Claymore Drums

05/16/2023

“Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
— Mark Twain

02/07/2021

Thank you, health professionals!

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05/22/2020

I don’t know what it’s like in your area but the food lines in Pittsburgh are huge. So I have decided to help in a little way. I am going to donate all the profits from the sales of my GapStixs to the local foodbank. Please go to www.claymoredrums.com and have a look. As the saying goes “I don’t have a lot but I know what it’s like to be without”. If you could pass this on I’d appreciate it. Thanks much.

Home of the GapStix and "Pipe Band Drumming for the Very Beginner" Instructional Book

12/21/2019

Here’s my simplified drum score for massed band 4/4’s. More videos to come on YouTube, comment or message with any requests.

Simplified massed band drum score for 4/4 time signature. This score can be used by beginners taking part in massed bands or simply for instructional purpose...

07/26/2018

A new product from Claymore. I have come up with a simple and inexpensive method to reduce the moisture content of a reed after playing. It's called the Claymore Cap. It's designed to fit over chanter reed covers that have an existing hole in the top. If your cover does not, you can simply drill one yourself. Inside the cap is an absorbent silica pack. This will help in reducing excess moisture and any problems related to a wet reed.More info: www.claymoredrums.com

07/14/2018

This may not seem like conventional advice, but it is important to understand the difference between your practice pad and your snare drum. When teaching, I always emphasize the importance in quality of the sound and not the quantity of sound you are trying for on the pad. This means playing everything clean, controlled and soft when practicing. There is a tendency to get, shall we say, over enthusiastic while playing on a pad. If you transfer this heavy handed playing onto the snare drum, you take away one of the biggest aspects of the drum...dynamics. If the volume scale of a snare is from 0-10, and you or your corps are playing at an 8 all the time, who is going to notice when you play at 10? It should also be noted that playing loud makes it very hard for a corps to play well together. Playing soft forces everyone to listen and hone in as a corps. Keep in mind, whatever volume you achieve on the pad will be 10 times louder on the drum. Again, quality of sound is the goal, not quantity of sound.

05/15/2018

It is always important to learn the structure of a movement first and then it's rhythmical application. The goal is to play clean with good musical presentation.

02/08/2018

As an instructor/lead stick it is always a challenge when it comes to choosing or writing scores for your corps. There is that balancing act between playability and degree of difficulty. You don’t want them to difficult that your corps struggles with them, or to simple that they do not showcase your player’s. I approach this by choosing/write scores that my middle player can handle. Challenging enough for my less experience players, interesting enough for my advance players.
Thoughts