Understanding Roll Rhythms

On the page ‘Performing the Double Stroke Roll’, I addressed the historic performance of the Double Stroke movement, but it’s also important to know about the different rhythms that create rolls.

What do I mean by that?

Well, the Long Roll isn’t just a mad pounding on the drum. It is mathematically a series of strokes whose rhythm is so quick that the sound seems continuous.

Find out how 16th and 17th Century writers describe the different drum roll rhythms in my discussion of “When Did Drummers Start Rolling?”.

Why does this matter?

As an historic drummer, there are two reasons you really need to understand the underlying rhythms of Double Stroke Rolls.

#1:

The Long Roll and the numbered Double Stroke Rolls have several different kinds of rhythms, depending on the speed and time signature.

In order to master any roll and know how to perform it correctly, you need to understand the underlying rhythm. If not, these problems will crop up:

• When you increase the tempo of a tune, you won’t adjust your roll correctly and will probably get behind the beat.
• When you decrease the tempo of a tune, you won’t adjust your roll correctly and will probably get ahead of the beat.
• You might be able to play a roll fine in one time signature, but not in another (2/4 to 6/8 being most common).

#2:

If you’re interested in interpreting period sources or understanding how someone else interpreted period drum music, you’ll struggle without a good sense of what the structure of a roll can possibly be and/or what it historically tended to look like.

The Skeleton of a Double Stroke Roll

From now on, I will refer to the underlying rhythm of a roll as it’s “skeleton”. Some drummers might refer to this as a “check pattern”.

To learn more, keep reading or watch the video.

We know in modern notation that rolls are formed by playing:

• 32^nd notes in duple form
• 32^nd notes in triplet form
• 64^th notes in duple form
• 64^th notes in triplet form – though this rarely occurs in military drumming

We also know that 17^th century and earlier writers understood this as well.

Now I want to make sure that you understand how this functions as well.

Duple-Based 32nd Note Double Stroke Roll

A particularly opened Long Roll is based on duple 32^nd notes.

Take the phrase ‘1e&a 2e&a 3’ as written here.

Play that with single, alternating strokes. That’s the Skeleton of the roll.

Now, play a double stroke or bounced stroke on each note. You are effectively “doubling” the rhythm to play 32^nd notes.

Listen to this quick audio file of an easy and helpful exercise to work on the rhythm of your open, 32^nd note rolls.

Triplet-Based 32nd Note Double Stroke Roll

You may have noticed that the 32^nd note roll was fairly slow and opened. Most often in Fife and Drum music, we actually play triplet-based 32^nd notes.

When you play at 60bpm, or even 75bpm, it’s much easier to maintain a clean triplet-based roll than it is to maintain a clean duple-based roll. As you get faster, that priority changes.

Take a Sextuplet phrase. Written here are two Sextuplets back-to-back.

Play that with single, alternating strokes. That’s the Skeleton of the tuplet 32^nd note roll.

Now, play a double stroke or bounced stroke on each note. You are effectively “doubling” the rhythm to play 32^nd notes within the sextuplet.

Listen to this quick audio file of an easy and helpful exercise to work on the rhythm of your triplet-based 32^nd note rolls.

Duple-Based 64th Note Double Stroke Roll

It’s pretty rare for fife and drum music to go much faster or tighter than a triplet-based 32^nd note roll, but Philidor does have examples of duple-based 64^th note rolls and many period tutors do indicate the roll movement can get as closed as 64^th notes.

Look back at the ‘1e&a 2e&a 3’ phrase from earlier. In order to perform a 64^th note roll, you need to be able to play this phrase entirely on your right hand and entirely on your left hand.

Now, we double that phrase to 32^nd notes. Play that with single, alternating strokes. That’s the Skeleton of the roll. You are playing as fast as you were when performing a 32^nd note double stroke roll.

Now, play a double stroke or bounced stroke on each note. You are effectively “doubling” the rhythm to play 64^th notes.

Listen to this quick audio file for an exercise to improve your 64^th note double stroke roll.

Wrapping Up Double Stroke Roll Rhythms

Focus on the Duple-Based and Triplet-Based 32^nd Note Double Stroke Rolls. These are the ones you will use most often.

As you work on those exercises, make sure that you understand the Skeleton and that you can play that Skeleton as clean single strokes in time to a metronome before trying to play the rolled version.

I highly recommend grabbing a metronome. Set it to the 1-3 tempos you actually play at. Then, set your metronome to subdivide the Skeleton pattern.

For the Duple-Based 32^nd Note Roll:

• Multiply the Tempo x 4. (Play at 60bpm = Metronome at 240bpm)
• Keep your hand exchanges in time with every beat of the metronome.

For the Triplet-Based 32^nd Note Roll:

• Multiple the Tempo x 3 (60bpm = 180bpm)
• Keep your leading hand in time with every beat of the metronome.

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To get a better sense of the history of the Double Stroke Roll, or Long Roll, take a look at my research:

• When Did Drummers Start Rolling?
• Performing the Double Stroke Roll
• The Ruffle

Want some practice guides on how to develop your roll rhythms? Check out:

• Double Stroke Roll Practice Guide
• The Ra Simple, or French 4-Stroke Roll, Practice Guide
• The Three Camps Practice Guide

Is there there a specific roll you want to know more about (or how a roll works in a specific piece)? Please contact me and I’ll try to write something about it.