Drummer’s Call: The Drum Beating

There are numerous interpretations of the drum beating for Drummer’s Call.

My interpretation of Young Drummer’s Assistant‘s Drummer’s Call includes two atypical assumptions: a rest to match the fife part and dotted flam taps.

I also use the tuplet-based 9-stroke roll, which not all drummers are familiar with.

Here’s my interpretation again for study:

Why Add A Rest?

If we don’t mirror the quarter rest, the drum beating ends a beat early.

There are only two ways to write out the drum beating so that it ends with the fife and doesn’t contain a quarter rest:

1. Add an additional Flam Tap.

This is a common solution. Both The Crown Forces and old Brigade book use Ashworth for Drummer’s Call. In order to make this beating fit the English Drummer’s Call, they insert an additional Flam Tap at the end.

2. Alter the rhythm in one or more of the Flam Taps.

This is a less common solution. The new Brigade book uses YDA but also has difficulty fitting the second half of the beating and choses, rather than add a Flam Tap, to arbitrarily interpret one Flam Tap with a different rhythm.

One could argue that, due to a publishing error, the beating is missing a Flam Tap. Altering the rhythm in one spot, however, feels counter intuitive and has little support from other beatings.

Instead, I chose to add a rest to mirror the fife part, which adds an interesting element of suspense.

Why a Tuplet-Based 9-Stroke Roll?

The vast majority of interpretations do understand the 9-stroke roll, as I do here, as a tuplet-based 9.

Learn more about the different between duple-based rolls and tuplet-based rolls in my article “Understanding Roll Rhythms“.

Since not everyone understands these old manuals as such, I will briefly explain my reasoning (which I’m sure is the same as the Brigade book and Crown Forces):

Potter’s version of Drummer’s Call utilizes an 11-stroke roll, unlike YDA which has a 9-stroke roll.

A comparison to all other drum manuals shows that the 9-stroke roll followed by a flam was common in American 1812 manuals and that some later manuals change to 10s rolling into the flam tap.

Since 11s rolling into a flam tap has the same essential structure as a 10 rolling into a flam tap, Potter’s changed rhythm is still consistent with other manuals. In order to retain a similar sound and feel as the versions with 10s and 11s, the 9-stroke roll must be confined within 1 beat and the flam of the first flam tap must occur on beat 2. Thus, the 9 must be played in tuplet form, beginning on the beat 1. Compare the similarity in structure between this 9 & flam, with a 10 or 11.

Additionally, a tuplet-based structure for 9-stroke rolls was a common one – see Grenadier’s March on the Roll, any Double Drag beatings using 9s, etc.

Why Dotted Flam Taps?

Both the old and new Brigade book, as well as every other interpretation of YDA and Ashworth I’ve ever seen, understand the Flam + Strokes as straight eighth notes.

The assumption here seems to be that, since we have no confirmed rhythm for the YDA drum beating and the period fife part contains straight eighth notes, then it’s logical to assume that the drum beating should also be straight eighth notes.

There are, however, a number of clues that indicate the rhythm should be dotted eighth notes, as I have included in my interpretation:

Firstly, the beating in YDA shows that the flam taps are played as a hard flam and a feint stroke.

Potter’s manual provides a distinction between 2 rudiments: a Flam & a Stroke versus a Flam & a Feint. A Flam and a Stroke is a flam tap written out as eighth notes, while a Faint and a Flam a flam tap with a dotted eighth note structure (9-10).

Secondly, Potter’s manual uses a dotted eighth note structure. The notes (with the exception of the 11 v. 9 & flam mentioned above) being identical, it’s reasonable to assume that the rhythm is the same.

Thirdly, of all drum manuals, only five provide a clear rhythmic value to the flam taps. Four of them use a dotted eighth note structure and the fifth is written in 6/8, which has the same feel as dotted eighths in common time. This suggests that the dotted eighth notes were traditionally associated with Drummer’s Call.

---

Do you have any thoughts on the interpretation of the drum beating for Drummer’s Call? Contact me or comment below.

Want to know more about the fife music, check out “Drummer’s Call: Fife Music“.

If you found learning about this Duty Call interesting, check out my discussions on the major duty calls:

• The Reveille
• The Troop
• The Retreat
• The Tattoo
• The March
• The Three Cheers