Wax on, wax off...Wax on, wax off....

i beat 4 skins

I have a question...

Does anyone know of any purpose of having yours snares in the "off" position? I know that u can get a different tom-like sound, but it's not really a sound u can use much in most music, I find. I think I've heard may be two songs (by Soundgarden & Tool) with a "snares off" type sound, but this could be just a particular drum tuning or a different snare drum as apposed to having the snares off.
What was the original idea behind it when snare drums were first invented / made? Surely the purpose is now obsolete?

ulank · Tadpole Joined: 05 Mar 2003 Posts: 22

Actaully, I beg to differ. For lighter stuff, I find it can be a useful sound. Also, I think some snares have like a 3-way so you can have a tight rock snare sound, then a looser jazzier snare sound and finally a completely open sound. It can sound funky at times, but I don't think it's pointless.

gdawson44 · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2003 10:47 am Post subject:

You have the ability to turn the snares off so that you don't reduce the life of the strands by having them constantly tensioned. After practice, my snares go off and my high hat clutch is untensioned: saves the life of the both the snares and the springs in the high hat stand. But, sometimes there are songs with long intro's that have no drums present. In order to eliminate snare buzz, I keep them off until the moment I have to come in.
Also, if you have a dead or muffled head, there may be little application in moden music for the "snare-off" sound. Keeping your heads unmuffled will bring a nice, clean timbre to the snare in certain solos or maybe odd acoustic numbers.

Saurencaerthai · King Kong Joined: 24 Sep 2002 Posts: 2609

In certain cases, you want that higher drum sound without the snare choking it. For example, when playing latin, I often like to turn my snares off so that I can get a timbale effect on the snare if I need to do fills. When playing brushes, the drum typically pruduces a noticably larger sound without snares. Plus, it just adds a potential extra voice to the set!

If you'd like a good example of snares being used both on and off, check out St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins, particularly during Max Roach's solo. During the first few choruses which are in latin, he utilizes a crosstick and snare hits simultaniously on a snare with the snares off while changing pitches by bending the head. When he switches to swing, the snares come on, signally a difference in feel.

Old-Marching-Snare · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2003 2:03 am Post subject: Instant Tenor Drum

I like the idea of switching off the snares. Today, there are double-snare marching drums and I am very interested in this feature... e.g., Dynasty. I've not heard of a triple snare drum yet as mentioned above but it must be quite a drum! Without snares, you have an instant tenor drum.

In the really old days, a basic 12x14 drum was either a snare drum or it wasn't; thus, a tenor drum. The tenor drum players used mallets of course but not always. Those drums were the same size as the snares and not much lighter. It seemed kind of stupid to pay almost as much for a tenor drum (without snares) as for a snare drum. The only difference I can think of is that the snare drum must have had a different, more transparent batter than the one-use tenor.

Now of course in the last 30 years marching corps and bands have multi-tenor drums and some of those setups are drool-worthy. These days, they are also called "toms" instead of tenors, and single toms are sold believe it or not. However, they only have one head.

Since I don't know, and would like to, does anyone know when snares came to be? They must be fairly new in relation to the history of music. Any drum line from centuries ago would not have had snares.

- Jim