Whistles and Drums

Drums are usually bass drums or floor toms with the occasional small wadaiko to be seen. They are accompanied with trumpets and the odd trombone.

In good cheering squads, whistles are only used to signal the start or stop of a chant. But oh! There's one guy who just doesn't get it: he's a Kansai-based member of the Giant's cheering squad, so you'll generally find him down the front of the third base "alps" stand at Koshien. Anyway, he whistles along with every syllable of every tune. He's an absolute disaster. My advice is: if you ever go to a Tigers vs. Giants game at Koshien, avoid the third base alps.

Anyway, perhaps more important than the drums, horns and whistles is the fact that there is a different song for each player. I'm not sure how U.S. crowds might go along with that, tho'.

Trivia: Narimono (lit. "noise-making things") cannot be used at Koshien after 10pm. After that, it's just singing, clapping, and clacking your skittles.

The whistles are your typical gym-teacher-drop-and-gimme-20 whistles. The drums usually range from a typical Western concert bass drum to more traditional Japanese drums (I've even seen taiko drums).

As to having them in the American games, I know several people who would disagree, particularly my parents. When they come to an American game they usually comment how nice it is to cheer when you want to and not have drums and trumpets blaring for 3 hours straight. I know the Cleveland Indians have a drum that beats rather constantly throughout their games, but I don't know what the general fan reaction is (any Cleveland people out there?).

Thanks for the answers guys. I appreciate it.

If you want to try this out in America, a couple things:

1. Count me in.
2. Head up to Omaha (20X6-san) and try it out on the minor league team first.
3. Get the approval of the front office.
4. Make sure that you count me in.

Oakland also has a drumming section. Not sure how loud and pervasive they are though.

I both like and dislike the cheering section and the band. It's awesome in an intense game (especially post-season) when everyone's cheering on every pitch, and every one of those pitches count. But it's annoying when you're just trying to have a lazy afternoon out at the ballpark with a beer and nikuman in hand.

It's interesting that both Asia and Latin America have some kind of music in the stands during baseball games.