Talking to the Public: Interpreting While Drumming
A music demo – formal or informal – is not complete without a bit of actual music. But how do you keep your audience engaged while you’re playing? If you’ve…
The Long March: The Perfect Rev War Cadence?
At American Rev War events, the most common marching cadence is The Long March as seen in Ashworth (1812). This tradition might have started after the beating was included in…
Roll Skeletons and Why You Should Understand Them
Even though rolls seem to be just quick, alternating double strokes, they have underlying rhythm. If you want to develop your rolls and gain more control over your musical knowledge,…
The Rolls in Reveille: Where Do the Long Rolls After The Dutch Come From?
By the American Civil War, we see a fairly fixed sequence of tunes for the American Reveille. To transition from one tune to the next, manuals instruct the drummer to…
The Alarm: A Long Roll or To Arms?
For a long time, Revolutionary War re-enactors have assumed that the Long Roll was used as a signal to ‘sound the Alarm’. This assumption is referenced in multiple drum manuals…
Cease Firing: British & French Influence in the American Army
For scholars of American fife and drum duty music, a hugely important question is: Where did American duty music come from? Understanding how the music changed, how to interpret questionable…
Double Strokes & Rhythm Exercise: Control your Triplets
In this post, I want to focus on some practice tips for two things many drummers don’t often put together: Double Strokes and Triplets These exercises will challenge your sticking…
The Preparative: Re-enactorisms on the Battlefield
There are two major “re-enactorisms” that, in my opinion, damage the usefulness and credibility of Drummers at battle re-enactments: Prime & Load and Make Ready Firstly, the drum beating re-enactors…
Talking to the Public: Mission Statement to Focus your Demo
You might be invested in this hobby to perform with your Fife and Drum corps, to build a community of historic researchers, to hang out with your friends, to have…
High Hand or Grace Note: How Do You Name a Flam?
When you play a flam, both sticks strike the drum at nearly the same time. One stick will always be the high stick and the other the low stick, or…