Discussion»Statements»Rosie's Corner» Ever TRIPLE FLAM PARADIDDLE? I haven't but a Mug friend has. It has to do with playing drums. Any drummers out there?
I did not advance my own attempts to play the drums that far, but the basic Flam and Paradiddle are two of the six "rudiments", or building-blocks, used by drummers to create rhythms (the continuo pattern) and fills (fancy twiddly bits to show off).
You can if you like stop there, but I will describe them in their gory details.....
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To play the top-kit drums properly, you normally alternate hands per stroke, so 4 single consecutive strokes are:
Left-hand, Right-hand, Left, Right..... (abbreviated to L,R,L,R .....). DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM
Mastering that is essential but about the least inspiring musical exercise going!
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A Flam is two such strokes but with the first played more gently than the main beat and as close in front of it as possible, producing a sort of trip. A set of flams might themselves alternate, and I often did that as an exercise:
- left-RIGHT; right-LEFT. di-DUM, di-DUM
It is the equivalent of the 'grace note' on melodic instruments.
It has a bigger brother, the Drag; two grace-notes before the beat-note: didiDUM, didiDUM.
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A Paradiddle is a much fancier beast.
It contains 8 strokes and if occupying a complete 4/4 time bar each stroke marks half a beat, a "quaver". (The drumming "note" is of position only, not position and duration.)
Like this, but since this is on a simple text-editor I am not sure if it will display as intended by the time it's found its way to you through several thousand miles of fine glass thread:
' The Triple Flam Paradiddle is a Paradiddle embracing three Flams, if I recall correctly.
It is the sort of thing the likes of Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich would show off, but to any listener other than a very skilled drummer with a keen ear for the patterns, it probably just sounds like a rather ragged Roll. I did not learnt to play it, and won't try to construct it as above!
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These "Rudiments" were developed by jazz and swing-band drummers, who love ornamenting their playing with all sorts of off-beat thumps and bangs and clangs. Sometimes I wonder if they are listening to the rest of the ensemble they are supporting!
Strict-tempo, ball-room band drummers were more restrained, as dancers need a simple rythmm, not flashy sticksmanship. I had a primer written by one such, and though it taught the rudiments it was very prescriptive, even saying the "Charleston Pedal" ("High-Hat") must be used very sparingly. So that's us told.
Drum-&-Bass, and similar modern pop, takes this to extremes: 4 monotonous bass-drum beats to the bar, no syncopation and virtually no rhythm.
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The Roll, by the way, played properly, consists of same-hand pairs of strokes ending with a single one:
- RRLLRRL is a 7-stroke Roll. That ending frees the other hand (the right in that example) to play typically a cymbal simultaneously, to enhance the effect. You would not try to count all those strokes, just play to the rhythm.
Oh my goodness Durdle! You just opened a brand new dimension for me. I remember Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich of course and the unbelievable things they did. Of course being a huge fan of words the triple flam paradiddle got my attention and tickles the heck outta me. To an outsider like me it sounds like delightful gibberish. Like boop boop dittum dattum waddum chu. But it isn't gibberish at all. It is an actual something that drummers incorporate into their music. WHO KNEW? I wonder if that's true of everything? A lot more goes into it than is observable to outsiders. Like golf. You hit a ball and try to get it into a hole. What's so hard about that right? Hahahahahahaha. Okay. Thank you once again for taking the time to educate inform enlighten. It seems to me that being a drummer takes excellent coordination and control. Happy Wednesday to thee and thine! :) In a word...WOW! :)
Durdle 