From Trips to Tenor

[Claxon]

Hi all... I'm a piper but I'm posting on behalf of a drummer friend of mine. My friend used to play trips in a marching band. He is thinking about joining a grade 5 comp band and playing tenor. What kind of transition is this? Would he need additional instruction or would he be able to jump right in? Any other info would be very helpful since it seems tenor is not as cut and dry (atleast to me.. but what the heck do I know about the subject...) as bass or snare.

[Angela]

It's according to whether he wants to do strictly rhythm tenor or flourishing tenor or a mixture of both.

For flourishing (swing) tenor, I strongly suggest getting an instructor. If you learn it the right way in the beginning, it's sooo much easier in the long run. I've seen people try to get a video or book and learn from that... This is good if it's the only option... but if you have access to an instructor or even a workshop or two.... I feel it's better.

For strictly rhythm tenor, I don't think it's too much to just jump into... as long as the lead drummer is willing to help out with writing parts or something like that...

I'm sure there'll be several opinions on this... but this is my opinion and I'm sticking to it! :wink: