Keeping the simple beat
At one point I was ruled by rudiments. Let me explain. My life was music but rather than depending upon tones I depended upon mathematics. I had to count all the time because I had to take something as simple as a beat and subdivide it so many ways then it became unrecognizable to the average person. We had pages of notes on what to do and how to do it. Unless you’ve tried to complete a flam tap under pressure you have not lived. Unless you have counted the strokes in a roll and I do not mean a spring roll or a bread roll I mean the roll on a snare drum you cannot recognize how many ways there are to get it wrong. Believe me 5 Rook stroke roll and a 13 stroke roll have little in common. I also had the virtue of being the only person in my class in the percussion section. In a situation where you cannot be right or wrong I had to be right all the time because others would hear what I did. And so I went forward in life with more then a cursory attention to subdivisions. I learned how many ways you could subdivide a beat. Even when you were trying to keep the beat you had to be on that. I have never had a teacher who was an expert in percussion so I guess I got off easy. Anytime I had to go before a jury I was quite aware that I knew more than anyone else in the room about what I was trying to do. I learned, early on, that the biggest drumstick is not necessarily the best. Pretty hard to do something with finesse when your tool is a broom handle. Or a tiny pencil. Of course I made rudiments in the background when I should have been doing mathematics. That was how I rolled. Even now I will tap my fingers and say the magic words flam or paradiddle or single stroke roll. There were so many and it was more than just a memory game it had to be the basis of everything you did in a musical situation. Take it from me a snare drum does not make music. After all that I went on to other instruments that had more charm in this social situation but there is nothing that can replace the pleasure of getting the beat right on the headrest of your buddies car. Distracted driving? That was me your honour. If someone ever offers to let you join a marching band jump to it . There is more than the bass drum.
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