The ‘elevated’ snares are on a carrier called a ‘High-Stepper’. In the 60s-70s they were popular with marching bands that marched chair-step; this way the snares could ‘march’ as well.
This is the answer - I marched snare at UC Davis, and we used high-steppers so we could effectively high step and play with the drum positioned in front of us. This is why you typically don't see tenors for this style either, there's not a good way to do so and still high step.
It'd be really cool if someone did a deep dive history on HBCU marching bands/drumlines. How they differ from corps style and how their style and ways they go about doing their drumlines came about
DUDE YOU WERE AT ORPHEUS?????? Fat City Drum Corps (the saints drumlime) were marching there. We played a bunch of toms on the side of a float and it was a lot of fun. We also marched Krewe of Iris traditionally if you were there too. I hope you had as much fun as I did this Mardi Gras season!
St. Aug's single glock player this MG season was very ❤🔥 Pretty sure that St. Aug (and a few other bands down here) do the angled/elevated drums to project the snare drums louder, the alternative to scoops. *EDIT* this is apparently wrong, the "High-Stepper" answer in retrospect makes way more sense. Your assessment of our stadium (I still call it "our" even though I don't work there anymore, i don't know if i'll ever shake that habit) is very generous.😁Tulane Bands is great though - it was a privilege and honor to be in front of those students and help shape the program, and Andrew (who was my coworker) and Dylan (who took over my job) are outstanding music educators and people
I can’t imagine marching in an 8 mile long parade. I was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the Memorial Day parade here in my home town and it is not even a mile long.
We march these parades sometimes twice a day a day sometimes also multiple days in a row. It seems insane to march 20 + miles in a span of 3 days but the crowd is so hyped you don’t even notice till you get home.
Welcome to the other side of drumline! It’s funny how you’re unfamiliar with the HBCU style lines considering how educated you are with overall percussion.
I have seen A LOT of HBCU performances. I've seen everything else. But, I've never seen a band that host their snares like at 2:22 of this video! By the way, I'm glad EMC was able to find some more of those toy chickens lol
Hey you should do a video ranking the all state marching bands. I think a lot of states have a marching band where high schoolers from high schools all around the state can participate in. I was in the 2022 Wyoming all state marching band :)
I was there! Was with the University of South Dakota (don’t worry, we heard a lot about the travel😂). Really great fun, especially all the band battles and parades and stuff!
Good morning! This is video #31 of me asking for a drumline gym made out of various marching percussion instruments, such as the tenor barbell, and bass dumbbells.
Glad you got to experience the band culture down in NOLA. That along with Mardi Gras pairs for one of the best experiences for me. Now that is wild to think though that you watched a battle that my brother was in (Southern vs Valley, he plays sousa). It's one of the reasons I wish I was able to march in one of these bands or grow up in NOLA to be able to get that type of band culture. Florida HBCU and HS bands are pretty good but nothing compares to the energy during Mardi Gras parade season. (and for whoever might want to know some of the songs that were used as background music in the vid, I know the first one was SU's arrangement of Levels. I recognized those euphonium and trumpet lines easily lol)
Human Jukebox is amazing! We got to host them a few years back for Football and the 5th quarter experience is like no other. And never count out the OG HBCU band with FAMU! I can't recall if they've come to Mardi Gras recently but there's a few grads in town on the gig circuit that can PLAY.
@@TulaneBands FAMU is great band as well yeah. Tho, The Marching 100 has a more "balanced" sound, I love their musicality and style. Hell, a few of my friends have marched for them as well.
I grew up in New Orleans area. We use to march in the Pontchartrain Parade, i don't think it exhists anymore. It was over 11 miles long. Martching the heavy tenors in the 80's in that parade is about the closest to death i have ever been.
Pontchartrain still rolls on first Saturday on the Uptown route! None of the routes are that long anymore! Although it might spread the crowd out a little if they were!
@AndrewSzypula , it use to be in New Orleans East, started at the Mall. We hated that parade. Walking past the leave by the lake took forever and had no shade.
Ah yes we love a parade in the East! There weren't any for a while but some are starting to resurface out there. That route was not for the faint of heart!@@MichaelRasmussen-o6p
Ooh, now you should try to get in with a string band! You've lived near Philly most of your life - the string bands were my favorite parts of parades there!
St Aug marches those snares but sometimes they sling them on the knee. It’s a high stepper so the drummers have to high step too. Also, it points the snares at the crowd so the drum sound has more pop. If you would like to understand this style hit me up. I write cadences for what we call “show style” we call everyone else “corps style”. A lot of the cadences weren’t written originally, they were sort of passed down like stories. In the 1990s/2000s we started writing them out. Under show style there are 3 main sub styles of drum-lines. But this is debatable. Either way Southern University, is one style. JSU is another style i see copied. Finally there is a modern take that is North Carolina A&T million dollar etc. play this well. Start with those. Dive in to PVAMU, FAMU, t southern and Mississippi valley and you will have a good starting point. Its an entire culture and id love to see you dive into it. Hell try to play an “easy” ncat cadence you will see the writing is deceptively difficult. These schools hate having their cadence stolen so they work hard to be unique.
this is a great breakdown of the "schools" of show style drumming! I know a lot of folks down here are still passing the cadences down without music. Kids have big ears!
Also they march the snares that high so they can get a really high step. Penn states band does it for pregame. It’s either that or slung drums on the leg or to the side like Ohio state.
Was it difficult to find places to film? You could find the Krewe schedules online but the impromptu battles might be difficult to find. Thanks for showing off this great parade tradition. We see you Texas Southern and St. Aug!
The battles always happen before the parade starts, in the staging areas. If you want to see one all you have to do is go to the very beginning of the route about an hour before the parade rolls and you will find a battle!
Sir, I think you should come to Hinesville, GA, and come see the Bradwell band. They are an HS band, and they do this style of marching. The other HS in the area does the core type of marching you are used to. Please come if you can.
Hey emc,try to visit in Philippines in bacoor,cavite which is marching band capital of Philippines,and fun fact bottom bass drum in Philippines marching band use yarn soft big mallets and they sound good boom
We lived on the Gulf Coast for a few months, and this time of year really is something else there. Mardi Gras isn't quiiiiite the same in Biloxi as it is in Nola, but man. The parades sure are fun. The kids were very young at the time, and we came back weighed down with beads (no flashing required, lol) and little toys, a lot of which we still have. Where else could we get a stuffed fleur de lis??
Had to merch in some of those when I was in high school. Got so sick and tired of Mardi Gras that when I was living down there, I started leaving town quite literally early.
That IS the Morial Convention Center. Parades haven’t gone into the Superdome for a few years due to ongoing renovations in preparation for next year’s Super Bowl.
