Short Troops

Sometimes the Troop is referred to as a “Short Troop,” which appears to be a style of marching.

After Inspection of the Guard

After the guard has been inspected, organized, and exercised, they are ready to be marched off to their different locations.

The drummers beat a “preparative” down the line to ensure that all the different guards are ready to march off.

There is no clear indication of what this “preparative” is:

It could be the Signal Strokes, which would be the simplest assumption.

The name implies The Preparative, used for firings. This seems an impractical use here.

Some weak evidence suggests drummers used the Drummer’s Call.

If you have any thoughts or additional evidence, please contact me or comment below.

The officer of the rightmost detachment gives the orders to March, at which all the drummers beat a “Short Troop,” to march the new guard to their respective positions. The old guard retires in the same manner – playing a Preparative, so that they all step off to a Short Troop at the same time (Bland 161, 207-8; Windham 170-6; System of Camp Discipline 20-21).

The Fife Tunes

While Fife Tutors list numerous Troops – often including a Singlings and Doublings – none appear to list any “Short Troops” (at least not in name).

Buttrey, however, offers 18 tunes that identify themselves as “Short Troops”.

Download a pdf of various Troops found in Fife Tutors and MSs or found in Buttrey’s MS.

An analysis of these tunes shows that

• 15 = 3/8
• 3 = 6/8
• 1 = Cut Time

As 3/8 and 6/8 are largely the same, we can assume that Short Troops are just the Singlings of Troops, or particular kinds of Troops that are in 3/8. The only anomaly is the one Cut Time tune.

Despite the name “Short Troop,” these known Short Troops average 32 measures (aka four lines of 8 measures, or two lines of 16 measures). This makes them equivalent in length to typical 2/4 or 6/8 tunes. The name probably originates from the fact that only a Singlings is played, rather than the full sequence.

Want to learn more about Performing in Triple Time and Tempo?

The Beating

There’s fairly limited information on what constitutes “A Short Troop” for the drum. Ultimately, we have 2, maybe 3, examples.

In A Drummer’s Book of Music, often attributed to Gardner or Lovering and dated c. 1780-1790, there are two useful beatings. The first is clearly labelled “A Troop Short”. The interpretation of this beating shows it to essentially be the Singlings, with some very minor variations.

He has another beating with a difficult to read name – “A Troop Sh Long?”. It may possibly a “Long Troop” (one of which appears in Buttrey), or another Short Troop. Without having a better name or good interpretation of the beating, it doesn’t help us much.

We also have the Duke of York’s Short Troop, which appears in Ashworth and Rumrille, as well as in similar forms in later mid-century manuals. The Duke of York represents a much fancier beating that utilizes Dragadiddle No. 1s and Flamadiddle-diddles to imitate the 3/8 rhythm of the fife part.

Download a pdf of ‘The Duke of York’s Troop‘.

The Rudiments

Although Potter doesn’t include any in his manual, he notes that “a Stroke & a Drag Paradiddle” and “a Flam & a Drag Paradiddle” are used in Short Troops. Bruce & Emmet later notes that Drag Paradiddles are also used in Fancy Troops and Quicksteps.

Based on these drum beatings, we seem able to confirm that “Short Troops” are 3/8, or at least 6/8, beatings. We can also see a correlation to the Singlings of the Troop.

As there are very limited options in the drum beatings, we might consider utilizing simple 6/8s with rhythms or tendencies similar to the Singlings to be viable alternatives.

Additionally, so many of the 3/8 Short Troops in Buttrey offer a wonderful opportunity to write original drum beatings, following the tendencies and patterns from The Duke of York’s.

---

To find out more about designing fancy troops, check out my discussion in “Creating a Fancy Short Troop”.

Or, continue to “Summarizing the Troop” where I finalize my findings and offer thoughts on future research.