Here’s a short of list of things that I like to take into consideration when writing a drum score.

• Do I know the tune well enough to start writing a drum score for it? If not, become more familiar with by listening to it a lot more. Have a piper make a recording of the tune for you, so can hear the tune properly.
• Will the score be primarily for band or solo use?
• Which level should the score fit? Who will be playing it? How challenging should it be?
• Bass & tenors. When writing band drum scores – think of bass & tenors. Add in, thoughts on how they should be playing to the overall presentation of the tune.
• Chips and voicings. Very often when I write band drum scores, I would add tenor pitches and chips for the drum corp.
• Memorizing the drum score. When writing for specific drum corps, I would put into consideration how hard the drum score would be to memorize. There’s no need to make it more complicated or harder to memorize, than it needs to be.

Get started on writing drum scores yourself – it’s much fun. Explore your own creativity!