Required Materials for Percussion Majors

When you decide to major in percussion, you are choosing to study and eventually master the skills for a variety of instruments. In the same way that a violinist or a trumpeter cannot study without owning a violin or a trumpet, the study of percussion cannot be fully completed if the student does not own the instruments which he or she is required to perform upon.  Similarly, certain books must be owned by the student to adequately learn all of the necessary percussion skills.

With this in mind, we strongly recommend that all percussion students begin a regular plan of acquiring the instruments and literature necessary for lessons, performances and for your eventual career.  Each student, at the beginning of each level of study must own the following materials. This list is only a minimum, additional instruments and materials will be needed, depending upon the student’s ensemble assignments and progress.

Finally, it must be understood that while these purchases may seem extravagant, these are materials that will be used for the remainder of your career.

Freshman Year:

Required Books:
Snare Drum:

  • Intermediate Snare Drum Studies by Mitchell Peters
  • Portraits in Rhythm: A Study Guide  by Anthony Cirone

Marimba/Xylophone:

  • Fundamental Method for Mallets by Mitchell Peters
  • The Sonata: Solo Music for Marimba and Piano by Anthony Cirone

Required Materials: (models indicated are suggestions only!)
Concert snare drum sticks:

  • Vic Firth SD1, STK or SATK models

Practice Pad:

  • Remo, Reel Feel or other, at least 10”

Marimba mallets:

  • 1 pr. each,  soft, med. and  hard yarn
      • Soft: Vic Firth M210
      • Medium: Vic Firth M212
      • Hard: Vic Firth M214
  • 1 pr. med. hard rubber with rattan shafts
      • Vic Firth M130

Xylophone Mallet:

  • 1 pr. Malletech BB34 on rattan shafts

Bell Mallets:

  • 1 pr. hard bell mallets Vic Firth M142

Timpani mallets:

  • 1 pr. med. hard timpani mallets, Vic Firth “General” or similar model.

Triangle:

  • 6 inch Abel, Grover or Blackswamp concert triangle with a set of at least 3 beaters.
  • Triangle clip

Tambourine:

  • Grover or Blackswamp  10”  double row tambourine with German silver jingles

Metronome:

  • Seiko DM-20 ($25), Boss Dr. Beat ($120) or any other high quality and fairly loud model.

1 Black hand towel (approx. 12”x24”)

1 Mallet bag sufficiently large to easily hold the above (and below) mallets