Before I get started – I want to make it known that I do not claim to be an “expert on the rudiments”. I have written books that include rudiments, I’ve taught the rudiments to many students, and have always been a proponent of rudimental drumming. I’ve taught a top 12 DCI drumline and have judged at the top level for DCI and WGI. And I pitched Vic with the idea of creating a poster of the PAS rudiments, along with a website feature that includes video and audio playalongs (which, to date, we’ve printed and distributed well over 1/2 million to schools and students around the world).

Having said all that, I’ve always been a little uneasy about the concept that there should be an official list of “40 Essential Rudiments”.

When I was young, I was secure in the notion of an official list waaay back in the day when I was taught the N.A.R.D. “original 13″ and “standard 26″.  At the time, it seemed that most rudimental literature (solos) and drum corps drumming centered around that vocabulary. If you practiced your rudiments, then working up a Pratt or Markovich solo was fairly straightforward.

However, as drum corps and rudimental drumming evolved, the rudimental vocabulary began to expand dramatically.  A PAS committee was formed to update the list to include new “essential” rudiments. It was a valiant effort, but the notion of keeping a clear-cut list began (for me at least) to be out of step with reality. The vocabulary pipes have burst and we’re trying to run around with a bucket and a mop.

Couple that progression with my own experience here at VF and I’ve completely lost a grasp on the concept.  One minute, I’m hanging with “old-school” rudimental drummers who insist that the Standard 26 is all that we need.  The next, I’m filming amazing drumset players who have never practiced an essential rudiment in their lives.  I’ve had discussions on the subject with top level drumline instructors who say emphatically that there are really only 3 ‘rudiments’ (the single, double and flam) and accomplished concert artists who think that rudimental technique can (or will) ruin a relaxed approach to the instrument.

Clearly, the rudiments are a Rorschach ink-blot test for drummers and percussionists. Depending on your background and current perception, the “rudiments” can be anything you want them to be.

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THEN WHY DOES IT MATTER?

In my opinion, those who teach (both young percussion instructors and non-percussionist band directors) – and beginning students look to us for guidance. I take my role as both an author and here at Vic Firth seriously. On vf.com, we have about 30,000 unique viewers a day come to the site – and around 35,ooo unique visits each and every month to the rudiment feature page. I think what we tell them matters.

What should we be saying?  That these are the 40 Essential Rudiments – and you should know all of them? From the Single Stroke Roll to the Flammed Mill and Triple Ratamacue – they are ALL important???

Currently, I think each of us approach the rudiments from our own Rorschach test. What genre am I focused on – and are the rudiments necessary?

As a teacher, how can you know where a beginning student’s interests will take him or her? If you ignore the rudiments, are you going to hobble their future chance of success?

So, as a ‘proponent’ of the rudiments, I have to ask, “Is there a baseline of “Essential Rudiments” that EVERY drum/percussion student will benefit from?

If so, should a list of “rudiments” be defined based on the true dictionary term (a “basic principle or element” or “a fundamental skill”)? Or are we solid in our current way of thinking that a list should be representative of the “VOCABULARY”  of current rudimental drumming?

In my opinion, I think we should scrap the perceived notion that “The Rudiments” are a list of patterns because we’ll never come to any agreement on which ’scales’ are important enough to include on the “Essential List”. For the Ancient Drum & Fife drummer, it’s the Standard 26. For the drumset player, it’s probably 6-8. For the drum corps/wgi drummer, it’s 128 (and growing everyday).

I propose that we should instead come up with - and heavily promote – a list of true RUDIMENTS – the basic elements, fundamental skills – that young drummers and teachers should use.  In doing so, I believe that we could get the rudiments to become universally accepted.

What do you think?

Go ahead, I’ve already girded my loins for the discussion.  :0)

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In my next post, I’ll discuss what I feel ARE the ‘essential rudiments’.

I’m filming some instructional video for the basic rudiments – for use in my snare drum book and new drumset book.  The videos will come from both perspectives: the beginning ‘band’ student (who, one would suppose would eventually play in a typical “corps style” drumline) and the beginning drumset player (who may – but most likely WILL NOT be a part of a school band situation).

At the point where I discuss the “upstroke” in an accented Paradiddle, I described both methods:

Moeller Motion:

Starting with the stick close to the drum, the wrist breaks up while the tap is being played. The upward motion leads with the wrist – and the stick follows. The arm moves to the vertical position before the hand/stick “catches up”. (This is for a full stroke. Obviously, for faster tempi, the motion is not as exaggerated.)

“Stick Led Motion”

(Not sure what else to call it, so I’ll just name it unless someone has a better term for it)

Starting with the stick close to the drum, play a soft tap with the wrist in a slight downward motion. The upward motion is led by the tip of the stick. The wrist follows the stick to the vertical position, with only a small amount of forearm movement (at most 45º from horizontal).

Without getting too technical or confusing (because the video is aimed at beginners), I stated, “If you are primarily a drumset player, do this…(Moeller motion)” – and “If you’re eventually going to play in a drumline, do this… (Stick Led Motion)”.

Is that too anal?

I’ve always believed strongly that all the motions should be exaggerated in the beginning. And I always taught the “stick led” motion to my beginners in the school band – because that’s the technique we used in high school (and what I have seen from almost every drum corps, college, wgi, & high school around the country, except for maybe SCV). If an exaggerated Moeller motion were taught from the beginning, I would guess that you’d have to spend some time getting the students to limit their arm motion later.

For the drumset player, it would make no sense to learn the “stick led” upstroke motion.

Of course, there will be two schools of thought on how best to play a marching drum. Moeller is a very efficient motion for playing drums – but almost has no direct application to keyboard (which I’ve always taught as a “piston stroke”). So, for the sake of argument, I think I’m right to draw a line between “drumset players” and “school band students”.

But I’d love to be proven wrong.  :0)

What are your opinions?  Which motion do you use to start your students?

Tour kit

This is a subject that has become somewhat of a new “hot topic”, pun intended. There are many different genres and sub-genres that fall under the “extreme” category. The bottom line is that drummers need to have some proper technique to execute what is necessary. In a world where tempos generally live above 200bpm, you must have swift feet and hands! Let’s get started with the basis, the “extreme” drummer’s drum kit.

The drum kit-

This is home base, our drum kits. My general feeling is that 2 kicks are better than 1. The reason being is that when a note is struck, the kick drum head gives way at impact and if you immediately play another note while that head is still in recoil it can affect the performance, and present problems with triggering. This is obviously only a issue with the higher tempos. I also like the symmetry of the dbl. kick set up. Smaller rack toms have become more popular over the old standard “square” tom sizes such 12×12, 13×13, etc. More commonly we see 8, 10, and 12″ toms being used for rack toms. The smaller sizes cut through all of the low end coming from constant kicks and also fast 16th note fills are much more legible and audible with the higher and tighter tones. Birch shells are great for extreme metal. Their tight punchy sound really goes hand in hand with the extreme notation. That’s not to say that maple or bubinga won’t work. It’s ultimately up to the drummers tastes and opinion. This is just what has worked for me. I recently, after over 10yrs of playing a maple kit, used a birch kit on tour and ended up getting one for myself and am really impressed with how well they work for metal.

The snare drum-

This is a highly personal subject with as many opinions as there are snare drum models. That’s the beauty of our instrument, we can all have our own voices. Many of the world’s most respected and admired drummers can often be identified by their unique snare drum sound. For extreme metal, where there are arguably more notes being played on the snare drum than any other style of music, the more the drum is able to respond without losing any attack, the better. Wood or metal works great and die cast hoops really help with the attack factor. I like to keep it somewhere in the middle as far as depth is concerned. Piccolo drums may get lost in the mix live and really deep drums sound great for slow ballads, not so much blastbeats. Anywhere from 4″ to 6 1/2″ depth is great. You get plenty of body and still get that snap from the bottom head. Obviously the best thing is to try out a few drums and see which one works best for you. Go see some live bands and if you can, ask the drummer what kind of snare he or she was using if you like what you heard. A live setting is the best way to really hear how a snare drum performs. Recordings these days are loaded with tons of eq and samples and achieving that sound in your practice room is nearly impossible without using triggers, which is a subject that we’ll talk about in later installments.

What do you guys think?!-

These are just guidelines and not the gospel. This is what has worked for me through the years as far as setup is concerned. I want to know what you guys are using, what works for you? Maybe I can learn something new too! In any case, it’s still all about enjoying yourself behind a drum kit. For drummers who play extreme metal music, the more you know and the better equipped you are, the more you’ll enjoy your instrument! Next time we’ll talk about cymbal, head, and stick selection. Thanks!

Gus Rios

When playing the bass drum it is as equally important to get the beater back off the drumhead as it is when striking a drum with a stick. However, many drummers leave the beater on the drumhead after it strikes the drum…or what is called burying the beater. This technique can be used to get a more deadened or muffled sound from the bass drum…especially one that is heavily muffled, but if tone and speed are desired, leaving the beater buried into the drumhead is counter-productive.

HEEL UP or HEEL DOWN?

Most drummers play the bass drum using either the heel-down or heel-up technique. Some stay with one or the other of those while some will use both techniques at various times. Usually the heel-down technique is used by drummers playing more jazz oriented music while the heel-up technique is used by those playing heavier styles such as r&b, rock, blues, funk….and whatever is the current pop style of the day.

Another difference in the two techniques is that most heel-down users will play from the ankle with the heel stationary on the drum pedal and the beater motion executed by the ball of the foot pushing down on the pedal and thus forcing the beater to hit the drumhead. Most heel-up players will use the force of the leg almost stomping down on the pedal to facilitate the beater hitting the drumhead. Anyone who has studied any type of science can see that there is a tremendous difference in the amount of mass that needs to be moved with each of these techniques. What’s faster to move? An ankle or a whole leg? And which takes more effort? It is obvious that the heel-down technique will be faster using less energy. It is also obvious that the heel-up technique will give more power….but will tend toward the beater staying in the drumhead after the stroke.

COMBINING HEEL UP & HEEL DOWN TO EXPAND YOUR ARSENAL

The heel-raise technique I’m about to detail is one that can be used for both speed and power when needed. It allows the player to bury the beater if desired or let the beater come off the drumhead with as much power. But I think once a drummer learns to use the technique correctly the buried beater days might be over. Why sacrifice speed when you can have both speed and power?

To begin, put your foot on the bass pedal as normal when using the heel-down method.

Next, lift your heel very quickly as high as you can. This will force the ball of your foot downward on the pedal footboard making the beater  hit the drumhead. Immediately after the beater hits the drum, while keeping the ball of your foot on the pedal, allow the beater to come back to its starting position. The ending position will be with the heel in the air.

Keep in mind that the ball of your foot will always have full contact with the footboard and remain on the pedal. Lifting any part of the foot off the pedal will inhibit control of the beater strokes.

Put the heel back down and do the technique again…always ending with the heel in the ‘up’ position and allowing the beater to rebound off the head. After doing it a few times you will find that you can control where the beater stops with the pressure of the ball of your foot. You will also find that the harder and quicker you move the heel upward, the stronger the stroke will be and the more volume you will attain. It is very important that the beater rebounds off the drumhead and comes back to the starting position with your foot maintaining contact with the pedal at all times.

The next step is to do the same technique but only raising your heel half the distance.

You won’t develop as much power, but that isn’t the point. Just have the beater come off the drum while controlling and stopping it with the pressure of the ball of your foot on the pedal.

When you can make the beater come to a complete stop with your heel in the halfway position, then move your heel upward from the halfway position to the original ‘up’ position as in the 2nd photo. This should cause the beater to strike the drumhead again getting a note with each motion….one note when moving to the halfway point and another note when moving from the halfway point to the full up position.

When practicing  this, be sure and have the beater come to a complete stop at both heel positions. Then gradually shorten the amount of time between the two notes….stopping the beater for shorter and shorter periods. Eventually it will become one smooth motion with the heel moving from the ‘down’ position through the ‘halfway’ mark to the ‘up’ position, getting two notes in a row….one when the heel is at the halfway point and another when it is at the up position. Move the heel faster, and you will get a double-stroke sound with one heel motion. This is very similar to playing double strokes with a stick to get two notes with one motion.

Work for a few days to get this technique down.  In Part II, I’ll describe how to get 3 and even 4 notes with one stroke.  I’ll be interested to hear your comments and questions!

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