Visitors of our website left the following questions behind for Jim:

1 "In every corps you work, Santa Clara Vanguard and now The Cavaliers, you let the snareline play with slope snares. What's the reason for it?" - Richard Scheurs –
 
>>Jim: Ergonomics. Traditional grip was developed because drums used to be worn on slings at an angle. Through time, rudimental snare drummers play with traditional grip by default, so tilting the drum makes for a more natural playing angle. This isn’t to say you can’t play traditional grip on a flat snare drum. But playing with a slight angle on the drum makes more sense to us. This first came about when I was working with Murray Gusseck and Chip Webster at SCV in 1998.

2 "Why do a lot of drumlines play with sweatbands on their wrists?" - Richard Scheurs –
 
>>Jim: Because they look cool. Just kidding. I think many drummers use wristbands like this because it helps to form a seal between their gauntlets and their wrists.

3 "There has been a lot of influences in the world of music by the movie industry. And just like last year, the Blue Devils did a show on the theme music of the Godfather Movie. What recent movie would you think, would be the best foundation/theme for a drumcorpsshow?" - Jordi Castel –
 
>>Jim: I suppose it depends on the taste of the arrangers and the group they are writing for. I love the music for “The Godfather.” I love many movie scores, however many of them may not translate to the field very well. Some of the film scores that I’ve really liked to listen to recently are “The Machinist,” “King Kong,” “Syriana,” “March of the Penguins” (US version), and “Magnolia.” However, I’m not sure I’d choose to do any of those on the field due to instrumentation limitations. Some things are best left to their original intent.

4 "If you have to start with a new percussion arrangement, with which section do you start writing? Snares, Tenors, Bass or Pit? And why?" - Roland Visser –
 
>>Jim: It really depends on the musical situation. Depending on what’s being accompanied, certain sections may stand out as being more prominent than others, so those are often the ones I’ll start with. Then again, sometimes the accompanying lines are easier to conceive, and it can sometimes spark creativity to simply start with accompanimental parts. While writing, often I find that other ideas will come to mind for the ‘main’ voice.

5 "How do you get started when you start to arrange a piece? I Would like  to know what you do before you actual start to put the notes on paper. Where do you get your inspiration from. And after this process do you have a sertain way to put your ideas into scores?" - Ramon Opmeer –
 
>>Jim: Probably the most important thing I can recommend is to listen to many kinds of music a lot. Composers or arrangers are very much influenced by what they listen to. If all you listen to is drum corps music, chances are that your music will sound like a lot of other drum corps music. Personally, if I’m arranging a piece, I like to listen to the original as much as I possibly can. Really learn the language and vocabulary of the piece. Not just to analyze it harmonically, etc, but to get a sense of the message it’s trying to relay, and the colors it creates. If it’s an arrangement of something like an orchestral piece that you can obtain a conductor’s score for, that’s a very valuable tool to have. Primarily though, having a good “ear” for the piece is crucial.
Once it comes time to start putting notes on the page, usually I’ll receive a brass score from the brass arranger that I’ll import into my full score template in Sibelius after I’ve inserted all key signatures, time signatures, rehearsal letters. Once the brass music has been imported into my template, I’ll have a full score with brass music, and a bunch of blank percussion staves to start writing into. I use Sibelius with Virtual Drumline 2 (using Kontakt 2) and Mac G5 stocked with a lot of RAM so I can hear accurate sounds of all the parts I write. I’ll just jump to phrases that speak to me and start writing ideas.
 
It’s important not to overthink the early stages of writing. It’s an easy way to develop writers block. If you aren’t sure you have a good idea, then write something. Anything. It may not be great, but by writing something, you’ll start moving, and before you know it, ideas will start flowing.

6 "I would like to know how you arrange the music for the show, is there first the horn directory and then you write the percussion under the horn directory or is there at first a cooperation with the horn arranger. Also do you write for example the bass drums to the contra’s and  tenors to an other hornsection?" - Ronald Krassenburg –
 
>>Jim: Typically, the brass arranger is the first person to actually put notes into the score. This, however, only occurs after we’ve met and had the chance to discuss our  goals and intent. I’m fortunate to work with Richard Saucedo who is very good about understanding the “big picture” so he doesn’t just write brass music that gets accompanied by percussion. In today’s climate, it’s important to have a balance of roles where percussion can take the lead (not just battery, but pit as well). So Richard will sketch out some ideas of what the percussion may lend to each given phrase. From there, I can take his ideas, interpret his intent, and create a detailed version of how the percussion will be implemented with the brass, so (hopefully) we can create as cohesive as a full score as possible. If we’re successful, it won’t sound like a brass score, battery score, and pit score. It will sound like one musical ensemble.
 
There are no rules for basses mirroring the low brass, snares mirroring the high brass, etc. Perhaps that’s a technique that has worked for other percussion arrangers, but I find that music is not a “black and white” artform. Simply mimicking brass orchestration in that manner can be very limiting and doesn’t lend itself to creating new colors. Just don’t lose focus of what the musical intent is. You don’t want the percussion to continually “battle” with the brass from a balance standpoint. Chose points where different sections can make their statement without making it a battle for the spotlight. This is a problem I commonly see with some band programs. Many sections are doing many things frequently, so the overall focus can become confused sometimes.

7 "Is it difficult and tough to make such great percussion solo’s?" - Jeffrey de Graaf –
 
>>Jim: I guess so. It certainly isn’t something I feel I have mastered. It’s something you have to learn about by listening to what has worked for other writers, as well as what has worked for yourself. And then taking that, and hopefully doing something with it that makes musical sense.
 
That’s probably the most difficult task in my mind. Percussion solos, by nature, tend to have a sense of compulsory showmanship that is expected. Sometimes the musical goal may not always call for the “flashy” stuff, so one of the bigger challenges for me is the find a way to balance those two aspects so it’s musically satisfying, as well as something that’s technically interesting.

8 "Having heard a number of your arrangements for the Santa Clara Vanguard in the late 90's and 00's and recently with the cavaliers, its clear that you have managed to create a sound and style that is very distinctive to yourself as an arranger and the lines which you are working with. Did you make a deliberate choice to define your own sound and style and if so how did you go about creating it?" - Tom Patterson –
 
>>Jim: I don’t think the choice was deliberate. Or at least I didn’t realize it when I was doing it. I’m influenced by what I listen to. In drum corps, I’ve always been influenced by the people I admire and were mentored by such as Ralph Hardimon, Murray Gusseck, Thom Hannum, and Scott Johnson. I also make it a point to listen to a lot of different kinds of music. Not because I feel I have to, but because I enjoy it. This influences my taste and sensibilities, and therefore I suppose all of these things ultimately have influenced the sound of my arrangements. I’m a very big advocate of listening to a wide spectrum of different kinds of music. I was trained classically, but play in a rock/jazz band. I like listening to many kinds of music including jazz, film scores, rap, funk, rock. I really just love music, and try to make my drumline writing sound like stuff that would be enjoyable to listen to, even if you weren’t a marching enthusiast.

9 "As an instructor who has achieved so much, how do you ensure that you continue to develop yourself, as an instructor/player/consultant and stay at the fore front of the percussion and drumcorps activity?" - Tom Patterson –
 
>>Jim: I’m not sure there’s a good answer for that. For starters, I think it’s important to keep your ears open and listen to what other people are doing. Not just other drumlines, but just music in general. There’s a lot of great music in the world, and when you find something that inspires you, it may affect the way you approach things the next time you sit down to write something. I’m never completely satisfied with what I’ve written, and always feel like there are different ways it could be approached. That sense of experimentation, and striving for new sounds (for me anyway) drives me to hopefully stay fresh and creative. It’s a continual challenge, so the longer you do it, the more you have to keep spreading your wings. It does sometimes feel as if you have to continually out-do yourself, but if approached the right way, this can be a great thing for fostering new ideas and creativity.

10 "If I play fast parts on a marimba, I always struggle with the soundquality because I don't have the time to place my mallets in the middle of the upper bars. Therefore I hit the upper bars at the bottom but I noticed that the soundquality is getting worse, how can I play fast parts and don't lose so much sound?" - Saskia Schoon –
 
>>Jim: You can get just as good of a sound on the edge of the marimba bar as you do near the center. The key is to play on the extreme edge of the bar. Often, when playing on the edge of marimba bars, players are trying to avoid the nodal points (playing over the string), which of course is a good idea, but it still won’t sound as strong if you aren’t playing on the very edge (corner) of the bar. This is a very common problem, but if you stay relaxed and don’t try to travel to the upper bank of keys too far, it will limit the motion between the white keys and the black keys which will ultimately help you to relax and play with more accuracy.

11 "Why do a lot of pitensembles start with there mallets in a up-position? Isn't it way more relaxed to start with the mallets down like they do in pretty much all the ensembles and orchestra's outside drum corps?" - Alexander Giskes –
 
>>Jim: Not necessarily. By starting with the mallets in the “set” or “up” position, the start of your attacks will likely be more consistent. Plus by not having to “lift” then play the downward stroke, it helps to limit the amount of preparatory motion before you create a sound. There are different schools of thought on this subject. But whether you start with the mallets in the “up” or the “down” position shouldn’t really affect whether or not you are relaxed. You can have your mallets up, and still be relaxed. If you’re not, this would be a good area to look into to check that your grip isn’t too tight. Relaxation and a natural, fluid motion is a very important aspect toward creating a good sound quality with a nice even rhythm.

Prizewinners:

The Ask an Expert Project with Jim Casella was made possible by