Rudiment Interpretation

[cmdiddle]

I need some help.

I'm looking into joining a fledgling fife and drum corps playing old style rudiments, including 7- and 15-stroke rolls. Being taught my drumming in D&BC, I never heard of a way to interpret them. Do the 7-stroke rolls get crammed into a "and-a-1" eighth note space, or do they fit into a "e-and-a-1" space?

If they fit into an eighth note space, how does one then interpret 15-stroke rolls?

Thanks for any help, including links to online materials on the subject. Feel free to PM me.

Edited October 13, 2008 by cmdiddle

[hurcwave]

I need some help.

I'm looking into joining a fledgling fife and drum corps playing old style rudiments, including 7- and 15-stroke rolls. Being taught my drumming in D&BC, I never heard of a way to interpret them. Do the 7-stroke rolls get crammed into a "and-a-1" eighth note space, or do they fit into a "e-and-a-1" space?

If they fit into an eighth note space, how does one then interpret 15-stroke rolls?

Thanks for any help, including links to online materials on the subject. Feel free to PM me.

feel it more in a triplet, but not as an actual triplet... and it should be spaced as "and - 1" with the first double stroke starting on the "and "

[K-Swiss]

feel it more in a triplet, but not as an actual triplet... and it should be spaced as "and - 1" with the first double stroke starting on the "and "

This

I would play the downbeat, then play the 7-stroke as a diddled 3 on the upbeat with the 7 on the next downbeat

kinda like this, but reversed, with the roll on the downbeat.

[Slow Adam]

Your first and second bars don't jive.

The first bar would be a 16th based roll with diddles on 1-e-&, release on a.

If you were to condense the the second bar, which has a triplet meter, it would be two eighth notes tied together with the 7 numeral, not a dotted eighth/sixteenth tied.

To answer the OP, it depends on the context how it is interpreted. See below.

[Slow Adam]

Here's the link to Vic Firth's site showing both interpretations.

Vic Firth 7 Stroke Rolls

[DCIHasBeen]

This

I would play the downbeat, then play the 7-stroke as a diddled 3 on the upbeat with the 7 on the next downbeat

kinda like this, but reversed, with the roll on the downbeat.

No ... You almost always start on the "and" and end on the downbeat.

[K-Swiss]

Hence my explanation. And that's not my graphic. I found that one on google. The second bar explains what i was trying to say, just reversed

[cmdiddle]

feel it more in a triplet, but not as an actual triplet... and it should be spaced as "and - 1" with the first double stroke starting on the "and "

Thanks, Vic, and others.

But, if you use the same roll speed for a 7- and a 15-stroke roll, by your reasoning, the 15-stroke roll would then release before the downbeat, would it not?

I've heard elsewhere from some experienced folks in fife and drum corps that the rolls are essentially open to interpretation, with both rolls starting very close to the "and" preceding the beat. The cleanliness of a line of drummers thus depends on getting all to interpret them the same way (way easier said than done).

For your enjoyment:

[RevPit08]

This

I would play the downbeat, then play the 7-stroke as a diddled 3 on the upbeat with the 7 on the next downbeat

kinda like this, but reversed, with the roll on the downbeat.

=O

This is Tommy from westlake! You go to sam houston, right? (A few guys from there are going to crown and you're from Lake Charles.)

[Fastone]

This

I would play the downbeat, then play the 7-stroke as a diddled 3 on the upbeat with the 7 on the next downbeat

kinda like this, but reversed, with the roll on the downbeat.

When played correctly, the 7 stroke roll fits into the same space as a 5 stroke roll so this is acceptable. Though written to be started on the upbeat of 4 to the downbeat of 1 in the old charts, it still fits into 2 eighth notes.