This is easily the question or instrument that I am asked the most questions about. So here I go, down a rabbit hole that may get me in trouble. I am by no means the only opinion or the ‘right’ opinion on this topic, but I have a few thoughts.
Before we get too far, here is my marching snare drum background. I started as a marching snare drummer as a freshman in high school at Cedar Rapids Prairie HS in Iowa, we marched matched grip. I attended a BOA camp in Illinois, saw drum corps guys/gals playing traditional, and taught myself (poorly). As we move through high school, I moved to my natural instrument the quads, clearly the superior choice. By the time I made it into my undergrad years at the University of Iowa my body began to fight back – a stress fracture in my leg and back problems forced me to give up on the quads. So I tried snare out – two years at the University of Iowa and one in the Blue Stars before calling it a career. So I’ve had a little experience on the marching side prior to teaching – in my teaching career I’ve gone back and forth in how I approach this, but now I feel pretty confident in my thoughts.
Here we go…
If I were teaching a scholastic group and I was the drumline instructor I would teach matched grip on a flat snare drum. (wow that feels good to say out loud and now it's on the interwebs)
There are so many reasons that groups do all sorts of combinations and again I’m not condemning any groups that don’t agree with my opinion, I’m just saying that marching matched grip on a flat snare drum is OK – from a judging perspective if you can drum with good sound quality – then you can drum with sound quality! See Dartmouth HS, Vandegrift HS, or Texas Tech University.
Why we march traditional grip – The grip was created to accommodate the snare drum as it hung on a sling. This created a ‘new’ technique. This a much longer story, but I’m not here to give you the history of the snare drum just my opinion on the topic at hand. Many view playing traditional grip as the only way to be competitive. I just don’t think that’s the case.
So my opinion is this – the decision is 100% up to the instruction team. If you want to march traditional grip look to the history of it. Mechanically it makes more sense and is more of a natural motion to play on a tilt. When you flatten the drum you create unnecessary tension. I’d prefer to spend time (in a scholastic setting) teaching music rather than teaching a grip than many of the students won’t master.
Why matched grip? One simple answer Sound Quality. If you are trying to compete at the highest level then playing with traditional grip creates an unbalanced sound that even world class drum corps struggle with. Students now have a better understanding of the technique thanks to YouTube, but many still struggle to create quality sounds. They may have learned incorrect technique by watching a video and these habits are really hard to change.
The look is different than traditional grip, but you can still hit the drum and throw down. If you want to march traditional grip awesome – try it on a tilt – otherwise try matched grip. Most percussionists begin learning matched grip and it applies to almost every other instrument – why do we teach a technique created for a drum on a sling when the technology in carrying drums has advanced so significantly? Tradition. Doing things just because they are a tradition is dangerous. Many groups can play traditional grip and do it very well (almost all of the competitive groups in the state of Minnesota do so - constantly blown away by the talent and the instructional level). Just remember that change is ok, it’s ok to be different, and it’s ok to march matched grip!
FYI – in Mankato we play traditional grip. As the director of the Maverick Machine, I trust my staff to put our students in the best possible position to be successful. Many of our students come to Mankato with significant marching percussion training and they will throw down however the staff decides!
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