The Small Footprint of Whitney Drums

One of the pleasant surprises of playing Whitney Drums is the kit’s small footprint on stage. As a working drummer, I run into small stages and spaces frequently. Not having to have floor-tom or cymbal-stand legs on this kit helps me get a full kit into small spaces that most drummers can’t. That means I rarely have to play a “cut-down” kit anymore because my Whitney Drums have such a small footprint. You may click on the images above for more detail.

The first two pictures above are from a small ballroom stage where we crammed 8 horns, bass, guitar, and drums in a space that’s intended for a quintet. We had to put the saxophone section down on the dancefloor with the piano and vocalist. To get the drums somewhat in the middle of the band, I set up in the (stage-right) right front corner of the stage with the Whitney drums actually hanging over the front and side of the stage an inch or two. The black monitor on the left of the first picture was sitting on the front edge of the stage, and that shows you how far forward the kit was. The second photo shows the bass drum cantilevered out beyond the front of the stage and the Whitney Drums Quickstand sitting an inch from the edge. This kit doesn’t slide around, so I can put the kit down on the edge like that and not have to worry about it walking forward on me. The video below was taken that night.

The third picture above shows how I was able to wrap the kit around a post and post-footing block the other night. Typical floor-tom or stand-mount tom legs would have made this tight space tricky and I probably couldn’t have left as much space for my bandmates.

While I prefer having a third cymbal I can do just fine in smaller spaces with just two high-quality ones. So when there is room for the kit to be a little wider, I add another ride/sizzle or crash, but when there’s not, I still have everything I really need.

One of the places I play has a fireplace behind the area where the drums go. When I’m there, I frequently turn the drums sideways (this music venue has the audience surrounding the band on three sides, so there isn’t really a front anyway) facing the rest of the band. This lets me put the kit right next to the fireplace with the large tom and cymbals hanging out over the raised hearth, with the cymbal nearly in the fake fireplace, saving space for the rest of my bandmates and their gear.

Hunglish Project - Recorded Live at Arrivederci Wine & Jazz February 4th 2023