Learn about rudiments and their place in drumming! A brief rudiment history.
Put some sizzle in your sticks!!!tm Mastering rudimental drumming can spice up your drum playing so much people will think you are a show off (but they will love it)! Whether you play a drum set or marching percussion, rudiments are powerful tools for playing well. Now, on to the history lesson...
A rudiment is a foundational drum pattern used as an exercise.
Informally it can mean any percussion exercise, but it is most commonly associated with snare drum or tenor drum patterns. Rudiment skills transfer to almost any type of percussion instrument including the drum set (drum kit).
The dictionary defines a rudiment as a fundamental element, principle, or skill, as of a field of learning; often used in the plural.
Rudiment Lists
There have been several attempts to formalize a recommended list of snare drum rudiments, especially among marching band instructors. Sanford (Gus) Moeller's book, "The Moeller Book," published by The Ludwig Drum Company in 1918, helped to revitalize rudimental drumming.
From this, the National Association of Rudimental Drummers (NARD) was created. Their meeting in 1933 created a consensus for the 13 essential rudiments and 13 additional rudiments. The National Association of Rudimental Drummers (NARD), an organization established to promote rudiment-based drumming, popularized this list of 26 rudiments.
More recently, the Percussive Arts Society has extended this to a group of 40 "International Drum Rudiments."
They are as follows:
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The Single Stroke Roll*
The Single Stroke Four
The Single Stroke Seven
The Multiple Bounce Roll
The Triple Stroke Roll
The Double Stroke Open Roll*
The Five Stroke Roll*
The Six Stroke Roll
The Seven Stroke Roll*
The Nine Stroke Roll*
The Ten Stroke Roll*
The Eleven Stroke Roll*
The Thirteen Stroke Roll*
The Fifteen Stroke Roll*
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The Seventeen Stroke Roll
The Single Paradiddle*
The Double Paradiddle*
The Triple Paradiddle
The Single Paradiddle-Diddle
The Flam*
The Flam Accent*
The Flam Tap*
The Flamacue*
The Flam Paradiddle*
The Single Flammed Mill
The Flam Paradiddle-Diddle*
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The Pataflafla
The Swiss Army Triplet
The Inverted Flam Tap
The Flam Drag
The Drag*
The Single Drag Tap*
The Double Drag Tap*
The Ratatap*
The Single Dragadiddle
The Drag Paradiddle 1*
The Drag Paradiddle 2*
The Single Ratamacue*
The Double Ratamacue*
The Triple Ratamacue*
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* Rudiments indicated with an asterisk above are those also found in the NARD list.
Hybrid Rudiments List
There are many Hybrid Rudiments also. It is fascinating to see the evolution of rhythms in percussion. We used to make up patterns to play and amuse ourselves in the late 1970's and early 1980's.
Eventually, people started naming these patterns. Those committed to standardize and formating rudiments attempted to promote technique and uniformity of execution. In the last 20 years or so, people have written and published some great rudimental patterns. I have searched extensively to compile a comprehensive list of hybrid rudiments.
They are as follows:
Alternating 3 stroke Herta
4 stroke Herta
5 stroke Herta
4 stroke Herta (paradiddle sticking)
5 stroke Herta (4 stroke sticking)
Alternating single 5
Alternating Single 7
4 stroke Herta w/ upbeat accents
4 stroke herta w/ 2/3 accents
single 5 stoke
Alternating single 5 with upbeat accents
Upbeat rolls
Upbeat single diddles
Paradiddles (several variations)
Double paradiddles (variations)
Paradiddle-diddles (variations)
Paradiddle-diddle-diddles
Tajada
Triple-acue
Upbeat and downbeat Grandmas
Alternating Single hand Tap Drag
Swiss tap drag
Triple stroke tap drag
Non Alternating Paradiddle
Dragadiddle
Tap Dragadiddle
5 stroke paradiddle
Paradiddle w/ diddle on 4
Slurred 6 stroke Roll
Slurred 5 stroke roll
6 stroke roll
Tap 5 stroke roll
Triple stoke roll (French)
Shirley Murphey
3-2-1’s
Egg Beaters
Backwards Egg Beaters
Slevens
4 stroke rolls
3+paradiddle
Triple flam tap
Flam tap
Quadruple flam tap
Flim flam tap
Swiss Triplet
Swissy flam tap
Left up Swiss,
4 note swiss
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Flim-swiss
Swiss kick
Odd3/even 3
Flam 3+a
Swiss pug
Flam 3-2-1
Flama-flam tap
Flammed mill (variations)
Inverted Flam Taps
Flam Accents
3 note inverts
Fubars
Triple fubars
Triple Pataflafla
Shockadiddle
Alternating Swiss triplet
Non Alternating flammed mill
3 note flam-a-cue
Dachuta
Chuchuttas
Fli-flo-tap
Dachuchuh
Chuchuta+1
Single hand patta fla-fla
Single hand triple patty
Mill fla-fla
Flam Paradiddle
Par-flam-diddle
Paradid-flam
Flamacue-paradiddle
Fla-fla-diddle
Para-fla-fla
Pata-fla-fla paradiddle
Flam Drags
Flam drag-a-cue
Da-flam-drag
Non Alternating flam drag
Swiss flam drag
Ratamaswiss
Flammed mill drag
Swiss flam drag+flamtap
Swiss flam drag-a-cue
Da-swiss drag
Swiss flam drag w/left up
Cheese flam accents
3 stroke Cheese-a-cue
Da cheese
Flam 5
Flam 5-a-cue
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Da flam 5
Non alternating cheese
Non alternating flam 5
Flam 2/3
Alt. Flam 2/3
Single flam drag
Alternating swiss flam drag
Non alternating cheeseadiddle
Cheese inverts
3 stroke cheese inverts
Cheese fubars
4 stroke cheese fubars
cheese chuchuttas
fli-flo cheese
Da chucheese
Non Alternating Cheese chuchutta
Cheese single hand patty
Cheese 5 single hand patty
4 stroke swiss drag
fla-fla swiss drag
cheese-a-diddle
Flam drag Paradiddle
Flam 5 paradiddle
Flam 5 superdiddle
Cheese-a-flam tap
Cheese-a-cue flamadiddle
Cheese a diddle (variations)
Cheese 5 paradiddle (variations
Flam a single
Cheese a single
Cheese 5 a single
Flamadiddlediddle (variations)
Diddle a flam tap
Book Reports (variations)
Book Marks (variations)
Parcheesediddle
Funky cheese
Funky cheese inverts
Non Alternating funky cheese
Alternating flam thing
Alternating cheese thing
Alternating cheese 5 thing
Alternating flam 6 stroke thing
Alternating flam 7 swiss cheese
Swiss flam 5
3-2 flam 5
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Practical Use
Some rudiments are rather esoteric, such as the Single Flammed Mill and the Ratatap, and are used only in a very small number of drum parts. They can still provide valuable practice to all percussionists, however, as they exercise different degrees of hand-independence and fine stick control.
Others, such as the Flam, Drag, and Paradiddle form the basis of a wide range of rhythms in orchestral, drum-kit, and marching percussion. The Paradiddle in particular is very versatile, forming the basis of many popular music drum fills.
Open, Closed, Open Rudiment Format
When used in auditions for orchestral bands, concert bands, solo and ensemble auditions, and school honor bands, rudiments are almost always performed in an open, closed, open format.
This means one starts extremely slowly, gradually speeding up until the fastest possible individual speed is reached, then slowing again gradually. This is truly artful when done well.
NOTE: We prefer to teach younger students to start at one speed, then stop. Then repeat the process at progressively higher speeds. We do this so younger students will not have as much of a tendency to rush (speed up) when playing their music pieces or follwing dynamics.
Created on 03/25/2006 03:39 PM by admin
Updated on 07/07/2007 05:26 PM by Kay
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