The Exchange

Transferring rudiments from the hands to the feet is basically nothing really new. A real challenge however can be to work on rudimental passages that also contain double strokes. In the following clip I am trying to transfer a passage from a Basle Drumming tune called "Dr Winschdi" from hands to feet.

Collapsed Rudiments - Snare Drum Rudiments through Chapin's Eyes An educational poster by Dom Famularo and Claus Hessler

Here is the sheet music for the piece. It has some specialties regarding notation that you might not be used to; however I think you can adapt to it pretty fast. The right hand is written above the line, the left hand below. Instead of regular flam notation there is a little line attached to the notehead (‘). A note with the right hand (above the line) having this attachment on the notehead will therefore be a flam “left/right” and vice versa. Got it?

I've always been a little uneasy about the concept that there should be an official list of "40 Essential Rudiments". Is it just out of date? Or is it completely inaccurate to declare that ANY list of patterns/rudimental vocabulary is essential? That leads me to ask, "What are rudiments anyway?"

Practice playing a given skill (in this case a flam accent) VERY slow at first with perfect heights, interp and tempo and work it up from there. This will allow you to either learn it right the first time or correct any flaws that you may have learned along the way, read more to find out exactly how...