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Rudiments
Around the Drums - Part 3
Not For Marching Only!
In my two previous articles on this subject (See the Related
Links sidebar), I gave you some ideas for applying the Single Stroke Roll,
Double Stroke Roll, Single and Double Paradiddle, Flam and Flam Tap to
the Drum Kit. This week, I'd like to play around with the remainder of
the Rolls that belong to the Standard Rudiments. Remember, these are simply
ideas for you to use as a starting point to develop your own approach
to applying Rudiments around the Drums.
Rolls: Open or
Closed?
There are two ways to play a roll, open or closed. To play an Open Roll,
you execute each distinct tap R R L L. To play a Closed (or Buzz) Roll,
you apply slight finger pressure on the stick to cause it to bounce multiple
times. This creates a "buzz" sound on the Drumhead. A good Closed
or Buzz Roll is developed by overlapping the buzz of one stick into the
buzz of the next. This produces a smooth, continuous buzz sound that should
eventually sound like you're tearing a sheet of sandpaper. While you should
practice your rolls using both methods, the exercises that follow use
Open Roll sticking.
Five-Stroke Roll
This Rudiment is made up of two Double Strokes followed by an accented
Single Stroke and is played with alternating sticking. You should perfect
exercise number 1 and 2 below on a single Drum before you attempt to apply
them to the Kit.
Seven-Stroke Roll
This one is made up of three Double Strokes followed by an accented Single
Stroke. In example 3 at the bottom of this page, you'll notice that the
sticking always begins with the left. To avoid becoming one-sided, practice
starting with the right stick as well. The opposite is true for example
4. Perfect these two examples on a single Drum before you apply them to
the entire Kit.
Nine-Stroke Roll
This one is made up of four Double Strokes followed by an accented Single
Stroke and the sticking alternates like that of the Five-Stroke Roll (See
example 5 below). When you get to the Practice Ideas section, you'll see
that the accent on the Five-Stroke, Seven-Stroke, and Nine-Stroke Rolls
is what produces such a great sound when these Rolls are played around
the Drums.

Practice Ideas
Once you are comfortable playing each of the five examples above as written,
apply them to the entire Drum Kit as follows:
- Play all accents on Tom-toms and unaccented notes on the Snare, while
playing the Kick Drum on beats 1 2 3 4 and the Hi-Hat on 2 and 4 (with
your foot).
- Play all accents on your cymbals along with the Kick Drum, while
playing the Hi-Hat on beats 1 2 3 4 (with your foot).
- Same as #1 above, except play all unaccented sticking between two
Tom-toms (one for each hand) and accents on the Snare.
- Make up your own.
Ten-Stroke Roll
This Rudiment, the only even-numbered Roll in the Standard 26, consists
of four Double Strokes followed by two Single Strokes. Officially, only
the second Single Stroke is accented but it also sounds good to accent
both of the Single Strokes. Although the sticking always begins with the
left, to avoid becoming one-sided, practice starting with the right stick
as well. Check out examples 1 and 2 below.
Eleven-Stroke Roll
This one is made up of five Double Strokes followed by an accented Single
Stroke. Even though the sticking begins with the left, practice starting
with the right stick as well. See examples 3 and 4 below.
Thirteen-Stroke
Roll
This one consists of six Double Strokes followed by an accented Single
Stroke and the sticking alternates like that of the Five-Stroke and Nine-Stroke
Roll. Practice example 5 below.
Fifteen-Stroke
Roll
The last Roll I want to cover this week consists of seven Double Strokes
followed by an accented Single Stroke. See example 6. The sticking alternates
like the Five-Stroke, Nine-Stroke, and Thirteen-Stroke Roll. Like all
the Rolls in this lesson, the accent adds a complicated sound to what
are basic Rudimental patterns, as you'll see when you apply them to the
Drum Kit using Practice Ideas.

Practice Ideas
Once you are comfortable playing each of the five examples above as written,
apply them to the entire Drum Kit as follows:
- Play all accents on Tom-toms and unaccented notes on the Snare while
playing the Kick Drum on the beats 1 2 3 4 and the Hi-Hat on the beats
of 2 and 4 (with your foot).
- Play all accents on a cymbal along with the Kick Drum, while playing
the Hi-Hat on beats 1 2 3 4 (with your foot).
- Same as #1 above, except play all unaccented sticking between two
Tom-toms (one for each hand) and accents on the Snare.
- Make up your own.
That's it for now. We'll cover Ratamacues in part 4 of Rudiments Around
the Drums.
Until then: Stay loose.
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