First Principles-SAMPLE

FIRST PRINCIPLES for marching battery

A collection of not-so-stock exercises to help unlock your drumline’s potential

by Murray Gusseck

FIRST PRINCIPLES for Marching battery

TSPB-46

© 2020 Tapspace Publications, LLC. Portland, OR. International copyright secured. All rights reserved.

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Cover design by JP Downer at Pop Wonder Design.

Interior layout and design by Murray Gusseck.

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“'Think in simples' as my old master used to say - meaning to reduce the whole to its parts in simplest terms, getting back to first principles.”

-- Frank Lloyd Wright

INTRODUCTION

Let’s face it. If you teach marching percussion, you’ve likely taught and re-taught your students a bunch of stock exercises over and over, season after season, year after year. Exercises like “8 on a Hand,” “Double Beat,” countless variations of tap/accent exercises, triplet rolls, flam hybrid shopping sprees, etc. Me, too!

Over the many years I spent teaching the drumline of the Santa Clara Vanguard (SCV), I began questioning our automatic use of stock exercises. I started to ask myself, “Why are we playing “8 on a Hand” this year? Is it because we played it last year and the year before that and the year before that? Why “Double Beat”? Are we getting sufficient return on the time spent practicing these exercises?”

I found that if I were being honest with myself, my answer would be, “Not really.” I was bored teaching them. The drummers were bored playing them. The audience was bored listening to them. Not a good combo. And I didn’t feel like they were ultimately serving the purpose of helping us improve broad-based goals like time feel (a.k.a. groove), tempo control, or a mastery of different touches on the drum.

The purpose of this book is to share some notso-stock exercises I’ve crafted over many years — exercises born of “first principles” reasoning that take a ground-up approach with the aim of highlighting very specific technical problems that might be holding your line back from achieving a better feel, a better relationship to time, and ultimately a more mature sound.

This isn’t a book of crazy, heady etudes designed to wow audiences. I have other books and stand-alone etudes that go after that. Rather, the exercises in this collection are really aimed at alternatives to training players using material that is sort of familiar, yet contains different approaches, different focal points, and perhaps different perspectives altogether.

Some of the exercises are scored for full battery (snares, tenors, and basses) in the traditional way. Others are more generic ‘A’ and ‘B’ variations that any section can play or go back and forth between. Through repetition, the various technical issues can start to selfcorrect. Less mental, more physical. Monkey do (over and over), THEN monkey see.

Each exercise will be preceded by a description of its technical focus along with suggestions on how to put the ideas into practice. My hope is that at least some of these ideas will lead you to reexamine your own exercises and find creative ways to optimize them by reasoning from a first principles approach. In this way, your exercise program will be an organic, living thing that develops over time, just like the humans who participate in it!

Lastly, I owe special thanks to my dear friend, Glen Crosby, who has been an inspiration to me and to countless others in the activity. I’m grateful to have had so many opportunities over the years to work alongside the man, watching and learning all the while. He has also graciously supported and promoted my work, and his gentle nudging is what prompted me to finally consolidate these ideas into the book you are now reading.

METRONOME USAGE

The sound of a Dr. Beat blaring through a PA in front of or behind a marching percussion ensemble is familiar to all of us these days. However, I’ve come to the conclusion that, while a necessary and useful tool, relying on the “met” constantly can be dangerous in more ways than one.

For starters, it’s often unreasonably loud — the aural equivalent of an ice pick to the forehead. Second, a metronome beating quarter notes into your drumline’s brain isn’t really doing that much to promote stronger tempo control in your ensemble. Sure, it’ll bring to the forefront cases of significant rushing or dragging in a musical phrase, but will it create real maturity in terms of tempo and timing in your players? I’d challenge that assumption.

Altering the way you use the met can be very effective in helping to avoid the monotony and the crutch of standard usage and in promoting more musical maturity in the ensemble. Here are some ideas for your consideration:

• No metronome. That’s right. Turn it off and first let the drummers get comfortable with the exercise and with each other. Try having them fix obvious tempo issues as an ensemble without the met, using only their ears and sense of timing, your teaching prowess, and demonstration.

• Drop-click. This is the technique whereby you program the met to sound for x number of beats or bars and then go silent (or drop) for x number of beats or bars. For example, four bars on, four bars off. This can be a great way to force the ensemble to stand on its own and carry the tempo through the silent bars. There are many mobile metronome apps that have this feature. My personal favorite is the Pro Metronome app from EUMLab.

• Offbeat click. This simply means that you declare the metronome to be an offbeat rather than a downbeat. For instance, rather than the met beating away on straight quarter notes, you identify it as offbeat 8th notes (a.k.a. the “ands” or the “ups”). This type of practice puts an emphasis on feel in addition to overall tempo control because the players have to interpret for themselves (and as a group) where the downbeats are in relation to the offbeat click. For an even greater challenge, define the click at slower tempos to be on the last 16th note of a beat (or the third note of the triplet if you’re in a compound meter). You’ll definitely encounter a startup cost with this technique, but I dare you to try it. Sit back and watch your students grow up musically right in front of your eyes!

• Half-note or whole-note click. Let’s say your tempo is 120 bpm. Instead of setting the met to exactly that tempo, try it at 60 bpm (effectively every half note). Better yet, set it to 30 bpm, or every whole note in 4/4. Similar to the drop-click approach, this puts the lion’s share of the tempo control burden on the players, with the met simply reminding them once or twice a bar of where the time is.

When to use any of these ideas? Whenever! They’re great ways to break up a monotonous rehearsal and keep music and exercises fresh by offering the players a different perspective on what they’re playing. And you’ll be building some truly long-lasting skills, because each of these metronome techniques will, in its own way, force students to start having an opinion about tempo and feel . . . and that, my friends, is priceless.

DYNAMICS

The exercises in this book do not focus much on dynamic phrasing, and therefore you will not find many traditional dynamic markings such as piano, forte, mezzo-forte, etc. Nor will you encounter hairpins signaling crescendos or diminuendos. However, most of the exercises can and should be played at a variety of dynamic levels. I will suggest some dynamic variations here and there in the exercise descriptions, but I’d also encourage you never to stop experimenting with levels of loud and soft to bring parts to life.

Exercises will generally fall under one of two categories: single-height or two-height.

Single-height exercises are devoid of accent/ tap treatment and will generally be played “all up” (i.e., forte). However, you can mine real gold by having your drummers learn the exercise while playing at low heights. Less physical demand for the hands, less caucophony on the eardrums, and overall a more pleasant experience that should result in an easier and quicker learning process.

Two-height exercises, on the other hand, will be apparent from the appearance of accents (loud notes) and taps (soft, unaccented notes). For the latter, strive to get the taps in the pp to p volume range and work to maintain a strong distinction between taps and accents. The musical message conveyed in the exercise will be much stronger with this distinction preserved.

STICKINGS

This book uses the system of upper and lower case Rs and Ls to denote right- and lefthand stickings within a two-height sequence. Upper case letters denote accents; lower case letters denote taps. In the case of a singleheight exercise, upper case stickings are used. However, don’t let that dissuade you from playing those exercises softly as well.

Lastly, on the topic of stickings I highly recommend starting any of these exercises off the left hand. Like many of the ideas in this book, starting things off the left is a great way to turn a boring exercise back into a challenge in a hurry. And it’s always great training to give the nondominant hand some time being the boss. Take it from a lefty!

TEMPOS

Provided tempo ranges are suggestions only. No tempo is too slow.

One of the best ways to increase comprehension of the material during the learning stage is to choose tempos at which the exercise is NOT a struggle. If the players can relax while playing, they will internalize the notes more quickly, and you can begin working on musicality, groove, and dynamic phrasing. Speed will come once all players have achieved their own personal comfort zone with the material.

Combine this approach with the previous idea of learning new notes at low dynamic levels, and your players will have the notes “in their hands” in no time! INCLUDED

Lastly, a tenuto marking (–) placed above a note will mean to accent the note by about half the level of a traditional accent (>).

Look for this icon throughout the music or text to indicate recording examples of the exercises included in the supplemental download files.

NOTATION KEYS

While the full battery scores contained within are scored for tenor sets with six drums and bass drum sections of five players, I have included additional parts (where applicable) for tenors with five drums and bass drum sections of four and six players.

SINGLE-DOUBLE-TRIPLE

We’ve all played and taught variations of “8 on a Hand” and “Double Beat,” two of the most basic staples of the marching battery technique diet. They focus on big, smooth, repetitive motions that serve to warm up the drumming muscles as well as the ears and minds.

The first exercise of this collection combines the two basic exercises into one and adds a third element—three-stroke patterns—to complete this legato stroke happy meal. There are optional repeat bars in place if you want to loop individual sections.

Where this version departs from the traditional forms is in the added A/B/C variations of each section of the exercise. They are:

Snares and Tenor Variations

A) Single hand — This is the traditional approach.

B) Double-stop — Add a significant physical challenge by playing all notes as double-stops (i.e., right/left hand unisons). The two extra bars of alternating 16th notes in the A section are reduced to 8th notes in this variation.

C) Fill-ins — This variation adds taps in the spaces between the notes of the base rhythms to create nearly continuous 16th notes throughout the exercise.

Bass Variations

A) Unison — Self-explanatory. All bass drums play the single-hand part together in unison.

B) Split — Melodic bass drum part.

More on the Variations

The provided variations are a nice way to break up the monotony associated with the traditional forms of these exercises. Each variation of the snare and tenor part creates its own unique physical challenge, and all variations are usable on top of one another, giving you the ability to mix and match for any number of reasons.

A) Single hand

This is definitely the best starting point for all sections. The exercises will feel familiar this way, and regardless of the number of subsequent variations, you’ll always get at least a decent warmup. This variation should be home base for all sections.

B) Double-stop

Players getting bored? Play every note with both hands in unison. Poof . . . boredom gone. A physical challenge will overcome boredom every time. This variation will quickly acquaint each player with his or her own technical ceiling, and most will quickly realize those are low ceilings indeed. (For what are likely obvious reasons, no double-stop variation is provided— or recommended—for basses!)

It is a good idea to start slow and low with this variation. Consider the physical demands called for at letter C and choose your tempo accordingly. Remember, the slower the better in terms of getting comfortable, assimilating the material, and gaining mastery.

C) Fill-ins

This variation turns each single-hand part into a two-handed, two-height sticking pattern. For the singles (letter A), they become 16th notes played in alternating fashion with a single break at the end of bars 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 8. The break serves to allow switching between right- and left-hand lead.

The doubles and triples (letters B and C) become a more involved sticking exercise with this variation. However, rather than allowing the players to get caught up scrutinizing stickings, it’s more important that they simply recall the traditional “single-hand” form of the exercise. These original rhythms are now represented by accented notes with the opposite hand plugged into the rhythmic gaps.

This variation holds many keys to unlocking the secrets of the double beat universe. Anyone old enough to remember the way lines used to play these rhythms before the days of the audible metronome may recall the sound of overly compressed 16th note pairs accompanied by bloated spaces in between, resulting in some very strange rhythmic interpretations. Put simply, the reason for this is that it was more convenient to play it this way. It’s not as if there were meetings before rehearsal about it—it’s just human nature. We humans don’t like to work harder than necessary and playing these rhythms accurately is hard work!

What this variation aims to do is bring this challenge into stark relief. Once the missing notes are added, one cannot help but try and bring the rhythms into balance with clean, even-sounding 16th notes. The work required by the hand playing the main accented part is subsequently much more significant using this approach.

You can also experiment by having the soft “filler” notes played up and at the same volume as the accents. This adds even more challenge to the part, as it creates the self-evident goal of achieving uniform 16ths throughout all measures. The players will have to really reach for it in order to execute this perfectly.

Mix and Match

One of the benefits of having all these variations is the ability to mix it up. Personally I don’t view it as important to create a routine whereby each section rotates around their three variations (or two for the basses) with every single repetition. That can get just as monotonous as having no variations.

Rather, work each variation separately until there is a decent level of comprehension. Once the variations are “in the hands,” then you can start to have fun by assigning different variations to different sections of the battery. The table below contains some sample scenarios.

Look for the INCLUDED AUDIO ( ) icons alongside certain scenarios for included recordings.

Snares Tenors Basses

Variation A (single hand) Variation A (single hand) Variation A (unison)

Variation A (single hand) Variation B (double-stop) Variation B (split)

Variation B (double-stop) Variation C (fill-ins) Variation A (unison)

Variation B (double-stop) Variation A (single hand) Variation B (split)

Variation C (fill-ins) Variation B (double-stop) Variation B (split)

Variation C (fill-ins) Variation C (fill-ins) Variation A (unison)

124 bpm

116 bpm

Te n o r (6 ) A ( s n g e h a n d ) Te n o r (6 ) B ( d o u b l e - s to p )

single-double-triple cont.

SWING CROSBY

Referring here to the inimitable Glen Crosby, this exercise dates back to early 2000s era Santa Clara Vanguard, albeit under a different name. Back then it was called “Basic Strokes” (not to be confused with another lengthy etude of mine, also titled “Basic Strokes”). No, this one was a little more basic-er than that.

In the spirit of finding ways to increase general timekeeping skills, achieve a fuller sound, and work on a sense of groove, I remember grappling with the challenge of “opening up” the hands of our battery drummers in order to get away from tightness. (A “tight” groove is not the same thing as having overly tight hands while trying to play a groove!)

I was searching for a basic warmup similar to an exercise such as “Single-Double-Triple” but one that placed more emphasis on rhythmic “roundness.” A triplet feel in 12/8 time seemed like a solid starting point.

In a nutshell, Swing Crosby starts out with simple, strong, hand-to-hand 8th notes (dotted 8th notes, to be precise). It then follows with super open doubles in a “shuffle” pattern followed by full out 16th notes, inverted doubles, and finally the same inverted doubles with internal dynamics.

Letter A begins by establishing a solid dotted 8th time feel. Even though this rhythm is devoid of subdivision, it’s interesting to note that once the exercise is on repeat, one can start to “feel” the triplets (i.e., the 16th note subdivision in 12/8 time) within the weight of those basic dotted 8th notes. In my view, this is one of the ultimate highlights of the exercise!

Letter B might be the most important section of the exercise in terms of what it has to teach the players. By design, this section is almost unplayable with an overly tight grip. The bouncy nature of the 12/8 rhythms more or less

requires a free-flowing smoothness coupled with large motions from the wrists and arms. To play these rhythms any other way (i.e., with “breaks” or “stops” in the motions) would likely prove difficult for seasoned players. For notso-seasoned players, it will help to identify any obvious coordination problems that can then be addressed through repetition. Add water, makes its own sauce!

Letter C opens up into a string of 16th notes to really get the hands moving. Care should be taken not to play too loudly here. Smoothness is the key, and the players should be allowed to relax into these large “all up” strokes.

Letter D adds a double-stroke workout to the mix. The sticking changes to inverted doubles, yet the rhythm remains the same. The challenge I'd offer the players is this: Other than the obvious colors provided by the tenor and/or bass split parts, one should not be able to hear the sticking change between letters C and D.

Letter E closes out the exercise by adding some nice rhythmic phrasing and two-height demand. This is achieved by dropping the two pairs of internal doubles of each six notes down to tap height. It easily flows from the previous section and provides a decent ending.

As mentioned above in the section on letter A, one way you will know this exercise is doing its job is when you start to feel a “swing” in the dotted 8th notes at the beginning, even though there are no subdivisions being played.

If you’ve been involved with marching percussion for a while, you know that one of the inherent challenges in the activity is cleaning taps (a.k.a. the little quick notes that take us from accent to accent). And of all the taps to clean, the ones that occur AFTER an accent are the worst . . . the worst!

They are misplaced constantly and for a good reason: The first tap after an accent is the hardest to control. After all, we’re using big implements in this game, and after playing a loud, high accent, it takes a lot of training to be able to place a very small note with great precision directly after such an accent.

Enter “Milkbone,” your friendly neighborhood tap cleaning service. What we have here is quite fundamental and familiar in the sense that it’s a two-height tap/accent exercise played one hand at a time in its most basic form. However, the secret sauce is the fact that the tap after the accent is on the downbeat.

Most exercises of this kind are structured with the accents on the strong beats. Human nature seems to dictate that we don’t pay as much attention to those taps occurring right after such accents because our sense of time and feel is so rooted in the accents that are happening on the strong pulses of the bar. Moreover, our ears are usually still ringing, and our hands are still recovering from playing the accent. Not much energy left over for little Tappy McTapface.

“Milkbone” takes the approach of putting the tap front and center on the downbeat, while the accent is more of a secondary concern on the upbeat. The players must then align their internal clocks to the little notes rather than the big ones.

Breaking It Down

The exercise is structured in two sections that are meant to be played separately rather than always in sequence. Each section has its own variations which, like the previous exercise, can be mixed and matched to your heart's content between sections of the battery.

The format of each section is as follows: slow rhythm (8th notes), then medium fast rhythm (8th note triplets), then slow again (8th notes), then fast (16th notes).

In short, slow to medium to slow to fast.

“Milkbone” contains no melodic parts for tenors or basses. Split parts would only serve to distract from the key purpose of listening to the taps. I also do not recommend having your bass drummers play the double-stop variations due to the size of their implements and the fact that double-stops on a double-headed drum are pointless in my opinion.

Letter A is where you’ll want to spend the majority of your time. The single-hand approach keeps things simple, allowing the players to focus on getting comfortable. To the instructor, I recommend listening as closely as you can to how well the players are landing the downbeat taps exactly on the beat. The slightest misplacement of this tap is the issue this exercise aims to correct.

To this end, I recommend taking it very slowly at first so that there is no physical barrier between the players and their ability to hear with great clarity what it is they’re actually playing and how it fits to the pulse.

The other two variations for the letter A material are exactly as they were in the previous exercise. Double-stops increase the physical challenge quite drastically in that both hands play every note in every bar.

The alternating variation is identical to the double-stop variation with the only difference being that the left hand is displaced to create note values that are twice as fast. Instead of one tap followed by one accent, as in the case of the first four bars, there will be two taps and two accents — and so on through the next two note values.

This variation poses an interesting question: Even though the same notes are being played, albeit rhythmically split in the hands, why is it so much harder to play? While I don’t have a very scientific answer, I’m quite sure the reason is because of the extra work being done in our brains to make sense of all these new notes we're hearing!

Letter B represents a more hand-to-hand approach to the concept with alternating lead hands within a single bar. This allows for a slightly higher tempo ceiling, so there is a new upper range stated at the outset. There is no double-stop variation provided at letter B for what are probably obvious reasons.

I recommend leaving this alternate section for when the players have developed a fair degree of comfort with the material at letter A.

On a side note, the double-stop variation will demand some level of understanding of Moeller technique once a certain tempo is reached. The top tempo I’ve provided (100 bpm) is about where one would want to start incorporating Moeller in order to survive.

INCLUDED AUDIO:

A section — Single hand (90 bpm)

A section — Alternating (85 bpm)

B section — Single hand (100 bpm)

B section — Alternating (95 bpm)

FLAM HACK SENSE

Dovetailing off of “Milkbone,” an exercise that promotes healthy tap placement after an accent, “Flam Hack Sense” deals with similar control-related issues . . . this time disguised as good ol’ flam accents.

Flam accents are one of the most basic rudiments we learn in our early stages. Whether in duplet or triplet form, this versatile rudiment is accessible, comfortable to play, has a nice hand-to-hand swing, allows for a wide variety of musical applications, and pretty much no one that I’ve talked to has indicated that it’s a tricky rudiment to execute — until now!

Although this exercise consists entirely of hand-to-hand flam accents, they are presented in an ever-shifting environment of duplet and triplet rhythms that creates control issues for the player. These shifts back and forth between duplet and triplet rhythmic contexts create a rocky ride for the player, who has to speed up and slow down (on a dime) at precise locations.

“Flam Hack Sense” is split up into three sections. All three sections are loopable, and I definitely recommend keeping them on repeat until the players have the exercise more comfortably in their hands.

Letter A is six bars long with four beats of duplet rhythms followed by four beats of triplet rhythms.

Letter B is three bars long with two beats of each.

Letter C is a quick, two-bar wrap-up — one beat of each. Tricky business!

Practicing Advice and Variations

Less-experienced players will have a tough time handling the control issues that this exercise presents. Here are some variations you can try in an effort to reduce some of the associated startup costs:

• Play each section on endless repeat at a slow tempo so that all timing and control issues are exposed and can be reckoned with head on.

• Take out all flams and play the exercise as just taps and accents.

• Strip away the flam accents from all triplet versions of the rudiment and just play triplet taps in their stead.

• Do the opposite of the above: strip away flam accents from all duplet versions and replace with 16th note taps.

If you think about it, the first two notes of each change in the rhythm is where the trouble starts, and it's also where the players ought to focus their concentration.

If you’d like to add some challenge to this exercise, here are some suggestions:

• Reverse the stickings on the whole exercise.

• Rather than straight flam accents, play it through with flam drags.

• Play it through with “cheeses” (flammed and accented drags).

• Rather than hand-to-hand flam accents, play it through with only one side of the rudiment (e.g., Rlr Rlr Rlr Rlr).

• Any combination of the above!

FLAM HACK SENSE

GEAR SHIFTER

“Gear Shifter” presents a particular challenge in battery drumming that I personally view as underserved, which is the ability of a single section of the battery to hold its own against conflicting parts being played by other sections.

Most of the time battery parts are rhythmically coordinated. At least, that’s what most of us are going for; right? For musical reasons, we often want the entire battery section—snares, tenors, and basses—to form a cohesive musical union in support of whatever music they’re accompanying. Parts are designed to lay well on top of one another without a lot of rhythmic conflicts like triplets on top of 8th notes or 16th notes or quintuplets on top of 16th notes, etc.

But even if we accept the above as true in most cases, how often does it happen where a particular part being played by a particular section of the battery still “rubs” a little too much against the rhythmic grain of the overall musical passage, causing one or more other sections of the battery to falter and quickly become confused or disoriented?

Most of the time when this occurs, it is only for a second or two. But I’m of the belief that the individual sections of the battery (and the individual players that make up those sections) can and should be more musically and rhythmically resilient. Marching percussion arrangers ought to be able to layer seemingly conflicting rhythms on top of each other if there is a creative musical reason to do so. After all, some music is about chaos! Surely a marching battery comprised of extremely loud membranophones should possess the option of adding its own rhythmic chaos to the mix.

How It Works

“Gear Shifter” is presented in three sections with two generic parts — Group 1 and Group 2. Group 1 is the “focus” group; Group 2 is the “control” group.

In each section of the exercise, Group 2’s job is to hold down the fort. At letter A, that fort is 8th notes. At letter B, it’s 8th note triplets. And finally at letter C, 16th notes.

Group 1 will play the role of guinea pig. Their rhythms will always match Group 2’s rhythms at the outset of a section but then “shift” into faster and slower gears by approximately one order of rhythmic magnitude. From straight 8th notes at letter A, they’ll next move to 8th note triplets, then back to straight 8ths, and then to quarter note triplets. This rhythmic waffling happens in broad chunks at first (two bars each), then shrinks throughout the course of the section to one bar each and finally to two counts of each.

While Group 1 is focusing on shifting rhythmic gears, Group 2 will be holding down that 8th note fort. There are sticking variations in Group 2’s part throughout the exercise that will add a level of challenge as they struggle not only to maintain steady 8th notes for Group 1’s exploits, but also to achieve a consistency of volume and touch through the sticking variations.

The point here is to give the various sections of the battery a chance to openly play rhythms that rub against one another while building the confidence necessary to stand on their own rhythmic two feet, so to speak. Additionally, they will also be learning to have each other’s backs. After all, Group 2 will essentially be Group 1’s lifeline.

Implementation

I’d like to offer some additional tips on how to go about practicing “Gear Shifter” with your group. I’d also encourage you to reread the sections of metronome usage and dynamics at the front of this book.

Metronome Usage

As you will surmise when looking at the exercise, a metronome will be a pretty vital element for keeping all of this together. However, it’s important to state that the ultimate goal would be not using a metronome at all! Since the point of the exercise is rhythmic self-reliance, the ultimate test of this will be to shut the met off, effectively kicking the birdie out of the nest so it can “figure it out” on the way down.

But getting to that stage will be a process, and I’d recommend starting with the met in traditional form on quarter notes. However, don’t wait too long until you start experimenting with some of the other met techniques outlined on page 6, especially the drop-click and whole or half note click approaches. Any of these alternative met techniques should help forge a clearer path to self-reliance.

Mix and Match

Dynamics

Along with the alternative met techniques described previously, I’d most certainly recommend lowering the overall volume levels of each group. This should provide more headroom, introduce some much-needed calm in the midst of the rhythmic calamity, and give the players (and instructors) a better ability to hear what is going on.

This can be done creatively. For instance, you could have Group 1 playing at p or mp while Group 2 plays one level louder (mp or mf , respectively). In this way, the control group is louder than the focus group, which should be particularly helpful for Group 1.

One other related tip here: You can try having Group 2 (the control group) keep the “fort” rhythms (e.g., 8th notes at letter A) going during the “4 for nuthins” in between reps. In this way, the control group will become an even stronger, more consistent source of time to aid in Group 1’s progress.

Once Group 1 is holding its own, switch the dynamics around and have Group 2 play one level softer than Group 1. This will be a larger leap of faith for Group 1 and thus present an additional level of challenge.

There are plenty of possiblities for how to assign the groups to the various sections of the battery. Here are four to start with:

Lastly, don’t feel the need to progress through all sections of the exercise right away. Letter A will be hard enough for a while. The other sections of the exercise will feel more accessible when the time is right.

THE RUB

This exercise builds off of “Gear Shifter” but in a more “friendly on the ears” way. Still present are rhythms that rub against the overall groove grain, but there are fewer of them, and they occur less frequently. The overall emphasis remains on the core groove that starts at letter A.

The basic groove at letter A is simple enough. It’s important for the snares to get a good hip-hop cross-stick sound and maintain it throughout. It’s the only anchor that matters in their part. Be sure that both hands are hitting accents on the flams in every bar.

Starting at letter B, each section takes a turn with variations that rub against the groove while the other two sections hold things down. Consistently, the variations go from slower to faster rhythms.

Try coming up with your own variations! Just follow the rule that some part of your variation needs to conflict in some small (or not so small) way with the basic groove.

INCLUDED AUDIO: Full battery (120 bpm)

I.D.A. (“Inverted Double Attack”)

ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS!

THE INVERTED DOUBLES ARE HERE. TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY!!

END OF TRANSMISSION

A great way to strengthen your double-stroke roll is by exaggerating the second note of the double. So says conventional wisdom. I’ve found that by switching the traditional sticking pattern of RRLL RRLL to start on the second note (i.e., RLLR RLLR) is not only helpful to the cause, but it also allows some creative possibilities via the use of internal dynamics.

The exercise on the opposite page is one such pattern. As you will see, the sticking never varies. However, the accents create a fun little melody in addition to a nice physical challenge for the hands.

This one is definitely designed to be played fast, but as with anything else in this book, start slowly in order to gain mastery with the concepts first.

I’ve included two different unison bass drum variations. The A variation is a duplicate of the snare and tenor parts, while the B variation is designed for faster tempos where the reality of typical bass mallet sizes (along with the low rebound factor of the heads on larger drums) will likely be prohibitive. As for when to switch from A to B, that’s up to you. It would probably be somewhere around 150 bpm, if not slower.

This exercise is an excellent candidate for using the whole-note metronome technique outlined on page 6. With fewer metronome clicks, the accents will become a more important tool for navigating the time. In turn, this will fortify the concept of the exercise even more (striving for strong doubles by leaning towards the second note).

INCLUDED AUDIO:

Full battery w/ Bass A (120 bpm)

Full battery w/ Bass B (160 bpm)

I.D.A. “Inverted Double Attack”

“Snapper” is a little groove-based etude that relies on a quick “snap” of the hand from tap to accent. The fact that the groove is based in 16th notes necessitates the need for a very quick snap indeed! The accents that make up this groove are on relatively strong beats, so the motivation to achieve a strong accent should be sufficient to drive the hands and challenge the players.

The A and B sections are identical other than the sticking (and resulting drum changes in the tenor part), which is simply reversed at letter B. Each section is set up to loop continuously until the cue to end is given by the instructor.

A Closer Look

It is important for the concept at hand (pun intended) to have time to gel within the brains and bodies of the players. For this reason, I strongly recommend starting at a tempo that is comfortable for your weakest player and looping it on repeat until the groove and parts start to settle.

The basic groove is a quasi-Brazilian samba groove of the partido alto variety. This is a loose categorization, but anyone familiar with the style of partido alto will recognize this flavor in the tenor accents: low-high, low-low-high, lowlow, etc.

The snare and bass parts are identical. Although not a traditional samba bass rhythm, I’ve found it helpful to have the basses mimic the snares due to the physical challenge involved. In my opinion, the groove doesn’t suffer all that much as a result of this. In fact, it paves the way for an alternate treatment of the groove entirely.

Reggae style

Once the group is comfortable with the etude in its most basic form, you can completely change the groove and the challenge by having the players play everything exactly as written but swinging the 16th notes. This means that every pair of 16th notes is “swung,” which will result in the lowest subdivision of 16th notes to become 16th note triplets, or sextuplets.

As in: Because we are lowering the subdivision in this style, the challenge to produce a strong, clean accent after the tap will be that much harder. For that reason and for keeping the groove intact, this style variation should be played more slowly than the Brazilian style. I’ve provided some suggested tempos for each style in the music.

Optional rim offbeats

Lastly, you will notice some ‘x’ noteheads in the snare and bass parts that signify optional rim hits on these beats, which all happen to be offbeats, or the “and” of the beat. This not only fits both groove styles, but it may help the players get more into the feel of the exercise and continue to drive them to play stronger accents after those little taps!

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SINGLE DOUBLE TROUBLE

Singles and doubles are both cornerstones of so much of what we do as drummers, and it’s my belief that one can never spend too much time mastering these two sticking patterns.

The exercise on the following page combines right- and left-hand lead single strokes with all four possible combinations of double-stroke stickings in a looping sequence.

The exercise is in two halves: right-hand lead and left-hand lead. The letters A and B simply denote the beginning of each.

Although this particular sticking sequence is not new (see sidebar), I’ve had some fun developing variations for it that I believe are not only instructive but also quite amusing.

The drummer Steve Smith was the first person I saw perform a variation of the original pattern here in his great DVD tutorial “Drumset Technique/ History of the US Beat” (available from Hudson Music). In the video he claims he got it from Karl Perazzo. Either way, thanks, guys!

You will notice that there are four exercise variations, each with its own technical parameters and consequently its own tempo range stated directly underneath the staff name.

I highly recommend looping small phrases continually at a slow tempo during the learning process in order to speed up comprehension. Loop four-bar phrases (e.g., A to B), two-bar phrases (e.g., the first two bars), or individual bars.

Original

The top line represents the base sticking pattern. Definitely start here and spend the time to get it committed to memory and comfortable to play. Since it consists of nothing but the straight stickings as 16th notes, it also has the largest tempo range.

The goal should be even 16th notes across the board with no variation in volume or touch from note to note — a lofty goal indeed! I like to think of it the way the exercise would be perceived by someone who wasn’t watching it being played. Would they hear the various stickings? If so, that would be a sign there was more that could be done to match each note.

Original with accents

This variation takes the same sticking patterns but adds the layer of accents and taps. Each bar has the same accent pattern so that the players can develop a good reference point. As the stickings change from bar to bar, the execution of the accents gets tricky. Because of this added challenge, the tempo range is naturally smaller here.

Extra Crispy

Here we take the original pattern and turn it into a shuffle (similar to Snapper with the reggae style). Now half of the spaces between notes are greater, and half are smaller. The techniques necessary to play the resulting patterns are necessarily quite different now, and the challenge has increased. Accordingly, the tempo range has been reduced.

Extra Crispy with accents

We up the ante one more time in this last variation by adding the same layer of accents and taps. This adds considerable challenges to both controlling accent rebound and quickly snapping the stick from tap to accent. Not for the faint-hearted!

INCLUDED AUDIO:

Original (120 bpm)

Original w/ accents (100 bpm)

Extra crispy (100 bpm)

Extra crispy w/ accents (80 bpm)

THREE STRIKES

If you agree that singles and doubles are both cornerstones of all drumming, then perhaps you will also agree that triple strokes (“threes”) are pretty much next in line for such high esteem.

Like doubles, they are a member of the multiple-bounce family, albeit in a different way—they require more strength and more finesse. They are excellent vehicles for technique development on any limbs you put to the task, be they hands or feet — even fingers!

“Three Strikes” is a fully scored etude that centers around threes in different rhythmic contexts within four repeating sections. The first two are 16th note-based, the third is nonupletbased (ninelets), while the fourth is sextupletbased. A fifth section does a quick wrap-up sampling of all.

Each section is preceded by a “three strikes” setup via rimshot. You’re welcome.☺

Actually, feel free to replace every rimshot (or at least a handful of them) with ff accents if it’s just too much noise for your rehearsal or performance situation. They can always be added back in later.

Technique

There is a lot to break off in terms of the techniques required to play “Three Strikes,” but an overarching concept could be this: Don’t squeeze the sticks so hard that the threes have a choked-off sound, rhythmically or timbrally speaking. Instead, use just enough fulcrum squeeze to maintain your grip and use the fingers to coax out the last two strokes of each triple stroke.

Finding A Balance

The benefit and the challenge of working triple strokes is that it forces us to find a working balance in our grip between squeezing and not squeezing. The harder you squeeze in the fulcrum, the less available your fingers are going to be and the tighter your wrist will become. The less you squeeze, the freer the wrist and fingers will be, but the harder it will be to hang on to the stick and drive through the patterns. In both cases, the elbow-driven forearms can be used to greater or lesser extent to keep the machine from overheating.

Snare players will have the easiest time playing their threes due to the high tension of their instrument, where tenor players will need to get creative to achieve strong threes on the lower drums. Lastly, it can be argued that the bottom bass drummers will have the greatest challenge of all, and they do have some threes to reckon with!

It is up to each individual to find the proper balance of techniques in the hands to achieve a strong sound, and anyone interested in taking their technique to greater and greater heights will gain much from this exploration.

Section Breakdowns

Letter A is a warm-up. Each section of the battery alternates threes between the hands. Heights are up, and we’re warming up those muscles.

Letter B extends the warm-up as we take those same threes and play them with one hand for two bars at a time in the snares and tenors. Basses have a different part to create some rhythmic contrast.

Letter C puts the threes into a more musical setting as ninelets within a 12/8 phrase. As such, we have to modulate to a dotted quarter feel. The ninelets provide a quarter note feel over the top of the dotted quarter pulse (i.e., 3 over 2) to give the phrases a little “jump” in their motion.

The ninelets are only a wee bit faster than the 16th note threes in the preceding two sections, but it’s enough that the players will need to loosen up their grips while simultaneously driving their hands through these threes.

There are exactly two grace notes in each of the snare and tenor parts in this section. Even though these two grace notes are technically unnecessary, I just couldn’t not include them.

The last “three strikes” bar of this section is a short 2/4 measure that modulates us back to common time.

Letter D is the most physically demanding of the various sections. The overall musical statement is more aggressive and contains flams, drags, rimshots, and 16th note triplet and sextuplet threes. In particular, the speed of the threes will seem a considerable jump from those of the preceding section.

Care should be taken not to play the threes from too great a height. If we can talk in x-y axis terms (x-axis = speed, y-axis = heights), then we need to lessen the value on the y-axis (height) so that we may increase the value on our x-axis (speed).

A greater amount of squeeze will certainly be necessary here, but I will refer back to “Finding A Balance (pg. 36) in order to stress the importance of trying to get the fullest-sounding threes possible despite the physical challenges involved. Reach for the moon!

Letter E is simply a short wrap-up of the previous sections, giving the players a chance to move smoothly from 16th note to sextupletbased threes.

Accent Notation

This exercise is a busy one visually, with many different articulation types. See below for a quick reference:

(^) = loudest accent (ff )

(>) = regular accent

(–) = half accent

Sections A and B should ultimately be played “all up,” or at least relatively up, in order for the players to realize the benefits.

INCLUDED

DIDDLE McNUGGETS

This exercise dates back to SCV lines I taught in the 2000s. It’s a very simple vehicle designed to work the fulcrum muscles while alternating between playing low-height taps and diddles (a.k.a. doubles or drags). It’s almost painfully basic; yet what it lacks in musical creativity it makes up for in utility.

Like most of the material in this book, the reason it was created was to solve a problem. The problem I was having at the time centered around teaching players how to use their arms to better effect in the execution of fast roll passages. I needed an exercise that was simple enough form wise to allow for total focus on the engagement of the target muscles.

Although I’m aware of different trains of thought when it comes to building “roll muscles,” I’ve never understood the inclination to limit the use of arm when it comes to creating the best rolls possible. My belief is this: Use the technique that makes the most sense at the given tempo and dynamic range and allows for the most musically desired sound. Sometimes this means wrists and fingers only; other times it means incorporating some arm. Our ears and common sense should inform our decision.

I will issue one caveat, though: If the players are experiencing acute pain while playing this, it’s important to stop immediately to avoid injury or strain. This is not to be confused with lightto-medium muscle fatigue, which would be expected after one or more repetitions of the exercise. But going too fast and/or too long can be harmful and create problems that weren’t there before! Bearing this in mind, please exercise caution when picking your tempos.

Each section of the exercise represents a different frequency of alternation between taps and diddles. Letter A begins with an 8 and 8 approach (eight taps followed by eight

diddles); letter B goes to 4 and 4; letter C, 2 and 2; letter D, 1 and 1; and, finally, letter E with a paradiddle-shaped pattern applied to the taps and diddles.

Variations

Single Hand

This is the most basic approach where one hand plays through the entire exercise. On repeat, the opposite hand would lead.

Double-stop

Both hands play through the entire exercise in unison, creating exactly double the demand!

Alternating A or B

This can be a fun way for the drumline to put their diddle skills to the test. Split them into A and B groups, either section to section or between players of each section. A group plays the first line; B group plays the second. The resulting sound will add up to that of the final variation.

Rolls

This variation will place the same amount of demand on the hands as the double-stop variation but in a more realistic context with real roll passages being created.

Buzz Strokes

You can also completely change the workout by replacing any diddles in any variation with buzz strokes.

INCLUDED AUDIO:

All — Single hand w/ repeat (120 bpm)

Sn: Alt A, Tn: Alt B, Bs: Rolls (120 bpm)

All — Rolls (120 bpm)

BITTY ROLLS

“Bitty Rolls” focuses on short, bite-sized roll chunks (specifically five- and seven-stroke rolls). These little bitty rolls are a good way to work on diddle strength due to their short lengths and easy-to-feel end points.

The musical format of the exercise provides a friendly cadence of alternating right- and left-hand lead rolls. In addition to these quick alternations, each section contains an overall right- and left-hand lead part.

Letter A presents the basic theme using five-stroke rolls in an aggressive, duple feel context. Even at relatively slow tempos, these rolls are quick and need to be played with power and precision.

Letter B is a variation on the same theme, this time with the more open, seven-stroke rolls. I believe it is instructive to encourage the players to think of these rolls as sextuplet rhythms rather than simply as “rolls.” This ought to entice them to play more fully and with more emphasis on the rhythmic content than they might otherwise.

Finally, letter C is a short wrap-up that brings both roll types together in rapid-fire succession.

All sections are written to be played as two-height passages, but you can certainly experiment with an all up or all down approach while learning or for any number of reasons. For instance, at slower tempos it is a nice way to really warm the hands up by playing all notes “up.” Similarly, at the fastest possible tempos, it can be helpful to play everything low and remove the extra physical height requirements of the accented notes.

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DIDDLES & VITTLES

“Diddles & Vittles” is a special confection designed to test the listening skills of your players. The top line (Diddles) is essentially a drag and short roll exercise. There is a second staff line, however, comprised of singlestroke versions (Vittles) of the same material contained in the top line. In the parlance of our times, the smallest of these little single-stroke rhythms is commonly referred to as hertas.

The two different lines are meant to be played simultaneously, split between the players of the drumline. The split can either be section by section or player by player within sections.

The players will be attempting to “play clean” while executing these short, fast rhythms in completely different ways. I recommend that the players start out at a slower tempo and play at medium-low heights.

Levels

There are three levels labeled in the score at letters A, B, and C.

Level 1

This level focuses mainly on drags but has a few seven-stroke rolls near the end. It will be plenty difficult for most inexperienced players (especially those who get to play the vittles!) and will prime the group for the next level.

Level 2

This level is structured like level 1 except there are five-stroke rolls in place of the drags in the first level—a significantly greater challenge. In particular, the last bar of this section contains an eleven-stroke roll!

Level 3

The last level reverts back to the same notes as that of level 1; however, now we introduce the concept of two heights into the mix. In addition, the two lines diverge in their treatment of the accents and taps. The top line accents all notes that are not diddles, while keeping their diddles at tap height. The bottom line only accents the vittles. The resulting listening challenge makes for a fun game of tug of war between the two lines.

INCLUDED AUDIO:

Sn: Diddles, Tn/Bs: Vittles (128 bpm)

FULCRUM FREDDIE

As far as I can remember, “Fulcrum Freddie” dates back to the early 2000s at SCV. The focus of the exercise is on clean transitions between single strokes and doubles in order to maintain an overall smooth roll sound. But more than that, it is designed, frankly, to test the mettle of any rudimental player. There is a reason this is the final exercise in this collection.

In each section of the exercise, players have to execute roll passages of varying lengths comprised of sticking variations in the following order:

1. doubles

2. singles

3. doubles-singles

4. singles-doubles

Letter A begins with short passages of these switch-ups, while letters B and C contain longer and longer strings of them.

I’ve included phrase markings to help remind the players that these slurred passages are meant to sound like one roll. We don’t want to hear the transitions from singles to doubles or vice versa.

A fairly strict two-height approach is advised, although it’s normal (if not helpful) to allow a little bit of breathing room in the heights during the roll passages. But you’ll certainly want to constrain heights in favor of achieving a smooth, unnoticeable transition from singles to doubles and from doubles back to singles.

It ain’t easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is. Good luck!

INCLUDED AUDIO: Full battery (104 bpm)

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