im not in percussion but it looks extremley hard i play the tuba but percussion looks terribly hard am i right?

I play drum-kit and trumpet and drum-kit is SOOO much easier. But if your talking about the drum line type percussion, I'd have to say that it would probably be very difficult as you have to keep in time with the rest of the percussion as with drum-kit, the band will follow you.

Percussion is difficult. As easy as it is to make a "tonk" sound on a drum, being able to be a great musician with it and draw the sound of the hundreds of instruments we play is no easy task.

Well rounded, and frankly therefore the most versatile can do it all. They need to be able to play drum kit, snare, bass drum, triangle, crash cymbals, gong, vibraphone, marimba, timpani, timbales, toms, wind chimes, etc. (Get the picture?) Each of these instruments has its own technique (yes, there is triangle technique). And I usually compare the difference between a vibraphone and marimba to the difference between soprano and alto saxophone. Any sax player knows that the techniques are not the same.
Percussionists need to know their rudiments and scales, and need to be able to fit there sound with an ensemble, just like winds and strings. Yes, we make an effort to balance. Yes, we have to have good intonation (timpani) and in addition we need to play other drums so that they produce a color (sound quality) appropriate for a particular piece of music. On any percussion instrument, there are an infinite number of sounds you can play. It's a percussionist's responsibility to know what sounds best. He must also adapt his technique for different environments and different situations. Ever have to play a garbage can lid? If that's what the music calls for, we need to be able to do it, no questions asked. We need to phrase and shape and play musically just like all other musicians. And after all that things still get interesting. Percussionists play with four to six mallets in their, need to improvise on both drum set and vibraphone for a jazz situation, use there elbows to bend pitch on congas, play multi-meter rhythms, and be able to fix and repair their instruments.

For drum set, a percussionist still has to blend and produce a good quality sound, and he must know his styles such as rock, swing, soca, mambo, songo, salsa, bossa-nova, funk, etc. Drummers need to be able to move all limbs independently. In all aspects of percussion, in addition to the same musicianship, tone, blend, and balance that all musicians put forward, coordination is key. Unlike a tuba or other wind player, percussionists… can… well… miss. We need to look at music and the conductor and our instrument at the same time, because if we miss, we can’t hide it.

In a marching percussion situation, a drummer is suddenly trying to put his notes exactly in line with the guy next to him, and bass drummers are splitting sextuplet runs. Hand technique much match with everyone in the line, within a millionth of perfection. Front ensemble members, contrary to popular belief, need to move up and down and side to side in order to play musically and stay together.

And in world situation, the greatest American drummer of all time would go to India and be amazed and humbled by what is in store. An instrument like the tabla is incredibly difficult to learn. The world is full of leagues and leagues of percussion possibilities, and even if a percussionist can do something fairly easily, the learning never ends.

So, there it is, an honest description of what the percussion world is like. It’s totally different than the world most musicians are used to. And that might be the hardest part, its sheer difference from all other musical realms. If you’re thinking of dabbling in percussion, I encourage you to go for it. It’s hard, but it’s also extremely fun.

its hard all right grrr that was weird

its hard all right grrr that was weird

remeber- melody perc. is all hit and miss
it takes a while to play without looking at the keys... try it on a marimba in your band room if your band directer says its okay.
yeah, its harder then it looks

it depends on wat u mean by hard... like marching band.. going fast isnt hard. keeping the winds in time is hard. So marching is the only hard part of football season really. Concert season is only hard because of the rhythms and time signatures. It isnt over-bearingly hard though. Im in Wind Ensemble and our music for our past concert was only hard cuz it was like 6/8 and then in another song there were fermatas that our band director added in and percussion didnt know until the day before the concert but we still did good... overall high school is somewhat hard and stressful but not to the point of breaking down but things like AI are hard

The thing that most people don't understand about percussion is the difference in battery percussion and melody percussion. As stated before, every percussion instrument is played with a different technique. So playing something on a snare real fast might not be that difficult, but when you are playing sixteenth note runs up and down a xylophone at 166 bpm it can become a little difficult.

In my opinion, no instrument is harder to play than any other instrument. What makes the differnce is the dedication that a musician is willing to put into becoming good at it.

The thing that most people don't understand about percussion is the difference in battery percussion and melody percussion. As stated before, every percussion instrument is played with a different technique. So playing something on a snare real fast might not be that difficult, but when you are playing sixteenth note runs up and down a xylophone at 166 bpm it can become a little difficult.

In my opinion, no instrument is harder to play than any other instrument. What makes the differnce is the dedication that a musician is willing to put into becoming good at it.

"smarteegirl1993" is actually really smart.
Those are some wise words about instraments and the musicains that play them!

I guess I'll be the only one to say it really isn't that hard. It's really just patterns. Just as you would have to train your fingers for a horn or your hands for a piano, you have to train your limbs for drumbs. All it takes is practice and you can get pretty much anything.

High mathematical and spacial reasoning IQ is also a big help.

Well all my friends always make fun of me and they think it's easy, then I have them even try to do a buzz roll, but can't do it worth crap. So I guess it is harder than it looks, but to me it is very easy.

Ha, it'S pretty difficult. But, if you put your mind & your heart to it, you get the hang of it. I've played for a bit over a year, and i enjoy snare the best. When i'm playing it just feels natural- like breathing. If you're thinking about being a percussionist, go for it!

i agree with smarteegirl. no instrument is harder than the other. it just depends on if you enjoy it.

i play everything but brass and persussion has come to me alot quicker and eaiser than everything else. percussion, to me, is easier than winds, though percussion takes alot of practice to perfect...as does every other insturment so it depends on how much time you put into it...