French Sauté Rudiments

The Sauté – or at least the concept that create them – are probably the oldest rudiments documented and fully discussed in period sources. To first understand them, we’ll have to discuss an earlier music concept utilized heavily in the 18^th century and earlier of Theme and Variation.

Theme and Variation in 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th C. Music:

The French style of drumming was greatly influenced by the early musical concept of Theme and Variation – theme referring to a base, simple rhythm or melody; variation referring to a jazz-like improvisation, in which the musician can complicate and embellish each note.

Theme & Variation in Arbeau

We see this as early as the 1580s, with Arbeau’s discussion of military drum rhythms. He explains that each time signature has a specific rhythm that best creates a marching cadence for large groups of soldiers to march to (20, 36). Here are his three “themes” or basic cadences:

These rhythms are very simple and plain, always ending with a slight rest or moment of silence to mark the end of the phrase so the soldiers know whether they should be on the left or right foot.

Once this basic rhythm was started, Arbeau explains that any of the notes can be altered and made more complex by doubling or quadrupling the rhythm. For example, here is Arbeau’s 3/4 cadence with some examples of variation taken directly from Arbeau:

Notice that by doubling the rhythm, the drummer turns eighth notes into sixteenth notes. By quadrupling the rhythm, the drummer plays 32^nd note rolls.

THEME & VARIATION IN Ménestrier

Ménestrier confirms that this continues to be a French practice a hundred years later (well into Philidor’s years playing), when in his 1681 book he discusses the French march. He explains that:

“the French […] first move on 4 breves [eighth notes] and hold on a long [quarter notes], followed by two pauses [finishing the measure] expressed by the pata pata pan” – “Les François qui font plus lestes se remuent d’abord sur quatre breves, & appuyent sur une longue, sui vie de deux pauses qu’exprime le pata pata pan”

Ménestrier (123)

Ménestrier here describes one of the basic duple rhythms from Arbeau – “1& 2& 3”, his 3/4 in the first example – only adding an extra rest to fill out two measures of 2/4. He then continues to note that, after a few iterations of this basic rhythm, the drummers can “vary the notes of the step” or to embellish as they see fit so that there are pauses, quicker notes, and even rolls (123).

Applied in Philidor

When we look to Philidor, we see a piece called “La Marche Françoise,” or the French March. Throughout, the driving rhythm repeated 16 times is the “pata pata pan” or “1& 2& 3 rest” that Ménestrier describes. There are 3 other rhythms that occur throughout the piece, each one a variation on that basic rhythm and each one described within Arbeau’s variations. Here they are as an example:

This one march, which represents the national character of France, demonstrates the simple principles of Arbeau’s variation and a theme which Ménestrier and Philidor demonstrate remain fixed concepts in the French style.

The Sauté in French Music: 

The modern French rudiment Sauté follows this concept exactly. This is not one rudiment, but a series of rudiments that begin with one basic rhythm and, following certain rules, becomes increasingly more difficult. Depending on how you embellish the phrase, it has different sub-names: Raté, Coulé, and Frisé. Additionally, the first and last sub-types have a few different versions.

Raté Sauté or Ra Sauté:

A Raté Sauté begins with a basic phrase of sixteenth notes: “1e&a 2”. The “e” or second stroke can be embellished to incorporate a roll into the rhythm.  

When the “e” is made into two faster notes (32^nd), this produces a Raté Sauté de 3:

Note: The Raté Sauté de 3 is very nearly a Lesson 25. Except the roll here is more opened, whereas the English performance usually presses the drag into a 64^th note structure making it tighter and with more of a pause before the drag.

When the “e” is made into four even faster notes (64^th), this produces a Raté Sauté de 5:

Raté Sauté in Historic French Music:

These two Raté Sautés appear several times throughout Philidor’s MS. Despite Arbeau’s implication that the roll movement can be placed on any note in the run of 16^th notes, Philidor’s music conforms to the modern French Raté Sautés.

Ra de 3 Sauté

The modern French Ra de 3 Sauté allows the same sticking as the Lesson 25, which Gourdin (~1910) suggests is to allow for a faster performance. He explains that a second sticking is:

“2. With the same hand, and this is certainly the most practical way to arrive at a very quick result [to perform fast?], it consists of a ra of three [right-hand drag] with the left hand, a stroke with the left, and a stroke with the right hand stick.” – “De la meme main, et c’est assurement la manière la plus pratique pour arriver a un résultat très rapide, il se compose d’un ra de trois de la main gauche, un coup de baguette de cette main, et un coup de baguette de la main droite.”

Gourdin (24)

The usually method, and the one seen prior to the turn of the century, has sticking something closer to a paradiddle, so that the rudiment could alternate (Broutin, Méthode de Tambour, 20).

We see the Ra de 3 Sauté rhythm appear in two beatings in Philidor. In one, there are two in a row and so the alternating structure would allow the drummer to overall maintain the right dominant style. In the other, there is one performed before a Ra de 5 Détaillé. This appears to go against general sticking practices as discussed above, and thus perhaps the sticking for the Ra de 3 Sauté was more relaxed, allowing for either variation depending on the situation.

Ra de 5 Sauté

The Ra de 5 Sauté structure appears in one beating in Philidor. Generally, this rudiment would alternate hand-to-hand and would function best in pairs. In Philidor, the rudiment appears singularly, which calls into question whether the sticking should alternate, or whether the rudiment should be performed with a double right movement.

The Ra de 5 Sauté appears in many 19^th century marches in a manner similar to Paradiddles or a pair of Single Ratamacues. See Broutin (p. 39+).

The drummer can make the Ra de 5 Sauté easier by decreasing it to a Ra de 3 Sauté or harder by increasing it to a more challenging Sauté movement.

Coulé Sauté:

Like the Raté, the Coulé Sauté begins with a basic phrase of sixteenth notes: “1e&a 2”. The “e” or second stroke is embellished with a French rudiment Coup de Coulé, which is a variation of the Coup de Charge.

When the “e” becomes into a Coup de Coulé:

Coulé Sauté in Historic French Music:

The main advantage of a Coulé Sauté is the syncopated rhythm created in the center of the beat.

The Coulé Sauté seems to appear in the Philidor MS, though this cannot be absolutely confirmed without sticking information. The assumption is built on two things:

1. some of the rhythms in Philidor are slightly unclear and have two possible interpretations, one of which is a Coulé Sauté and
2. the Coulé Sauté is based on the Coup de Coulé, which is based on the rudiment Coup de Charge. The Coup de Charge appears in approximately half of the Philidor drum beatings. It is one of the few French rudiments named and used in French duty calls.

Based on the French concept of variation on a theme and the frequent use of the Coup de Charge, the Coulé Sauté was certainly within the 17^th Century drummer’s range and a logical progression of virtuosic performance.

Note: In some earlier manuals, the Coulé Sauté is referred to as a Raté Sauté, and the modern Raté Sauté de 3 as Ra de 3 Sauté.

Frisé Sauté:

Like the Raté Sauté, the Frisé Sauté begins with a basic phrase of sixteenth notes: “1e&a 2”. The “e” or second stroke is embellished with a Frisé, or quick single stroke movement. There are a number of different of these Frisé that can be produced by using different numbered Frisé.

Here are examples of modern Frisé Sauté:

Frisé Sauté in Historic French Music:

The Frisé Sauté are probably the most complex and difficult.

Because Arbeau’s examples don’t contain any sticking information, it’s impossible to say with certainty whether his 32nd and 64th notes should be double strokes or singles strokes. Possibly he didn’t elaborate because the examples could be performed either way.

It’s possible that we see a Frisé Sauté de 3 in Philidor. The confusing structure that might indicate a Coulé Sauté could alternatively indicate a Frisé Sauté de 3. If you assume Philidor forgot to place a dot, then we assume he meant Coulé Sauté. However, it we assume his notation indicates a triplet (rarely notated in 17^th and early 18^th century music), then we assume he meant a Frisé Sauté.

The Frisé Sauté de 5 doesn’t appear in Philidor. But certainly the drummers of Philidor’s era could have conceived of this rudiment based on the Raté.

Patarata:

A Patarata is performed by inserted a drag onto any of the 16^th notes in the run.

Patarata in Historic French Music:

This Sauté rudiment appears in most 19^th century drum manuals and may be older than some of the other named Sauté rudiments.

Based on Niocel’s description and Carnaud’s depiction, the dragis inserted not on the “e” like other Raté Sautés, but on the “a” (Niocel 7; Carnaud 26).

However, Broutin demonstrates that the drag can move around the beat and be performed on the “e” like the other Sautés (20-22, 51). When the drag moves, the name changes.

The Rapatata places the drag on the “e”; the Paratata places the drag on the “&”; the Patarata places the drag on the “e”. (Note: the ‘ra’ in the name indicates the drag; while ‘pa’ and ‘ta’ indicate sticking.)

The Patarata may be the best interpretation of the confusing rhythm in Phildior mentioned above. Like the Frisé Sauté de 3, the Patarata inserts a triplet into the sixteenth note rhythm. However, it uses the sticking “LLR” to create a drag or Ra Simple-like movement.

Interpreting this rhythm as a Patarata would maintain Philidor’s rhythm, but go against a right-hand dominant style. In two of the beatings, the rhythm appears as a pair. This would not be a problem as the Patarata could alternate. In another two beatings, the rhythm appears singularly. Later, Carnaud suggests that Patarata can alternate or be right-handed (Carnaud, p. 26. Also see variations in Broutin, p. 20, 51.); if this was true in Philidor’s time, the Patarata could provide the best interpretation for Philidor’s rhythm.

The Sauté in Other Music: 

We actually see some of the Sauté forms in Pistofilo. In his discussion of tournament rules, Pistofilo explains how the marching cadence functions. He describes very similar rules as outlined in Arbeau and provides examples of Spanish cadences and Italian cadences. Most interestingly, Pistofilo includes sticking notation. His three Italian examples all contain the same structure as the Raté Sauté de 3, though with alternating strokes in the thirty-second notes. We might call a Frisé de 2 (118-122).

Pistofilo’s first Spanish example demonstrates Arbeau’s increased use of variation. Here, the Frisé Sauté de 2 occur on the second and fourth sixteenth notes, creating an almost continuous sound. Similarly, Pistofilo’s first Italian cadence places a Frisé Sauté de 2 on the second, third, and fourth sixteenth notes. This produces a faster, longer embellishment..

Pistofilo’s alternating sticking does call into question whether Philidor’s MS should be interpreted as the modern French Raté Sauté de 3 or with the single sticking seen in Pistofilo.

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More Info:

Do you have any additional information on the origin or development of this rudiment? Please contact me and share your resources. Or, comment below!

I’m particularly interested in examining how this concept of Theme & Variation occurs in other European styles.