Did you know there are 8 unique historic variations on Three Camps? The modern version comes from Strube (1869), but earlier manuals show a Three Camps with different rolls (7s, 9s, 10s, or 11s) paired with the 5s and a constantly changing C Line.
Want to learn some ways to change up this classic beating and develop your technique?
Read on and find out more about the different historic performances.
Different Roll Options
Most modern drummers are familiar with a Line A made up of 5s and 11s and Line B & C made up of 5s and 10s.
Interestingly, the oldest resources we have for the Three Camps also use this combination. Both are late 1700s English drum manuals: The Young Drummer’s Assistant (c. 1780) and “Drum Beatings” MS (c. 1770-1790).
This same combination continues into the 19th Century for British drummers, as seen in Potter’s The Art of Beating the Drum (1815).
Between the War of 1812, when the first American manuals are published, and the American Civil War, when a huge second collection of American manuals come out, numerous American variations of the Three Camps appear.
7-Stroke Rolls in the American Three Camps
Beginning with the earliest American manuals – Ashworth, Rumrille & Holton, and Lovering – we see the Americans shifting from an 11-stroke roll to a 7-stroke roll in Line A.
This continues into the mid-19th century in many American manuals, including Klinehanse (1853), Hart (1862), Nevins (1862), and Ditson (1861).
Try out their alternative Line A for a slight challenge.
In this variation, the 7-stroke roll is a tuplet-based roll. This means that the rhythm between the 7s and the 5s don’t change. However, there is a slight rest. Timing this right is necessary to keep the rhythm clean and even throughout.
9-Stroke Rolls appear in the mid-19th Century
While 7-stroke rolls seem universal in the early American manuals, by the mid-19th century some American manuals are returning to a longer roll.
Bruce & Emmet (1862) and Howe (1862) incorporate a 9-stroke roll into Line A, instead of the 11s or 7s.
Hart (1862) includes a Line B with 9s, rather than the traditional 10s.
Try out this 1860s variation. Below are two interpretations, one with a duple 9-stroke roll and the second with a triplet 9-stroke roll.
Top line shows duple-based 9-stroke roll and bottom line shows a triplet-based 9-stroke roll.
The difficulty of this variation is the rhythm shift between the 5s and the 9s. The 5s are triplet-based rolls, whereas the 9 is a duple-based roll.
The 9s will be tight and closed and then have to immediately open up into the 5-stroke rolls. Make sure to wait the full value of the rest, otherwise you’ll risk opening up the 9.
Different Line Structure
The common beating today has technically a 4-line structure:
Line A: 55 11 55 11 55 55 55 11
Line B: 55 10 55 10 55 55 55 10
Line C: 10 10 10 55 10 10 10 55
Line B reprised
The whole beating ends up being: AA BB C BB
We first find this structure during the American Civil War. It appears in Nevins (1862), Bruce & Emmett (1862), and Strube (1869). Technically, it also appears in Hart (1862), although his first half of Line C uses 8-stroke rolls, instead of 10s.
It seems that the phrasing shifted to better match the fife part. The fife tune plays AA to match the drum AA; then BB to match the drum BB; but then plays ABB to finish the tune. This new drum structure (C BB) better matches the fife than the older structure.
A Longer Line C
Prior to the American Civil War, there was a fairly universal Long Line C.
The “original” structure appears in the 18th century manuals, The Young Drummer’s Assistant and “Drum Beatings” MS. It also appears in Potter (British; 1817) and Ashworth (American; 1812), Rumrille & Holton (American, 1817), and Lovering (American; 1818). Later, the same structure still exists in Klinehanse (American, 1853).
In these earlier versions, they had the same Line A and Line B structure we’re used to today. However, they had a different and longer Line C:
Line C: 10 10 10 55 10 10 10 55 10 55 55 55
You can see that the Line C we’re used to is in there at the beginning of the phrase. But, instead of reprising Line B, the C line continues with the typical six 5s.
This longer Line C is then repeated so the whole beating goes: AA BB CC.
There two methods of interpreting this alternative Line C: the 10-stroke rolls as triplets and as quintuplets.
Here is the interpretation with triplet 10-stroke rolls (this is the more modern interpretation of the beating).
Here is the interpretation with quintuplet 10-stroke rolls. This one is more challenging, as it requires a much tighter 10-stroke roll, patience to wait through the rest, and a quick shift to the triplet 5-stroke rolls. This is more likely the correct historic interpretation.
Howe’s alternative variation
While most manuals around the American Civil War begin using the “modern” structure, a few were still experimenting with alternative structures, depending on how the fife part was performed.
In Howe (American; 1862), the drummers play “AAA CBB” while the fifers play “ABB [A]AB”. In Howe’s, the [A] fife is a corruption on AB that matches Howe’s drum Line C.
Howe’s Line C is nearly the same as the original Line C.
Howe’s version perhaps represents a simpler version of the more modern Line C, with its use of 11s instead of 10s. The second half represents a fun added variety of mixing the 11s, 5s, and 10s.
Hart’s alternative variation
On the whole, Hart’s version is nearly the same as the modern structure we use today. However, he has an interesting addition to the Line C.
Hart’s version uses 8-stroke rolls first, then returns to the typical 10-stroke rolls.
Try his version out for some practice with 8-stroke rolls.
Note: Hart explains that he believes there aren’t even rolls, but rather odd-numbered rolls with an extra stroke on the end. In this way, he actually notates 9-stroke rolls with a stroke and 7-stroke rolls with a stroke.
Trying Out Variations of the Three Camps
If you’re interested in switching up the classic drum solo The Three Camps, a great way to do this is to be inspired by these older variations.
Historically, there was one version that appears in 18th century sources, whose main difference was the longer Line C.
During the American Civil War, in particular, a huge number of variations appear that offer great opportunities to experiment with roll control.
Try out as many as you can to develop this beating, expand your repertoire, and work on your rolls.
Interested in improving your performance of Three Camps? Check out:
Want to know more about the Reveille and how Three Camps was used in the Reveille sequence? Check out:
Curious about the historic performance of The Three Camps, including the tempo it was played? Check out my blog post:
- Should Three Camps Be Performed in Common Time or Quick Time?
Do you have any thoughts or evidence for how the Three Camps should be performed? Contact me or comment below.
John this is wouderful…. I love read the history behind these tunes … Great job
This was a well-researched, informative article. I’ll confess the grace notes at the end of some of the ten stroke rolls confused me for a few moments until I understood what you meant. Is that a historical way to notate the tap at the end of those rolls?
Not particularly. In most early manuals, the rolls are written out one of two ways: literally, with each stroke depicted and with equal weight; or symbolically, with the numeral 5, 7, 10, etc. set in the bar. This works well for the style of notation, though, since really none of these manuals are using actual rhythmic notation. This continues to be typical practice throughout most manuals during the American Civil War. Bruce & Emmet (1862) come close – they tend to write out each stroke for the rolls as grace notes, only the final hard stroke is depicted as a quarter note. In Three Camps, you can see that the 9th stroke in the 10s is slightly larger and bolder than the other grace notes, so it kind of has a “flam” look to it. The only period manual I know of that does use a “flam” to denote the end of an even roll is Strube (1869). You can see this in his Three Camps, which notates the 10s like I did. I personally like the clean look of the flam to show an even roll. It’s also more rhythmically accurate than the 16th notes you sometimes see 10s written with. (As an interesting aside, in French music, even rolls are usually played as a flam on the first stroke of the roll, and so these rolls do commence with a flam. You can see examples of these rolls as far back as Phillidor’s marches, c1705.)