How many double drag beatings do you know? How much do you know about double drag beatings?
If you re-enact or portray an 18th or 19th century British and/or American impression, you really ought to have at least one double drag beating in your repertoire.
Read more to find out why.
Minimum Requirement: The Roast Beef
Many Revolutionary War drummers are familiar with Camus’s Military Music of the American Revolution and use him as a beginner source for music and information about military drumming.
Under his section on the Roast Beef, the Dinner Call of the American and British armies, he explains:
“This signal is still used as one of the ‘dinner’ calls in the British army and has two alternate beatings. The second is identical with that of the American drum manuals of the nineteenth century […] The first beating is considerably simpler in execution than the second, so may very possibly date from the Revolution. […] It is suggested that the earlier form of the melody, line A, and the simpler beating, line D, are closest to the actual signal used during the Revolution.”
Camus, Military Music of the American Revolution, p. 104
Notice that he implies the simpler, non-double drag beating is the “actual signal used” because of it is an easier beating. This is despite the existence of the double drag beating in early-19th century manuals and the lack of evidence for the earlier beating in any 19th century resource.
Based on the use of Double Drags throughout the 18th century, Camus’s comment is an irresponsible piece of research.
Instead, those portraying early British and American drummers should strive to perfect at minimum a Double Drag beating for the Roast Beef.
The Roast Beef: A Double Drag Beating
We unfortunately do not have any surviving versions of the Roast Beef, or Dinner Call, from the 18th century. Instead, we have a version from the American 1812-era, found in both Ashworth and Rumrille. We have another version in Potter’s 1815 British manual.
While these two versions of Roast Beef are technically different, they have interesting similarities:
- Structurally, they are far more identical than they at first appear.
- Technically, they are simpler than the Double Drag beatings found in the 18th century drum MS because they use 7-stroke rolls rather than triplet-based 9-stroke rolls.
Line 1 is Ashworth and Rumrille’s version.
Line 2 is Potter’s version.
Notice that there are only 3 minor differences between the two versions:
- Measure 4: Potter introduces a single ratamacue. This is a common variation in double drags.
- Measure 6 into 7 differ. Both, however, are based around a ratamacue phrase.
- Measure 8: Structurally, both are the same. Potter uses a triplet 9-stroke roll to fill the measure, whereas the Americans add a rest and a quick 5-stroke roll.
Based on the structural similarities, we can assume that 18th century British drummers were playing some version of this simple, double drag beating.
The Ubiquitous Double Drag
At minimum, Drummers portraying 18th and 19th century military drummers should be able to play the duty call The Roast Beef with a simple double drag beating.
But, to add that extra element of authenticity, you should also strive to add at least one slightly more challenging double drag into your marching repertoire.
Luckily, there are a number of Drum Manuscripts that survive from the late-18th century and Drum Manuals from the early-19th century we can investigate.
All of these manuals and MS indicate a healthy use of Double Drag beatings. Ben Clarke particularly demonstrates a variety of this style.
There are 16 unique Double Drag beatings, plus 10 that are a mixture of double drags and flam accents.
Most double drag beatings have the same base rhythm shown in Example 1. This phrase almost always opens Line A and is usually used frequently throughout the beating.
For a simpler version, replace the 9-stroke roll with a 7-stroke roll or 5-stroke roll.
A typical variation on Example 1 adds a series of 9-stroke rolls to open the phrase, as seen in Example 2. This phrase is typically used to open Line B and often appears in pairs.
Another variation replaces the second 9-stroke roll with a Double Drag.
Double Drag beatings always end with a ratamacue phrase, with either one single ratamacue followed by two double drags; two single ratamacues followed by one double drag (like Example 3); or three single ratamacues. These phrase end both Line A and Line B and are usually the same version in both lines.
The phrase sometimes has 1, 2, or 3 single ratamacues.
Fife Tunes & Double Drags
Throughout fife tutors and fife manuscripts, we see tunes that are called or described as ‘A Double Drag’.
The frequent use of this descriptor implies a wide and common usage of double drags among 18th century drummers.
The Reveille & Double Drags
In the 1728 Swiss ordonnance, there are three ‘Tagwacht’ or Reveille beatings. All three include double drags as the backbone of the beating.
By the late-18th century and early-19th century, the Prussians, French, Swiss, and Spanish all share the same simple double drag beating as their Reveille.
Note: Although the rhythm isn’t notated with drags, it does have the same rhythm as a double drag. Later Prussian sources indicate double drags here.
Want to know more about the relationship between the Reveille and Double Drags? Check out my discussion on ‘The Dutch’ and the American Reveille Sequence.
Conclusion: Double Drags Vital To A Historic Impression
Ultimately, I believe that all 18th and 19th century military drummers could perform Double Drags.
The common use of Double Drags in military reveilles suggests that this was a fundamental rudiment for all military drummers.
For American musicians, specifically, we see significant use of Double Drags as 6/8 marches. The structure of this style ia actually fairly complex and more difficult than the simple reveilles.
When it comes to the all-important English Duty Call “The Roast Beef”, both the early-19th century American and British drummers performed a basic double drag beating. The similarity between the two suggests a common 18th century ancestor.
I highly encourage every historic drummer to develop their double drags and incorporate more double drags into their repertoire.
Want to learn more about Double Drags? Check out:
Want to learn more about the use of Double Drags in the Reveille? Check out:
Do you have thoughts about the use of the Double Drag in the 18th century? Contact me or comment below.
