces you to use your fingers, which builds your chops up much faster and effectively. Learn it on a concert style head, then bring it over to kevlar and adjust from there.

Leadership is the easiest to explain, but also the hardest to get. You need three things: easy to listen to, respect from your peers, and the ability to mentor those who are lower then you. Those things are earned, and usually only come naturally, and they can be a pain to get. Take ownership without being an annoying disruption and see where that goes. if they like you, and youre easy to follow, getting that part down is already done. if they don't like you, sorry to say it man, its probably not for you in that specific environment.

As you do studies, pay close close attention to three simple things: your accents, your double strokes, and your flams. In a drumline, these three things are like the holy trinity of preformance. Bring out a solo book like Jay Wanamakers Champion Corps Style Contest Solos, or Edward Freytags rudimental cook book (i guarantee you've played SOMETHING out of these). Run through solos that are either easy or that youve already learned and pay very close attention to stick height, dynamic contrast, emphasis on that holy trinity i mentioned, and VERY close attention specifically to non accent / accent contrast. In rudimental playing, there should be a stark difference in accents and non accents, thats key to being good on a line. With that typically comes stick height for visuals, but the sounds gotta come first.

id say the most importantly part about being center snare is the ability to keep a solid and consistent tempo. To do this, you MUST be comfortable with what your playing. The only way you are able to do that is to have chops. How do you get chops? that's easy. I use Alan Dawson's Rudimental Ritual every single day, once a day, or before i preforme / practice. Currently, i can play every rudiment, front to back with little mistakes at 215 BPM on a concert-style head. When you are able to get your chops that well, playing at specific tempos consistently comes naturally. The reason people start slowing down or speeding up is because they feel stressed with what they are playing, glitch out and speed up because theyre thinking to hard. If you can get your chops up, anything you want to play you can, and it will feel natural while you do it. HOWEVER, DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE of learning it wrong. Play the ritual one time for an instructor and make sure all the rudiments are played stylistically correct, and DO. NOT. PLAY. FASTER. THAN. YOU. ARE. ABLE. TO. its an extremely common terrible habit of percussionist to play something faster then they can, screw it up, and start and stop over and over again until they get it. you learn NOTHING by doing that. you MUST play everything so slow you cannot possibly make a mistake while playing. Thats how you will be able to regonize your mistakes, find a way to practice them, and learn from it.

All in all, it comes down to your dedication, man. Drumming is something you gotta own. Take ownership of it. Practice practice practice. and studying with an instructor helps a lot to, get one if you haven't already. Good luck!!

Here are links to the things i mentioned. Theyre basically every single high schools go tos. Id be shocked if you havent heard of them or at least have played SOMETHING out of them at one point in time.

Championship Corps-Style Contest Solos: For the Intermediate-Advanced Snare Drummer https://www.amazon.com/dp/0739009338/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_fMn4BbNW3PGM8

The Rudimental Cookbook : A Collection of 25 State of the Art Rudimental Snare Drum Solos and Developmental Exercises From Easy to Extremely Advanced https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E8O8E2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xNn4BbQZ18F7A

The Rudimental Ritual : https://bateriaipercussiovalls.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/rudimental-ritual-by-alan-dawson.pdf