K.Howden
Senior Member
I'm not sure if this just comes with living in a small city in a rural county that some could claim is quite "backwards looking" but I've had some interesting conversations with other drummers locally over the past year and something that has come up regards rudiments other than the single-stroke roll.
Most, if not all of my fills are based off various combinations and hybrids of diddle-rudiments. The reason for this is that I've never been the best at single-stroke rolls (something of course I am working on).
It's usually at sound checks that I break out the pad to warm-up etc and it's that wonderful period of time where you can really chat one-on-one with other musicians and I often get asked what I'm practicing (bear with me I am going somewhere with this!). Something that's come up from these chats is the view that "rudiments" aren't really applicable to "real" drumming, have no use and that they're more self-indulgent than anything, seen as "ooo look at these fancy things I can do"...almost with elitist connotations.
It's been amazing to see how the reaction of said drummers at sound-checks when I explain to them the practical reasons why I use other rudiments to produce what is for all intents and purposes the same as they do with singles as well the other cool possibilites that are just not possible with singles (or at least very easily). For me the reason I use them is that I find they're actually easier than singles! And I do hold the belief that the single-stroke roll is one of the hardest rudiments to master. For most of these guys it's the first time they've actually been shown how and why rudiments are there and they seem to go away with a brand new appreciation for them and a desire to actually use them in their own playing and it's a great thing to see.
What this all boils down to is that in my opinion, the explaination of how to use rudiments in a practical manner is vastly overlooked on the whole! or at least it is over here. Rather than saying "here's the sticking, go practice it" we should be saying "here's the sticking, go practice it but first let me explain WHY you should learn them".
Again this could be a local thing, I don't know, but the vast majority of drummers I've talked to around the country have a really stigmatised view of rudiments and I think it's a real shame because there's so much you can do with them in a practical setting.
Anyway it's been a bit of an essay but thanks if you got this far!
Hope you all have a fantastic new year!
Kev
Most, if not all of my fills are based off various combinations and hybrids of diddle-rudiments. The reason for this is that I've never been the best at single-stroke rolls (something of course I am working on).
It's usually at sound checks that I break out the pad to warm-up etc and it's that wonderful period of time where you can really chat one-on-one with other musicians and I often get asked what I'm practicing (bear with me I am going somewhere with this!). Something that's come up from these chats is the view that "rudiments" aren't really applicable to "real" drumming, have no use and that they're more self-indulgent than anything, seen as "ooo look at these fancy things I can do"...almost with elitist connotations.
It's been amazing to see how the reaction of said drummers at sound-checks when I explain to them the practical reasons why I use other rudiments to produce what is for all intents and purposes the same as they do with singles as well the other cool possibilites that are just not possible with singles (or at least very easily). For me the reason I use them is that I find they're actually easier than singles! And I do hold the belief that the single-stroke roll is one of the hardest rudiments to master. For most of these guys it's the first time they've actually been shown how and why rudiments are there and they seem to go away with a brand new appreciation for them and a desire to actually use them in their own playing and it's a great thing to see.
What this all boils down to is that in my opinion, the explaination of how to use rudiments in a practical manner is vastly overlooked on the whole! or at least it is over here. Rather than saying "here's the sticking, go practice it" we should be saying "here's the sticking, go practice it but first let me explain WHY you should learn them".
Again this could be a local thing, I don't know, but the vast majority of drummers I've talked to around the country have a really stigmatised view of rudiments and I think it's a real shame because there's so much you can do with them in a practical setting.
Anyway it's been a bit of an essay but thanks if you got this far!
Hope you all have a fantastic new year!
Kev