Books and Supplies Recommendations

Gear Recommendations for Percussion Majors

• Store these in your percussion locker by the first day of classes:  

• Concert style snare drum and stand. I recommend a soft-bag case. After I hear your drum, we may convert it to a concert-style sound with appropriate batter and resonant heads, cable snares, and batter head dampening to practice rudimental and symphonic snare drum repertoire.
• Gum Rubber Practice Pad and stand (same snare stand as for your concert SD). Gum Rubber pads (10-13”) by Salyers 12” model, ProLogix-Russ Miller model, Vic Firth, ProMark, etc. work well. 
• 2 drum keys. Bring to all applied percussion and PE events. 
• Hearing Protection/Ear Plugs. Cheapest musically functional option for our lessons, rehearsal, and practice purposes, are the Hearos High Fidelity or Vic Firth High Fidelity plugs. Both are virtually the same, approximately $18, purchase no higher than 20dB sound attenuation. Bring to all lessons and rehearsals. Cheap foam plugs are not acceptable for a musician.
• Metronome - either a stand-alone electronic metronome such as Tama Rhythm Watch, Dr. Beat, or a mobile phone metronome app such as Tempo with headphones or musicians in-ear monitors.
• Sticks, Mallets, Case: 
  • Concert Snare sticks, Innovative Percussion IP-1 General Concert Hickory model, or the IP-JC James Campbell hickory model. I’m not as fond of the Vic Firth SD-1 as maple sticks run light for their size.
  • Drumset sticks, Vic Firth 5A size/weight hickory, wood tip, acorn or barrel shape or George Kollias Signature (5AB tapered barrel tip). Nylon tip is ok for practice to save money.

  • Retractable Wire Brushes with wire end ring – Vic Firth Heritage Brush or equivalent

  • Keyboard Mallets – Dragonfly Percussion. Marimba/Vibes model medium/hard MH4. Can even be used for soft xylo practice

  • Timpani Mallets - Vic Firth, Tim Genis Signature Series, Gen 5 Tonal = a good first pair.  Tim Genis recommends purchase order of Gen 5 Tonal, Gen 6 Hard Tonal, Gen 1 Roller, Gen 7 Dolce Articulate.

  • Stick/Mallet Bag - A large mallet bag such as Vic Firth SBAG2, Mike Balter, Innovative Percussion, etc. or a large briefcase for storing mallets. 

  • Kraft Master Key MK-2 Chromatic Pitch Pipe.

  • Soft hand towel for cleaning timpani

  • Manuscript Paper, 8.5x11” loose-leaf, three-hole punched

  • Three-ring notebook, 1.5" size, loose-leaf ruled paper 

• Books typically used. Most should be available from Steve Weiss Music.com and they are a great place to order your music, books, and mallets because they have most items in-stock and ship same-day if ordered by 2pm. I also support Columbus Percussion, as my friend Jim Rupp is the owner and they are very helpful. Please call them to see what they have in-stock or can get quickly. Amazon might provide better prices but only buy on Amazon if the items are in-stock; do not settle for out of stock items as many take too long to arrive for our instructional purposes. I plan to begin with these materials early in the semester. 
  • Garwood Whaley––Basics In Rhythm, 2003.
  • George Lawrence Stone — Stick Control. 1935.
  • Mitchell Peters — Intermediate Studies For Snare Drum, 1976. Excellent etudes for all levels.
  • Charles Wilcoxon — Modern Rudimental Swing Solos. 1941.
  • Mark Johnson, Etudes, classical melodies, 136p., 2 mallet, rec. by Doug Walter
  • Mitchell Peters— Fundamental Method for Mallets. Vol. 1. Excellent introductory 2 and 4 mallet text.
  • Mitchell Peters— Fundamental Method for Timpani. Excellent general text.
  • John Pickering –– Studio Jazz Cookbook.