Drumline Instrumentation
Hello,
I am a percussionist who is starting to write cadences and this is the best software I have used so far.
Although I have been able to accomplish writing some music, there isn't quite enough percussion
instrumentation. I believe a good edition to this software would be Marching Battery instrumentation.
Other than that, This is by far the best collection of instrumentation I have ever seen in computer
software.
Thank You
Comments
I'm not sure what you mean by Marching Battery instrumentation. Can you be more clear ?
You expect to find more instrument in the instrument dialog when you create score?
In reply to I'm not sure what you mean by by [DELETED] 5
he means that the software should have a marching snare marching tenors and marching basses to the software
In reply to drumline instrument by drumhunt3
Yes, but the question is, what does that *mean* to "have" a marching tenor? If you mean, you want the *sound* of marching tenors, then that is just a matter of finding a soundfont that includes that instrument. If you mean, you want it to be possible to *label* a staff with the words "Marching Tenors", that too is already possible, by editing the staff name. So if you mean one of those two things, the software *already* supports marching tenors. If you mean something *else* other than how the score *sounds* or is *labeled*, that's the part you'd have to explain. But I don't think there is anything else this could mean. Those are the only two things that I can think of that would be relevant,
Using MuseScore 0.9.6, I not only can't get drumline sounds, but also the percussion sound, to me, seem to lack the correct instrumental sound as applies to the individual instrument.
I would agree that I finally tried writing my first marching band percussion parts on MuseScore this week and struggled in three areas:
1 - Tri/Quad/Quint Toms - Most marching bands don't use Tri-Toms anymore, but Quads & Quints are common. Quads should be a 5 line staff with notes in each space, and quints should be a 5 line staff with notes on each line.
2 - Tonal Bass drums - Most marching band music allows for tonal (pitched) bass drum parts, which would be a five line staff with notes in each space.
3 - Cymbal with sustained crash - There is usually a line that comes off the note head on a cymbal part similar to a symbol for a fall that shows the cymbal should be allowed to ring, but I couldn't find anything on any of the pallets.
Marching band percussion can be a "different animal."
If anything is added to the next version, it must be battery percussion. And perhaps a better snare sound? Maybe give an option for a dryer sound, or just put in a marching snare , thats what im looking for, the military drum doesnt work well, i write by ear, and it sounds nothing like a traditional marching snare.
In reply to If anything is added to the by WannaDrum
If you find a SoundFont with the drum sound you are looking for feel free to share on the forum.
I know for me I use the Timpani for Tonal Basses and the Low Roto-toms work good in place of Quints or Quads. Maybe the developers could just copy, then modify those instruments to work as the battery percussion instruments we would like.
In reply to Work around by madmire
The definition of a drumline instrumentaion or a marching battery instrumentation seems obvious for the people in this thread but it's completely unknown to me and maybe to others, including developers. If we want some changes in this area, knowledgeable people will need to give more information.
So
In reply to The definition of a drumline by [DELETED] 5
I need a marching percussion instrumentation for my high school marching band, which I think is something that's somewhat unique to american high school football. We march at halftime of the football games, but also marching festivals and competitions, which are held on a football field. Here is a Wikipedia article on marching band percussion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marching_Percussion
I know in most published marching band arrangements, the marching percussion will be for the following:
*Cymbals (which MuseScore already has)
*Snare Drums (which MuseScore already has)
*Tenor Drums, aka Quads, or Quints - 4 or 5 drums on a staff
*Bass Drums - sometimes written in one part (which can be done with MuseScore now), or in "tonal bass drum parts", which will have 4 or 5 parts on a staff.
I have attached an example of 4 part tonal bass drums, with the largest drum playing the bottom space, next smallest bass drum playing the 2nd space up, next smallest bass drum playing the 3rd space up, and the smallest bass drum playing the top space. I can notate it in MuseScore, but obviously it doesn't play correctly.
In reply to The definition of a drumline by [DELETED] 5
A modern marching battery, is: a snare line consisting of multiple snare drummers, usually playing exactly the same part; a carried group of tom toms in a 3, 4, 5, or 6 voice grouping referred to as 'tenors' (tri toms, quads, quints, etc.); and tonal bass drums, typically 4-6 voices. Some batteries or drum lines incorporate crash cymbals, played by several individual players, typically 4-6 players or voices.
Tapspace.com is a good website to delve into the world of rudimental drumming to learn more about notation and scoring.
The pitches are much higher than in drum set or orchestral drumming. Tenors are like bongos and higher pitched concert tom toms, tonal basses likewise are short duration sounds, very high in pitch. The smallest bass drum can be 14 or 16 inches and the largest around 30-32".
Here are two links so anyone can see what we mean by a battery. The sound quality is excellent on this one. http://vimeo.com/45881310
With the cymbal line; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgdNXItYNUw
In reply to Work around by madmire
Yes, the Low Roto-Tom does a pretty good job of mimicking quints/quads (good find!), but using Timpani for tonal bass drums is unsatisfying.
Linky: http://drumfunny.com/2009/03/25/banished-beyond-circle-of-life/
It will allow you to listen to battery percussion in relation to the score.
So what we need is Snare Drum, which you have.
Tenor Drums, they come in pitched sets of 4, 5 and 6 drums written on one staff.
Bass Drums (written as on one staff) in pitched sets of 4, 5 and sometime more for some college drum lines.
Cymbals which can be unison or broken into parts similar to the bass drum part.
How the battery looks in real life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eZ_Hqs4HkE
In reply to A good Look at a Drum Corps style Battery by chopman001_
Here is an effort to add more percussion in MuseScore : http://musescore.org/en/node/7864
In reply to Here is an effort to add more by [DELETED] 5
Thanks for the reply back! Good info. I know marching percussion looks like an alien compared to symphonic instrumentation :)
In reply to Re: More percusion by chopman001_
For battery percussion, replacement for instruments.xml and whatever soundfont you are using.
http://sites.google.com/site/mhsbulldogdrumline/
Navigate to "Composition" page.
Good Luck!
Mike S.
In reply to Drumline Instruments and Soundfont by mschorsch
So what are these two files? More information would be appreciated.
In reply to What are these? by newsome
More info : http://musescore.org/en/node/8223
Drumline Instruments and Soundfont Posted by mschorsch
has solved my problem. If you went to the site and did as the Tutorial said you can see the score I made for my band WITH Marching Drum parts! (You Will Have To Download It):
http://musescore.com/user/77289/scores/151653