The Cymballer

MARCHING CYMBALS (west coast hands-on method, mainly corps style)

[getsparrowed]

playing my bongos

[thegayriley]

@drumsticks-offical

Percussionists in the back of band class

[drumsticks-offical]

Me creating an ungodly beat on the timpanis while the trumpets get yelled at

[cymballer-offical]

[cymballer-offical]

Lot Mets

I’ve always struggled with hearing during lots, partially because ADHD doesn’t let me focus on only one met (I’ve been getting better, but also they all sound the same with standardized usage of Dr. Beat and all), but also DAMN lots are loud

For reference on how unable I am to hear duts in lot, my section leader for 2025 screamed duts loud enough to turn heads from at least 5 yards away and I still couldn’t hear

For winter season, I only had one other cymbal who was good at rhythm and keeping time (but not so much at cymbals, but that’s a whole nother story) so we managed and used AirPods that were connected to my phone + DropSpin if it was unbearably loud

But this season we have like 4.5 cymbals with only one other vet and none of the newbies have never even HEARD of marking time before, so we’re cooked

Maybe I can get a speaker or something?

Someone PLEASE give me some advice on how to fix this

[argon-offical]

a

b

[discosquid-offical]

c

[offical-pink]

d

[argon-offical]

e

[eldritchhellspawn]

f

[bitten-and-girl-smitten]

g

[thecacophonyspeaks]

h

[minecraftgender]

i

[marker-official]

j

[cosmic-entity-official]

k

[marker-official]

l

[cosmic-entity-official]

m

[starryabyss41]

n

[marker-official]

o

[cymballer-offical]

p

[de-activated-offical]

I hate it when my brain decides to pick a random instrument to latch onto for a song, because suddenly it drowns out the rest of the song.

[cymballer-offical]

I wonder what this is for…must be a language packet or someth—

NOPE

It’s a CYMBAL AUDITION PACKET

which is apparently $55

Anyways so I’m leaking it now (does it count as leaking if the contents of this folder is everywhere online already even though it technically isn’t)

WELL IT ISN’T ON TUMBLR

And now it is :)

[cymballer-offical]

Heyyyyyyyy……..

I want to try something

[sidequest-official]

Could someone explain

Offical

And

Official

I see names with both and its VERY confusing

[amnesia-offical]

So in the U. S. it’s spelled “official” but pretty much everywhere else it’s “offical” I’m pretty sure.

[cymballer-offical]

For example, @satan-offical, who’s from the UK, spells it “offical”

[cymballer-offical]

fellow cymbal player ?????? im a section leader in my highschools drumljne

Hiii!

More cymbal players huh! Rare breed nowadays, innit?

I didn’t actually apply to be section leader, I just got promoted cause no cymbal applied lol (we’re a relatively new line since our school briefly stopped using cymbals and only recently started using them again, so there are only two vets including me)

What state are you from? I’m from cali

[mindholden]

im from georgia!!! our school usually has cymbals but a couple years ago the line got cut and last year was the first year back. i applied for section leader (and got it!!!) because my last one graduated

[cymballer-offical]

HELLO GEORGIA CYMBAL KID

No but that’s literally us

Our line cut in 2018 and got put back in 2024 which is EXACTLY 4 years apart meaning every person on that line graduated by the time it was put back and we had to start a whole new line

Our section leaders for 2024 got dragged to the snares so we got a new one for 2025 who’s mom pulled him and so I’m here for 2026 and I hope to whatever deities that watch over cymbals that I can stay for more than a year

postscript: want a horror story?

Before the cymbal line was cut in 2018, they got cymbals every other year. Since we were brought back in 2024, we have not gotten new cymbals. That’s right! Our cymbals are from 2017. And also haven’t been polished since 2018.

I hope that your cymbals are in MUCH better shape

[mindholden]

oh goodness im so sorry about your cymbals 😭😭😭 im not sure how old ours are but they are very cheap meinl marching cymbals so they sound like absolute ASS. i took my old section leaders cymbals when she graduated and they are unfortunately warped and very dinged up. i just got a new band director though so maybe with enough pleading i can get some decent cymbals

[cymballer-offical]

MEINL CYMBALS???

I am so sorry 😭

We have a meinl cymbal in our pit and it’s actually so shit I’m telling you

oh my god at least our cymbals are zildjians, just really crappy ones

I shall burn a sacrifice to whatever deities watch over cymbals that your new band director gets you new cymbals of the HIGHEST quality (y’all sound like you need’em)

[cymballer-offical]

fellow cymbal player ?????? im a section leader in my highschools drumljne

Hiii!

More cymbal players huh! Rare breed nowadays, innit?

I didn’t actually apply to be section leader, I just got promoted cause no cymbal applied lol (we’re a relatively new line since our school briefly stopped using cymbals and only recently started using them again, so there are only two vets including me)

What state are you from? I’m from cali

[mindholden]

im from georgia!!! our school usually has cymbals but a couple years ago the line got cut and last year was the first year back. i applied for section leader (and got it!!!) because my last one graduated

[cymballer-offical]

HELLO GEORGIA CYMBAL KID

No but that’s literally us

Our line cut in 2018 and got put back in 2024 which is EXACTLY 4 years apart meaning every person on that line graduated by the time it was put back and we had to start a whole new line

Our section leaders for 2024 got dragged to the snares so we got a new one for 2025 who’s mom pulled him and so I’m here for 2026 and I hope to whatever deities that watch over cymbals that I can stay for more than a year

postscript: want a horror story?

Before the cymbal line was cut in 2018, they got cymbals every other year. Since we were brought back in 2024, we have not gotten new cymbals. That’s right! Our cymbals are from 2017. And also haven’t been polished since 2018.

I hope that your cymbals are in MUCH better shape

[waningg-star]

school is over! y’know what that means??!!!

free time!

band camp.

[cymballer-offical]

Don’t remind me

[cymballer-offical]

fellow cymbal player ?????? im a section leader in my highschools drumljne

Hiii!

More cymbal players huh! Rare breed nowadays, innit?

I didn’t actually apply to be section leader, I just got promoted cause no cymbal applied lol (we’re a relatively new line since our school briefly stopped using cymbals and only recently started using them again, so there are only two vets including me)

What state are you from? I’m from cali

[cymballer-offical]

WOO CYMBALLER RETURN EVERYONE CHEER

Yep! I am officially back!

Still gonna be slow to respond because of band camp tho

And section leader camp

And percussion camp

[cymballer-offical]

it’s pride month cymballer you know what that means

You mean I missed pride month???

Oh the evils of visiting relatives ☹️

Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to join the next gay parade

[cymballer-offical]

Fellas, I am BBBAAACCCKKK

[cymballer-offical]

Y’all I’m leaving in a trip to China to visit relatives and I’m pretty sure tumblr doesn’t work there, so I’m gonna have to stop posting for a while :(

[cymballer-offical]

common cymbal misconceptions?

There’s a few, and it differs from group to group

One from drumline is the “two names stuck together means you do both one after another”

while that works for stuff like tap choke, stuff like sizz sucks and drop crashes have VERY different techniques than just the two parts it’s mainly made out of

also, THIS ONE IS IMPORTANT, cymbal’s are NOT indestructible

although the cyms can absolutely SLAM those bad boys into each other, it doesn’t mean they’re indestructible, please do not step on them

*ahem* looking at you TOMS (and also bottom basses, you are absolutely NOT allowed to use them as frisbees)

if there’s an absolutely cooked cymbal lying around, I GUESS you can use it as a frisbee (ignore the cymbal imbedded into a tree)

[cymballer-offical]

I guess our show’s public now?

The official instagram has it up now, so I guess it’s public now?

Our show this year’s called “The Last Penny” and it’s about (of course) pennies. It’s a bit weird but alright.

EXCEPT OUR COSTUMES HAVE ABRAHAM LINCOLN ON THE BACK

(and the show reveal video had a jar of a hundred or so pennies in the beginning WELL GUESS WHO GOT A HUNDRED OR SO PENNIES STOLEN)

There’s gonna be props of pennies with dates important to the marching band’s history on them, so that’s cool.

Oh, and the cymbal vets are having a field day making jokes about how cymbals use pennies a lot and how they basically look like pennies anyways

[cymballer-offical]

@penny--offical

LOOK IT’S A SHOW ABOUT YOU