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Newbies
Congratulations! You've recently joined band and picked the coolest instrument. I'm proud of you for choosing so wisely!
Before you can start though, you'll need to pick up a few things! Here's what I recommend a beginner percussionist having by the end of their first year of playing.
Feel free to find used mallets, stick bags, pads, and music stands! Buying drumsticks new is advised, unless you want some pre-chipped sticks
1 Pair of
Concert Band Sticks
1 Pair of
"General" Timpani Mallets
1 pair of
"Medium" marimba mallets
1 Pair of
5A drum set sticks
Practice Pad
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Evans Practice Pad
Music Stand
Developing Players
After the first year or two so, you'll need a few more items. At this point, you'll hopefully be getting some sort of exposure to 4 mallet grips, and will need a matching set of 4 mallets to practice with. You should also consider picking up a pair of hard timpani mallets so that you can start to expand your options when playing timpani.
For those of you who are joining your schools jazz band for the first time, you'll probably need some brushes and some lighter sticks as well!
1 pair of General Snare Sticks
1 Pair of "Light playing" Snare Sticks
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1 pair of General Timpani Mallets
1 Pair of Hard/Staccato Timpani Mallets
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2 Pairs of Medium Marimba Mallets
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1 Pair of "General" drum set sticks
1 Pair of "Light" drum set sticks
1 pair of brushes
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Serious Players
If at this point, you're near the end of high school or about to start college as a music major, here's a few things you might want to have for auditions or gigs
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"Specialty" sticks
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2+ pairs of each level of hardness of vibraphone mallet
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Multiple pairs of each level of hardness of timpani mallet, ranging from very soft to very hard
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"General" drum set sticks
"Heavy" drum set sticks
"Light" drum set sticks
Brushes
"Rods"
Timpani mallets
Swizzles
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Multiple pairs of each hardness of marimba mallet, ranging from very soft to very hard.
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Triangle
Tambourine
Triangle Clip/Beaters
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