Return to “18th C. French Drumming”.

André Danican Philidor was a well-known and accomplished musician and composer during the late-17th and early-18th century. Working in the Court of Louis XIV, he documented hundreds of pieces of music in a collection today known as the Philidor Collection.

For the purposes of drummers studying early-18th century French military, a small portion of this collection – MS 1163 – is of particular interest. This section of the collection was written around 1705 by Philidor, with some assistance from the composer Lully and Philidor’s younger brother. The MS is titled Partition de Plusieurs Marches et batteries de tambour tant françoises quetrangeres avec les Airs de fifere et de hautbois a 3 et 4 parti et plusieurs marches de timbales et de trompettes a Cheval avec Lea Air du Carousel en 1686,  which briefly translates to marches written for the Fife or Hautboi, beatings for the drums, as well as marches for the timpani and trumpet.

For our purposes, the true value of Philidor’s collection is the almost 60 drum beatings included.

Why is Philidor so interesting?

When we study historic English and early-American drum manuals, like Ashworth or Benjamin Clarke, we see an up-down notation that indicates sticking patterns. It seems this style of notation were written down for drummers who had an idea of how the beating sounded and a firm understanding of English rudiments and phrases – indeed, this is the only way we can interpret them today.

Philidor, however, is different.

In Philidor, we see drum notation with correct rhythmic information – including time signatures, barlines, etc. This allows us to quickly and reliably interpret the notation into modern drum music.

The only downside, to Philidor, is his lack of sticking notation. For that reason, the sticking in Philidor’s drum beatings had to be interpreted based on a study of French rudiments and style.

Learn Philidor’s Marches

To get a sense of how to perform the beatings found in Philidor and approach your own interpretations, check out my discussions of the various time signatures and important structural elements of Philidor’s beatings:

More Resources:

If you’re interested in knowing more about how Philidor’s drum beatings were interpreted, check out my book ‘Philidor’s Drum Beatings’ or contact me with your questions.