Percussion Room Remodel

This past year I have been doing a lot of overhaul when it comes to my percussion section and program. We have hired many new staff members, changed how we have set up the program, added summer workshops and a percussion only class next year for students grades 10-12 and purchased new equipment.

But storage is ALWAYS a problem when it comes to percussion. Not just having enough room for everything but finding ways to store all of the stuff so it doesn't get damaged and so you can find it when you need it. My percussion program director, Greg Messa www.glmpercussion.com, not only is a great teacher but also has a studio space to do equipment repairs and even builds things as needed.

So Greg and I went "fixer upper" home remodel show style on our percussion room at the end of the school year. I didn't take any pictures of the before but let's just say it was a disaster. In fact with our staff turn over the big problem has been that we keep loosing items or thinking we don't own stuff because we simply can't keep it all organized and accessible.

Greg built this shelf out of wood he already had. The bottom area we have our stands sorted by all the different kinds. We decided more slots were better with tom stands, cymbal stands, snare stands, etc. all sorted. The top section is cymbal and practice pad storage. We like also having the ability to store misc. drums above this cabinet. To the right of this shelf is where we are going to try to hang additional shelving to store mallets and sticks (like in hanging baskets) to things can easily be seen and sorted by kind. 

This is on the adjacent wall to the stand cabinet. It was shelving we already had from a hardware store. The idea for us (and we plan on continuing to improve this) is that everything is visible and accessible. 

I am just excited to see this much floor space in the room. We have misc items over here but we have room to store our drum set as necessary. Maybe add some additional storage. Its just amazing to us that all of this stuff was in this room before but you could hardly walk in it at all.

We also have a newer Wenger percussion cabinet that is in the band room that we have all of our auxiliary percussion equipment. Moving the cymbals out of the cabinet has really helped and now its not so heavy to so we can move it around the band room a little more easily. Its still a work in progress. 

If you have pictures of percussion spaces you have organized please share with us!