The snare
drum, being an instrument of indefinite pitch, has no scale patterns.
Through the years the drum rudiments evolved principally to develop technique and uniformity of execution. A rudiment, as defined by Webster,
is "a first principle of any art or science."
Who started drum rudiments? The Swiss claim the invention of drum
rudiments as gathered from a book of instruction for fife and drum by Dr. Fritz Berger
entitled "Das Basler Trommeln". This book (published in
1928 and now out of print) shows a picture of a fife and drum on a building dated 1525.
Also, historians in this field generally credit the Swiss nation as having the
first fife and drum corps using drum rudiments. The first objective of course
was to establish uniformity of the drummers using an equal number of
drummers to fifers in their corps. The drummers had to play in unison. All of this was about 400 years ago. Music
notation as we know it today was not known at that time. Drummers played
by roll sound and memory. For example, the long roll was known as the
da-da-ma-ma and started with the left hand to train the weaker hand right
from the beginning.
Drum notation in Switzerland started around 1620.
The French took notice of this and formed drum corps around 1660, some
with fife and some with clarion (bugle). The notation began to become modified due to
the faster step of the French in comparison with the slow Swiss marching cadence. The next migration of the rudiments was to
Scotland. The English soon followed, adopting rudiments to their
particular styles. In transfer from one country to another there were slight changes and
possibly even omissions.
The rudiments came to America when ......... our Eastern states were British Colonies, about the 16th or 17th century, with
English regiments. During the American Revolution in the 1700's, of course
the American corps, principally fife and drum, followed the English.
Unfortunately there is no record of what music or notation was used. The
first book of instruction in America for fife and drum, listing drum rudiments,
was by Charles Stewart Ashworth dated January 16, 1812. This book was
intended particularly for the use of the United States Army and Navy listing 26
drum rudiments and very similar to present day.
Other books published:
Bruce & Emmett by George Bruce
and Daniel Emmett - 1862, receiving wide distribution for the next 40 years.
Strube Drum and Fife Instructor -
1869, published for and by the order of the National Guard of the New England
States.
Trumpet and Drum by John Philip Sousa
- 1886, written for the introduction of drum and bugle corps. This book
also became the guide of all service drummers in all branches and had a wide civic
distribution because it contained all of the drum rudiments.
In the first 20 years of the 20th century great changes and much progress in
drumming came about. There appeared dance bands, trap drums, foot pedals,
rag time, improvising and many drum methods to train and help the trap
drummer. Then came the nickelodeon (silent pictures) with trap
drummers. The Washington Marine Band, conducted by John Philip Sousa, the
great composer of military marches, sustained the rudiments more than any other
during this time.
At the close of WWI (1919), the American Legion organized and held drum and
bugle corps contests on a national scale. Between the 3 books listed
above, there was a lack of uniformity of playing the rudiments, causing much
confusion and complaints. This resulted in the forming of the N.A.R.D.
(National Association of Rudimental Drummers).
The Ludwig Drum Co. then
rounded up a group of prominent drum instructors from all parts to talk it over
and come up with a practical system all could live with while not deviating from
any of the then recognized and established methods. That meeting took
place on June 20, 1932. They divided the 26 drum rudiments into two
sections. Each applicant had to play the Essential 13 Standard American
Drum Rudiments as a test for membership into the NARD. It was assumed that
the student who studies the first 13 essential rudiments and realizing their
value would of their own accord continue to study the remaining 13 rudiments.
America can justly boast that we have the best drummers of any country in the
dance field, concert, drum corps and schools.
|
