Check Me

Check Me is a roll builder that works especially hard on the standard check breakdown of 7-stroke rolls appearing before and after eighth notes. In my own practice and teaching, honestly, I never run this breakdown. It feels weird to play 8th-note triplets offset by an eighth note, and the more impactful breakdowns of upbeat triplet rolls are the ones that emphasize the second note of the diddle appearing on the upbeat (or downbeat).

In other words, I find it easier to understand upbeat triplet rolls by hearing all of the sextuplets and checking the appropriate ones against the upbeat and downbeat. Additionally, being able to hear all of the sextuplets and check the appropriate ones against the upbeat and downbeat is an invaluable skill for playing all kinds of triplet rolls (even the most normallest triplet rolls in the world). So when my students encounter upbeat/offset triplet rolls, I use it as an opportunity to open their ears and their minds to the reality of rolls as “rhythms with a certain sticking”… rather than leaning on the “check into roll” paradigm when the check is probably the least solid thing in the student’s head.

Having said all that, I do not have the hubris it would take to say that it is worthless to rehearse this check pattern—I simply choose to do something else that is already important otherwise and seems to achieve the same end result. In fact, by giving this check pattern a chance, I came up with this kinda hip sounding warm-up. And everything I’ve said above about hearing sextuplets applies perfectly to the second half of the piece anyway, so now you have the whole package!

Edit 14 November 2021: I’ve added some variations to this piece: first, to relate the roll patterns to the 8th-note breakdown, so now you truly do get the whole package; and second, to include up-beat triplet roll figures that do not switch hands, since those appear at least as frequently in rudimental music as ones that do.

21st Century Sanford Man

21st Century Sanford Man (2021) is a truly fundamental way to work on double beats and to connect double beat fundamentals to the doublestroke roll. Segments of the exercise must be performed with a “maximum rebound” (or “pause at the up”) approach, whereby the performers focus on allowing every stroke to return to the attack height and simply stay there before the next attack. This extreme approach to emphasizing rebound allows performers to work through their issues in maximizing both rebound and velocity (sound production) in both double beat and doublestroke roll contexts.

Chow Down

Chow Down (2021) is an all-around and all-in-one ensemble warm-up targeting the high school level. It consists of five “movements”: 1. Legatos, 2. Bucks, 3. Doubles I, 4. Doubles II, and 5. Triplet Rolls. Each movement could be used as a standalone warm-up, and you can gradually work each movement into the full sequence as the season progresses, so that you have both a warm-up book, and a cohesive ensemble warm-up, however you are able to deploy it. It may be beneficial for the snares to learn the tenor part in some places, as some passages involve the snares playing a fundamental exercise pattern while the tenors play an even more fundamental breakdown of the motion involved in that pattern.

This warm-up was originally conceived for tri-toms instead of quad or quint tenors, so that is the arrangement you will hear in the Virtual DrumLine (VDL) recording. I am providing the score to both arrangements here:

Seven 8&25

Played ad nauseam by the 2011 Athens Drive winter line, Seven 8&25 (2011) is an ensemble warm-up built from a seven-stroke rolls exercise and the ever-famous 8&25. I couldn't help but quote the end of my high school's triplet diddles exercise (by Will Goodyear)... it's hip.

The first half of the piece emphasizes the attacks of roll figures; the first triplet diddle is either on a downbeat or an eighth note upbeat. The second half emphasizes quality and endurance... mostly endurance, but we all love 8&25, right?

Dub/Huk

I inflicted Dub/Huk (2010) on the Athens Drive HS Drumline in order to help work on doublestrokes: specifically, second note quality in doublestroke rolls, and sixteenth-note consistency (timing and quality) for paradiddle figures.

The first half of the piece builds the doublestroke roll and inverted roll from their one-handed breakdowns. I like working on inverted rolls because the second note of the doublestroke is placed on the eighth note partials, rather than sixteenth-note upbeat partials; i.e. deficiencies in timing and quality of those notes will be more obvious to the ear and mind, allowing these deficiencies to be corrected.

The second half works on a syncopated hucka-dig (one-handed breakdown of a paradiddle-diddle) pattern and then fills it in to the corresponding paradiddle figure. Ensemble timing is tricky for this part; accents on the fourth sixteenth note partial will tend to be late, while those on the upbeat eighth notes will tend to be early. This warm-up is a huge bag of mess without dedicated practice with a metronome.

The bass drum part is such that all the written notes could be played as a single unison part.

Double Tap

I wrote Double Tap (2010) on one fine evening when I got stuck on NC State's campus during a snowstorm. They had a showing of Zombieland for students, so after fleshing out this warm-up in the dorms with a couple buddies, it was pretty obvious what I should call it.

It's styled after the very "stock"-sounding double beat warm-ups that generally centre on some sanford-esque pattern, but I wanted to incorporate different hand speeds, as well as an emphasis on the eighth-note pulse within a triplet roll.

While this piece was never used and would prove difficult for a line of typical skill, it is nonetheless worth taking a look at.