Traditional Fife and Drums – An Alternate Version of the „Garryowen“
May 25, 2010 4:00 am in Drumset, Marching by Claus Hessler
I remember that one of my most important mentors, Jim Chapin, used to consider playing on a rope tension drum as some kind of litmus test regarding certain technical skills. In fact Sanford Moeller even gave him a drum that he received from one of the veterans that he observed; unfortunately the drum got stolen since Jim never locked his car …
Anyway; understanding that there is a musical relationship between a drum and flute part is something which is almost forgotten in these days. Many of the pieces had a special function in the military use (like waking up the soldiers, getting them ready for the march etc.) and are part of what we know today as the „Camp Duty“. This collection of tunes was also the most important source when the 26 Rudiments were chosen in the beginning 30‘s.
For my column that I write with the German magazine „drums & percussion“ I elaborated on a number of these traditional tunes and created alternating versions to the original fife part. I also included a good amount of Swiss Rudiments that can be found in traditional Basle Drumming. Some of these patterns are still not included in the 40 PAS Standard Rudiments as we know them today and a fair number of them looks pretty wild on paper. However you will notice that most of them can be played very comfortable.
This little video clip is about one of the more famous fife and drum tunes; the so called „Garryowen“. The history of this ancient Irish piece dates back to the 17th century; throughout the years the melody has spread into many countries and it is still one the most common military marches in the US today. Beside VF marching sticks I use a rope tension drum that has been manufactured by Cooperman; the shell is solid esh while the hoops are solid, bended pieces of maple. The tacking design on the side was originally found in a place called „King‘s Landing“ (for those of you who have probably heard about this little village located on the east coast of Canada.
So, before we get a little deeper into some of the rudimental passages just lean back, listen to the tune and enjoy! Hope you like it; feel free to contact me for any comments questions or whatever comes to your mind!
Claus
www.claushessler.de
Sweet sweet sweet
Glad you like it – feel free to spread the word!
All the best from Germany,
Claus
Hi Mark,
the passage at 0:29 really is one of the more traditional Swiss Rudiments; also the last few bars. I would not consider myself being a traditional Basel Drummer – I just steal some of the patterns and a little bit of the phrasing
Most of the traditional Basel stuff would be much slower and even more special regarding the phrasing and usually there are of course more drummers playing the same part in unison. The way they phrase their patterns is in fact sometimes so special that I would compare it with the difference between “regular” 16th notes and “Brazilian” 16th notes. Just a comparison – I’m not saying that this is it. However it might give you an idea how different it can sound. I’ll post some of the sheet music these days so you can find out more … Enjoy!
Claus
I find the phrasing of the drum and fife tunes really interesting.
Claus, in your arrangement, how much utilizes traditional Swiss Basel rudiments – and how much are hybrids? I’m only a little familiar with Basel drumming, so it’s fascinating to see the metric/accent complexities of drag and roll patterns (at 29 sec and the last few bars). Is that traditional?
And is it typical to have more than one snare drummer playing in a Basel drum & fife group? It seems like it’d be a nightmare to ‘clean’ that with multiple players.. Basic 6/8 patterns, sure – but all the single stroke 4′s and drag rudiments… Yikes!
That’s a great feel, Claus. How can I get a look at the sheet music?
Hey there,
glad you like my playing – thanks.
It is very likely that this tune will be part of a future playalong book project on traditional drum & fife tunes, showing the the original drum parts and my alternative versions for the tunes as well. As a little advertising for it I’ll post the chart here at VF soon.
Thanks again and spread the word!
Claus