Drums in college?

So starting next September, college season starts. I know for certain that noise and space are concerns (hello, dorm rooms). There's a good chance that I will be in either NY or Boston for college, and with the music scene there I feel like if I give up playing then it would be a total waste.

Anyone have suggestions? I was thinking of getting an electronic set or something, but it's really nothing like the real deal (i.e. an acoustic set).

Rule # 1 is Practice whatever part/section or secondary instrument!
Back in the Day, (cough) I was attending a college here in NJ.
and I got so caught up with Hanging out with other musicians
that I didn't spend enough time "DOING THE RIGHT THING"
& ended up dropping out..my mistake in life.

Best to you

oh yeah.. you could get a DW GO Anywhere practice pad Set..or similar..
and USE the school's drums!!

Keep drumming somehow. Consider percussion too. A framedrum is an interesting, affordable and fun instrument to play. I have about 10 which cost anywhere between $15 to $300. I have three Cooperman framedrums (http://www.cooperman.com/coopermanhanddrums.php) and some authentic Indian, Pakistani and Moroccan frame drums that cost between $15 to $50. I even play frame drums with brushes.

Here is some background reading and videos about frame drums:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB0hE-YlfzQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrtK7gkE2Zg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAshV_fkzK0&NR=1
http://www.nscottrobinson.com/framedrums.php

The nice thing about a frame drum is that a good quality drum can last a lifetime. This is one of the few drums that can follow you throughout your life all the way to the nursing home! They don't allow monster kits there; only small percussion!!!

Of course, you can also think about a djembe or a set of congas; both of which can be more expensive, take up more space and are more difficult to store/transport. I have 3 djembes and 2 sets of congas. I love playing congas too! Here are my inspirations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRn0s6h33zg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-00lblDB3GA

Good luck with school; most people looking back consider going to school to be a highlight of their lives. Do your best!

GJS

I am confused, no lugs, no strings? How does one tune a riq?

...or atleast, one of those cooperman riqs?

electronic drums can be quite close to the real deal. it depends what kind of setup you're talking. you can tune the heads to give a pretty similar rebound to acoustic heads (tension). as long as you don't get lazy and don't have the heads tuned like tennis racquets then you will be able to transition between the two easily.

i'd much rather practice drums on an electronic kit than not practice at all that's for sure.
you can get cymbals with a metal surface but which are dampened. more clicky than anything. i'm not sure what volume you can get away with in a 'dorm', but the sound level in my room when i play isn't that high at all. the cymbals on e-kits are worse than the drums, that much is for sure (hi-hat).

BassDriver said:

I am confused, no lugs, no strings? How does one tune a riq?

...or atleast, one of those cooperman riqs?

Click to expand...

Some riqs have internal tuning like my Coopermans. Other frame drums like my Moroccan, Indian and Pakistani do not have any tuning. You need to heat it up (e.g. put it on a heating pad or put it close to the fire) to tune it up.

GJS

Some riqs have internal tuning like my Coopermans. Other frame drums like my Moroccan, Indian and Pakistani do not have any tuning. You need to heat it up (e.g. put it on a heating pad or put it close to the fire) to tune it up.

GJS

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How does this mechanism work?...it was interesting how they recommended Remo Weatherking heads.

I'm with Toddy on this one; electronic drums can be close to the real deal especially if you can pick up a kit that uses actual drum heads instead of the pie plate pads. There is nothing that is going to completely replace the feel of real cymbals and drums but electronics will certainly afford you the opportunity to keep your chops up.

toddy said:

electronic drums can be quite close to the real deal. it depends what kind of setup you're talking. you can tune the heads to give a pretty similar rebound to acoustic heads (tension). as long as you don't get lazy and don't have the heads tuned like tennis racquets then you will be able to transition between the two easily.

i'd much rather practice drums on an electronic kit than not practice at all that's for sure.
you can get cymbals with a metal surface but which are dampened. more clicky than anything. i'm not sure what volume you can get away with in a 'dorm', but the sound level in my room when i play isn't that high at all. the cymbals on e-kits are worse than the drums, that much is for sure (hi-hat).

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That sounds logical.. I guess I'll have to gig on house kits or borrow one =P
Who are the best companies to go to for e-kits though? I hear Roland being tossed around quite a bit here.

The real questions before you invest any money is will you even have room to set anything up? I believe most dorms are very small!

konaboy said:

The real questions before you invest any money is will you even have room to set anything up? I believe most dorms are very small!

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I second this, I would bet lots of money that you will not have enough room for any type of set-up at all. It's almost a guarantee, actually. If you're living in a dorm, there will not be extra room for a drumset. Not to mention, even if you go to the one school in the universe that provides large dorms, your room mate will probably hate you for wasting the extra space on a drum set.

I had to go without my drums for my first year in school. I went home every 4 weeks or so and put in a 3-4 hour session, but that's the best i could do. Move off campus your second year and find a place with a basement.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but it's the truth

try looking up music studios in the area. not sure about there but around here there are all kinds of places to get "a closet" sized room for $20-50 a month. granted their really small, usually only big enough for a 5 piece kit and a throne and nothing more, 6'x6' or so but thats one option. we recently had a place open a little ways away that supplied the drums and everything and you rented the space by the hour to play, think they were advertising $15 an hour.

also got those gibraltar practice pad kits, for like $150, say their easy to store when not in use and look pretty straight forward but i've never seen one in person to really know.

make some friends with the local bands, maybe one of them would you use their kit a couple days a week or something.

always options, just gotta look for them....

If the college you're going to has any sort of a band or music program, there's likely to be a room with a drum set in it somewhere. You just need to find it and whoever controls access to it.

Also, when I went off to freshman year of college I didn't play the entire year. I did listen to a lot of music and much of it was different from what I would've heard at home. When I finally got home and started playing again, I noticed a big improvement in my playing, so taking some time off might not be as bad as you think.

konaboy said:

The real questions before you invest any money is will you even have room to set anything up? I believe most dorms are very small!

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yeah i would definitely check out the measurements for the dorm room before you plunge into buying an e-kit. they (can) be a little smaller than an acoustic, but it will still take up room. i'm not in the US so i really have no idea how big the average dorm room is, but if it's anything like the UK it will be a tight squeeze. still doable, it just depends if you're willing to trade out furniture for a drum kit.
also remember that although electronic drums are relatively quiet, that it is only relative to a regular acoustic - they will still be loud enough to go through your average wall. ofcourse it may be loud there anyway (drunk girls) so you might get away with it.

even if you don't have the depth/space for a full size e-kit i would still recommend buying an electronic kick & snare with a few smaller trigger pads. if you were to do this then you could change the pads to either be toms, cymbals, or a combination of the two (depending on what you want to practice).

roland entry level stuff (td3) is good for the money as a full kit, but i could recommend you some cheaper/better stuff. if you find out what kind of dimensions you have available (also not sure how much money you have to spend?) then i'll give you some links.

I'm assuming that somewhere at your college is a room with a drum kit in it. If this is true, you need to find the person that manages that room, and drum kit, and be really, really, really nice to them.

Explain your situation to them, and politely request that you use the kit. Negotiate times that are convenient for both of you.

You could even befriend someone with a large amount of involvement of the music faculty, and get them to put in a good word for you.

Well, it's decided: Going to Boston College. lol

-If I'm reading the website correctly, they have quite a few practice rooms available, however it seems that they only house pianos and not drum sets. Shame, no drum sets

-Off-campus Boston housing is likely not going to fare so well, the best apartments are grabbed very quickly... so it looks like I'll be in a dorm for a while? far too early to tell.
I couldn't get a hold of any real dimensions though, so I'll have to get back to you on that.

-I have an old friend (recent alumni who lives in the area) who is involved in music, maybe I can ask him what I should do? Perhaps he can get me some connections

Worst case scenario, just bring my practice pad and become a rudiment guru? haha

blackmaged said:

Worst case scenario, just bring my practice pad and become a rudiment guru? haha

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definitely better than nothing man. you could just get an electronic snare with a nice mesh head and tune it so that the rebound is similar. it will be a similar volume to a pad too. rudiment guru is definitely a good idea.

if they have no drum sets then maybe you could ask them if you could take a kit there? (if you haven't already).

Guitar Center Boston
1255 Boylston St.
Boston, Massachusetts 02215

Phone: 617-247-1389
Fax: 617-247-1989

blackmaged said:

Well, it's decided: Going to Boston College. lol

-If I'm reading the website correctly, they have quite a few practice rooms available, however it seems that they only house pianos and not drum sets. Shame, no drum sets

-Off-campus Boston housing is likely not going to fare so well, the best apartments are grabbed very quickly... so it looks like I'll be in a dorm for a while? far too early to tell.
I couldn't get a hold of any real dimensions though, so I'll have to get back to you on that.

-I have an old friend (recent alumni who lives in the area) who is involved in music, maybe I can ask him what I should do? Perhaps he can get me some connections

Worst case scenario, just bring my practice pad and become a rudiment guru? haha

Click to expand...

Yay Boston!
I moved up here a couple years ago to go to college. I'm not gonna lie, going to BC and trying to find off campus housing is gonna suck. One of the people I graduated with goes there. I live off campus from my school, but I also have to take the T 30 minutes every day, but I can at least set up in the basement.

Try making buddies with someone at Berklee. Their practice rooms aren't the BEST but heck, they work. That or find a place downtown (there are quite a few) that rent space, but it's not exactly cheap...

I'm wonderin if we could get to the top of one of the towers and set up camp up there... Imagine the (lack of) acoustics...or you could come exchange chops with me lol

Edit:
And that guitar center he mentioned moved to Fenway. Their drum area sucks. Unless you like the two kits (both OCDP) and Zildjians. Nothing against them, but they don't have any Sabians on display.

Oh, but they do have quite a few electric kits on display...