I'm not going to go into great detail about every drum or drumset on the planet. For now, I'd like to focus on the snare drum, then throughout the web site gradually introduce you to the other common members of the percussion family. Every percussionist should be able to name the parts of the snare drum and sticks.

Take a few minutes to memorize these parts of your instrument!

The Batter Head (or top head) is the one that you play (or beat) on. Up until the 1950's, batter heads were almost always made of calf skin. Percussionists before the 50's usually had to learn how to care for the heads of the drum because calfskin heads were very finicky to weather conditions. With the invention of plastic, drum companies changed all of that. Most drum heads these days are made of mylar, most with some type of coating.** The Snare Head (or bottom head) is made from a very thin mylar. The head is thin to get a response from the snares. If you were to put a thick batter head on the bottom, chances are that you wouldn't be able to tell when the snares were "on" or "off." The Snare Strainer (or "throw off") differs in design from drum to drum. Usually it involves a lever of some type (although the "vector" series from Ludwig offers a spring loaded button for ultraquick response)! The Snares are usually made from a variety of materials: the most common is wire (woven in a spiral to get more response from the snare head). Wire snares usually deliver a crisp, sharp response (although a little thin sounding for my taste). Another common material is gut (I'm not going to go into great detail about where that specifically comes from, although there are synthetic forms of gut around). Gut snares usually offer a warmer, deeper response. Less used materials include tennis racket string & cable. Each type of snare has its advantages and disadvantages but in general, go for wire: it's cheap & easy to maintain (at least until you become a professional)! The Drum Shell is made up of every type of material imaginable: wood (birch is the most common), metal (bronze, silver, aluminum, alloys...), fiberglass, etc. etc. Each has its advantages, but I'd stay with a wood or metal drum in the beginning. **Okay, for you drumcorps nuts out there, another variety of heads being manufactured today are "kevlar" - the same stuff they make bulletproof vests from. I don't recommend this type of head for beginning to intermediate percussionists!

Set Up the Drum Before you begin, position the drum to where it's about a hand's width below your navel. (If you're sitting at a drumset, make sure that the snare is above your knees). Try to keep the drum as flat as possible. If you tilt the drum too much, you won't be playing with the fat part of the bead of the stick - resulting in a wimpy sound. It's best to start out with a flat playing surface, then experiment after you've developed a good base of technique.

The Sticks Drum Sticks are generally made of wood & come in every size, shape & color that you can image. In general, you should match the size of the style of playing with the type of stick that you use. Very light jazz drummers tend to use the thinnest sticks (usually defined in the "A" category: smaller numbers indicate smaller sticks and bead sizes. 2A, 5A, 7A, etc.). General purpose sticks fit into the "B" category. It's important to note that these are VERY loose interpretations of stick types - every manufacturer has specific shaft weight, thickness, tip design, etc. The best suggestion I can make is that in the beginning, you should stay with a general purpose stick (around the "2B" size), then experiment with different types to see which style YOU like most.

If you're ready to learn how to clean & tune your snare drum, click on the NEXT button. BACK will take you to the drum lesson menu page.