Return to “18th C. French Drumming”.

In this section, I want to discuss the different French Duty Calls, specifically taking time to explain the time signature, the rhythms indicated, and identifying French rudiments within the music.

All of these elements I think are exceptionally important for truly understanding the music.

Knowing the Rudiments will make the music easier to approach and memorize. It will also make some of the sticking seem less odd.

Most of the existing French Duty Calls have musical notation that is exceptionally easy to read as a modern drummer – unlike most English and early American music. But to really grasp the nuisances of the rudiments and phrasing, you do need to really understand how the time signature impacts the rhythm.

In the mid-1700s, the French army was undergoing massive reforms and changes. Prior to 1754, it appears that different regiments and branches had their own drum beatings for different duty calls (we see some evidence of this in Philidor). During the reforms in 1754, there was an effort to standardize the entire army, including the duty calls.

Thierry Bouzard offers a great breakdown and discussion of the creation Instruction des Tabmours. You can read his French article “L’Instruction pour les tambours de 1754” or English article “The first official scores for Drum Calls in the French army”.

Most of the music we’ll work with comes from Instruction des Tambours, the regulation beatings issued in 1754.

Including:

To fill in a few blanks, we’ll also turn to two other ordonnances to find the following beatings:

La Diane, the French Reveille, can only be found in the 1803 Ordonnance des Tambous et Fifres de La Garde Imperiale, which was found in Kastner’s Manuel Général de Musique Militaire a l’Usage des Armées Françaises (1848).

Kastner’s book is a military history of French and European military music. Included in the back is a wealth of military ordonnances and music from the French, as well as several other European armies. There is some concern, though, about the accuracy of some of the music Kastner’s book.

Additionally, we want to be carefully about assuming that music performed by the Imperial Guard was performed decades earlier under the Ancient Regime. Nevertheless, it is the only music we have for the French reveille.

We also will briefly look to the 1831 Batteries et Sonneries de L’Infanterie Française. 1831 also represents a period of major reform in the French army and new music ordonnances were issued at this time.

A survey of the music shows almost no changes from the 1754 ordonnance, just additional beatings inserted. Some of these beatings are clearly new – as they signal movements new to the 1831 tactics.

Some, like the Double Drag version of “La Diane” and the beating “Le Rappel aux Tambour”, or Drummer’s Call, might be considerably older. The evidence for this claim is really speculation, but these beatings will be included in the discussion because of their usefulness to re-enactors.

More Resources:

If you’re interested in a drum book that contains more information on all French rudiments and music for the duty calls, French marching cadences, and more, check out my book ‘Philidor’s Drum Beatings’.