Building A Marching Tenors Practice Pad

[@carolinalara2571]

OH MY! I think you just saved my son. We live in Pa, but we are in Florida helping out family. He earned his spot as a tenor quint player. He's autistic and wants to continue his routine since we will be away for over 8 weeks and we are concerned of regressing in his playing skills. . I think I might have found the shells already if so I can have him help me make it before the season starts. Your awesome Thank you so, so much. I'll share a pic if we do. Blessings

[@malonedrum]

This is great to hear!

[@hawkeye1680]

Mike, I’ve got one of the Vic Firth bass drum marching practice pads. You just put it in a regular cymbal stand. If you want it, it’s yours. I’m fairly certain I also have a Vic Firth quad practice pad too. I just have to find it. Again, it’s yours if you want it. I’d much rather students have a chance to use them rather than collecting dust.

[@malonedrum]

I'd love to have one I could lend out to students who need them! They are so challenging for students to get, and then borrowing tenors from school can be a pain.

[@hawkeye1680]

@@malonedrum I’m gonna send you an email

[@gregwonhoff7161]

Your creativity and talent are second to none, Mike. I always enjoy watching you in the basement. Happy Thanksgiving, my friend.❤️🙏❤️🙏🦃🦃🦃

[@malonedrum]

Thanks!

[@legendaryhanddrums]

I absolutely love this video 🙏🏼great job in so many ways

[@malonedrum]

Thank you!

[@nohandleforme....]

Great job! I love the way it turned out.

[@malonedrum]

Thank you!

[@jk6i]

This is sick!! Looks wonderful

[@malonedrum]

Thanks!

[@jk6i]

@@malonedrum always, dude

[@frankspikes7858]

Hey Mike I've been watching your videos for a while now. Great work as usual. Me and my younger both play drums. I'm all about the kit. He plays both kit and marching. We couldn't be anymore different style wise. Lol. I would love to see you and RDAVIDR do a colab drum project.

[@malonedrum]

That'd be cool. I love David's stuff.

[@baumawalt]

Have you thought about maybe using a hole saw to drill a 2-3 inch hole in the center of the underside of each "drum" on the practice pad? Not only would it lighten the weight a bit, but it'd probably drop the pitch substantially and give them a "warmer" sound through the foam. Great work, and it was funny to hear an old Oshkosh West cadence; I taught there briefly with J. Edgerton after your time.

[@malonedrum]

I did consider doing that. I was thinking even a bit larger, or maybe graduated holes for each size head, but I ended up deciding I'd prefer to have quieter practice pads instead of a having it being closer to actual tenors.

[@andrewwarrendrums8969]

Nice work Mike!

[@malonedrum]

Thanks Andrew!

[@dancollinsandapiano]

R&D expenses 🤣 aka “measure twice cut once” Cool little project, MM!

[@malonedrum]

Yeah…. You got me there

[@JulianFernandez]

neat project

[@malonedrum]

Thanks!

[@dye182]

Good job I would def routed the edge on the whole thing. Also would went with mesh heads

[@malonedrum]

I thought about routing? But it wouldn’t have enough clearance where the drum shells were mounted, so I just broke the edges with a sander. I also considered mesh heads, but the feel is way different, especially with marching sticks so I preferred to prioritize feel over sound.

[@mattnieri1202]

Hey Mike :) Does the foam press against the head? If so, just barely or is it squeezed a bit? Just curious because the sound of your practice tenors are superb(!) and small changes in that detail I imagine might make a big difference.

[@malonedrum]

It touches enough that the head compresses the foam a little bit. That’s the key I believe

[@mattnieri1202]

@@malonedrum thank you!

[@Officialshayne]

Best kinda videos

[@malonedrum]

🤲

[@brentverrill]

Hey Mike. What did you screw the tension rods into? Did you just jam the swivel nuts from the lugs into the plywood?

[@malonedrum]

These are the nuts I used: amzn.to/3G7A9AF

[@brentverrill]

@@malonedrum thanks Mike. I've seen those before. I think they are commonly used for equipment racks. They sometimes come with metal clips to hold them in place on the rack flanges. I've been hoping to find a supplier of T-nuts with 12-24 threads. But, alas...

[@KwesiAyoKweRobinson]

FIIRRRRREEEE!!!!!

[@malonedrum]

👨‍🚒👨‍🚒👨‍🚒👨‍🚒👨‍🚒

[@JasonMcLemore]

Getting the job done at a fraction of the cost!

[@malonedrum]

That’s the goal! Even if my mistakes make it cost a little extra along the way.

[@RainMakeR_Workshop]

Do mesh practice heads not work on tenors?

[@malonedrum]

I think the mesh heads would work, but with marching sticks being a lot heavier, I think you'd easily break through them, and also the feel would be a lot different. Works fine for drum set stuff (still too bouncy, but ok), but marching is another world in terms of feel.