Category Archives: Fifes & Drums

Forty-nine snare drum Rudiments (exercises) exist in the six drum manuals written during the 11 years between 1810 and 1820, but some are referred to by different names, e.g. the Ruff was sometimes called the Half Drag, the Drag or the 3 Stroke Roll. Some of The National Association of Rudimental Drummers – N.A.R.D. – and the Percussive Arts Society rudiments are not found in the manuals written between 1810 and 1820.  They are Triple Ratamacue, Drag Paradiddle No. 2, 13 Stroke Roll and the Flamacue.

Bruce and Emmett, “The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide”, (New York, 1862) and Gardiner Strube’s “Drum and Fife Instructor”, (New York, 1869) eventually became standard texts for most “Rudimental” snare drummers: Bruce and Emmett for drummers of the western states* and Strube for north-eastern drummers.  In 1933, N.A.R.D. adopted the 25 rudiments of Strube (1869) and added the single stroke roll to create what they called the “26 Standard Rudiments”.  From this standard 26, the “Thirteen Essential Rudiments” were selected and used to test drummers for membership into the “Thirteen Club”.

In 2002, Ed Olsen, Curator and Archivist for The Company of Fifers and Drummers in Ivoryton, CT asked the author of this document to ascertain whether or not the minutes of N.A.R.D. were extant because he thought they would contribute significantly to the drumming history of North America. I called Bill Ludwig, whose father had been the secretary of N.A.R.D. and asked him if he had the old records. He replied, “Oh, I threw all that junk out years ago”.

Today the Percussive Arts Society has compiled a list of 40 rudiments plus an additional 24 “Contemporary Hybrid Rudiments” making a total of 64 rudiments.  Presently, they seem to have the prize for rudimental abundance.  The cycle of experimentation begun sometime in pre-history continues.  It all seems rather excessive for a craft that utilizes only three or four strokes.

In retaliation to the excesses of modern drummers, John S. (Jack) Pratt began the “International Association of Traditional Drummers”, an organization dedicated to more traditional drumming practices. Also, there are serious discussions taking place among snare drum pedagogues about whether or not to standardize the notation used by Strube, and common to Swiss drummers: a staff line for each hand.  Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and Mao Zedong (1893-1976) were in agreement and thoroughly contemporary when they said the revolution must forever be renewed.

Bruce based his beatings on Charles S. Ashworth: “A New, Useful and Complete System of Drum Beating”, Boston, 1812; stating, “The author (Bruce) has therefore adopted Ashworth’s system, which he has himself taught, adding to it the results of his own knowledge and experience, and rendering it better adapted to the modern styles of Drum Music”. At the top of page 3 in Ashworth, the word “Rudiments” appears for the first time in reference to drum strokes.

Copyright 2005 by Robin Engelman

What’s Happened to the Ruff?
A letter to a friend who asked, “what is the difference between ruffs and drags?

Friday November 3, 2007

Dear_____

In 1933-34 the National Association of Rudimental Drummers (“NARD”) adopted the 25 rudiments in Gardiner A. Strube’s “Drum and Fife Instructor” 1869, and added the Single Stroke Roll to make 26 rudiments, of which 13 were declared “Essential”.

Today the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) espouses 64 snare drum rudiments: “40 PAS International Drum Rudiments” and 24 “Contemporary Hybrid Rudiments”.

This growth in the number of rudiments appears dramatic, but less so when viewed from an historic perspective. Approximately 40 rudiments were in use between 1777 when George L Winters “Kurze Answiesug das Trommel-Spielen” was published in Berlin, Germany and 1869 when the Gardiner Strube method was published.  Some of these rudiments had interchangeable names that make determining the exact number in use during those years problematic. e.g. depending on the author, the Ruff was sometimes named the Half Drag, the Drag or the 3 Stroke Roll.

The number of rudiments used during any historic era is interesting because all snare drum technique is based on only five strokes; some say one, some three, others five or more. From the earliest days of drum notation in the west (Arbeau, Thoinot; “Orchesography, 15th and 16th Century Dances”, 1588, Dover Publications, New York) to James Campbell’s “Rudiments in Rhythm”, (Meredith Music Publications, MD, 2002), all drum beatings have been composed of these basic strokes: down, up, tap, bounce, and the grace note of the flam. (The author’s opinion.)

The legendary John S. (Jack) Pratt calls the various combinations of these five strokes “exercises”, not rudiments.

Now to your question, “What is the difference between Ruffs and Drags?”

To begin untangling the twists in notational semantics that have evolved with these strokes, one should have the old green NARD book and a list of the modern PAS rudiments (e.g., James Campbell).

In The NARD list of 13 essential rudiments, only number 8-The Ruff; No.9-The Single Drag; and No.10-The Double Drag concern us. Compare these notations with the notations in the Campbell book, page 10.

In the Campbell book, No. 31-the Drag, has the same notation as the N.A.R.D. No.8-(the Ruff). No.32-Single Drag Tap, is the same as No.9-(the Single Drag). And, still in Campbell, the notation of No.33-Double Drag Tap, is the same as No.10 in NARD, (the Double Drag).

The word Ruff does not appear in the Percussive Arts Society list of rudiments. Except for Fife and Drum corps drummers and re-enactors, it is gone.”Alas! poor Yorick .  .  .”  But why the PAS compilers did not call No.31-“Single Drag” is beyond me.  In fact, why did they drop the name Ruff?  An historically  appealing aspect of some rudiment names is their onomatopoetic verbalisation. A Ruff played, sounds Ruff, not Drag. But then, neither does a single or double drag sound drag. Perhaps the NARD men should have made their list read, No.8 Ruff, No.9 Ruff tap, No.10 double Ruff Tap.

(In May of 2011, a group of very good drummers began a contentious and sometimes humorous exchange of E-mails after one of them was criticized for using the word Drag rather than Ruff. If the statute of limitations ever runs out, I may be tempted to publish their correspondence.)

History:

Through the years both exercises (rudiments) have undergone changes in name. The earliest reference to a Ruff comes from a manuscript titled “Thomas Fisher Version” dated by the British Museum, ca.1634. Of the six exercises illustrated in that document, four are ruffs: “Full Ruff”; “1/2 Ruff”; “Stroke and ruff”; and “a ruff and a half joined together”. The remaining two are single strokes “L (left) hand” and “R (right) Hand”. All appear in words or letters only. There is no music notation.

The next example is not dated, but is believed to have originated in the mid to late 1600s and is titled “The grounds of beating ye drum”. This one page manuscript was  discovered attached to the inside back of a book owned by one Francis Ducet. Among the descriptions of strokes, the following words appear: a “half ruffe”; a “whole ruffe”; and a “ruffe n half”. Sometimes those words are combined with others to form a ‘rudiment’ of greater duration.

Besides its historical value, the Ducet manuscript is interesting because it employs hieroglyphs to distinguish one exercise from another. For instance, i = “a plain stroak”; CC is a “ruffe and half with a stroak”; H “is a stroke with both sticks together”; /C is a “half ruffe beginning loud and ending loud”; and a gradually diminishing circle-spiral- means “continually rowling”. The “Ducet Manuscript” contains 11 exercises each designated by a glyph.

In “The Revolutionary War Drummer’s Book”; Massachusetts Historical Society, ca.. 1778-1810, one finds 18 exercises. Among them: “the 3-stroke roll”; “a stroke and two strokes”; “a ruff 1, 2, 3, 4 quick from hand-to-hand”.

The Drag first appears as “Draggs” in “Young Drummer’s Assistant”, London, ca. 1785. Later, the “Drag” and “Double Drag” appear in Benjamin Clark’s Drum Book”, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1797.

Between 1810 and 1869, thirteen snare drum manuals were published in North America. (See my article Drum Notation part II and III on this web sight.) Most field drummers agree that the Geo. B. Bruce and Dam D. Emmett “Drummers’ and Fifers’ Guide”: Wm. A. Pond & Co., New York City, 1862, represents the perfect marriage of drum and melody. It is one of the first snare drum books written in “modern notation”, and it contains 30 Lessons: among them are: “The Ruff”; “The Single Drag”; “The Double Drag”; “Half and Full Drags”; “Tap Ruff”; and “Half Drag Taps”.

(A close inspection of the Bruce and Emmett book will add another dimension to understanding the saga of drags and ruffs. Indeed, that book may have been used as a guide by the compilers of the Percussive Arts Society list of rudiments.)

Perusal of the manuscripts listed in this article will show that nomenclature and notation changed significantly through the years as drummers and composers came to grips-no pun intended- with the emanations of vellum headed, gut snared, rope tensioned field side drums. The changes in name and notation continue today, and describing them is aided by highly tensioned plastic/kevlar drum heads that provide reliable clarity, of particular importance to competition judges.

I hope this helps.  If there is more I can do, please call or E-mail. At present I am putting a history of the field drum – its music, military & ceremonial uses – with pictures and music into a computer programme-Keynote. I’m getting close to completion. Next April (2008) I’ll present it to Jim Campbell and his studio and over two days next September I’ll present it  to percussionists in Sweden and members of the Swedish Military Academy in Stockholm. Then twice more for the Sibelius Academy and the Finish Military Band in Helsinki.

My warm regards to you and yours and your students,

Robin

An inquiry dated July 6, 2005 from the 1st Armored Division Band:

In reading (rereading, actually) the 1794 edition of von Steuben’s manual, I came upon the term “poing stroke” – the actual quote is this:

“To go for wood – poing stroke and ten-stroke roll”

What exactly was a “poing stroke”?  I’ve got a couple of drummers (including myself) who are interested in any light you can shed on this one.

Thanks for your assistance

Dear ______

To answer your question, “What exactly was a “poing stroke”?,  is to open the proverbial Pandora’s Box, and  I had to considered the following: what is the etymology of the word Poing, when did  “Poing Stroke” first appear in drum manuals, and how was it played?

The word Poing does not appear in the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language, and I have not come across it in any text relating to drumming other than those mentioned below. Poing is probably onomatopoetic, as are paradiddle, ratamacue and, flam-a-poo, words invented by drummers as aids for memorization.

However, In the French language, Poing means ‘fist’, and thus, suggests an origin. Poing is also a very old community in Germany, whose name may be of Celtic origin, a computer game and a Norwegian contemporary music trio whose members chose the name because they liked its sound.

The Poing Stroke, usually capitalized, appears in each of the seven drum manuals published in the United States prior to 1865.  They are, in chronological order:

I. Hazeltine, David: Instructor in Martial Music, Exeter, New Hampshire, 1810.

II. Ashworth, Charles Stewart: A New, Useful and Complete System of Drum Beating, G. Graupner, Boston, 1812,

III. Levi Lovering: The Drummer’s Assistant or The Art of Drumming Made Easy, J. G. Klemm, Philadelphia, 1818.

IV. Alvan Robinson, Jr.: Massachusetts Collection of Martial Musick, second edition, 1820.

V. George D. Kleinhanse: The Manual for Instruction for Drummers on an Improved Plan, containing The Rudiments of Drum-Beating, Washington, D.C., 1853.

VI. Elias Howe: United States Regulation Drum and Fife Instructor, Boston, 1862.

VII. William Nevin: Army Regulations for Drum, Fife and Bugle, Root and Cady, Chicago, 1864.

Four of these seven manuals describe the technique for playing a single Poing Stroke:

I. Hazeltine (1810), page 5: “Poing Stroke, is beat by giving a light flam and strike each stick nigh to the hoop of the drum, lightly touching the hoop at the same time”.

Note: The Hazeltine lesson’s are printed in words only. They contain no music notation.

II. Lovering (1818), page 9: “The Poing Stroke Is beat in the following manner. Strike the head about three inches from the lower side with a smart sliding stroke; throw up the hand as directed in the First Lesson”.  (first lesson, page 5. “throw the arm out briskly to the side of the body, and as high as the head”.)

Note: I interpret “Lower side” to be that part of the drum head furthest from the drummer, but under the right hand stick when the drum is slung for a right handed player as it would be by military regulation. I also interpret ‘smart’ to mean snappy/hard.

III. Robinson (1820), page 8: “Poing Stroke is performed by giving a flam and striking each stick upon the head of the drum, lightly touching the hoop at the same time”.

IV, Elias Howe (1862), page 5. “Poing Stroke, is performed by giving a flam and striking both sticks upon the head of the drum, lightly touching the hoop at the same time.”

Two of the manuals clearly indicate three types of Poing Strokes:

I. Ashworth, (1812), page 4: “Poing Stroke, Hard”; “Hard but not as hard as Poing”, and “Faint Stroke”.¹

Note: Ashworth’s notation makes no differentiation between  “hard but not as hard as Poing” and “faint Stroke”.

II. Nevin (1864), Prior to page 6 quoted below, and under the title “On The Position, And Striking The Drum”, Nevin writes, “No. 8, the Poing Stroke, means a sudden, hard, shor beat. No. 9, moderately hard. No. 10, Soft, long, drawing stroke”.

Page 6, “Poing Strokes: No. 8 Hard. No. 9. Middling hard. No. 10 Faint or Soft.”

Note: Nevin further clarifies the loudness levels of these three Poing Strokes, by including a second stave above the first, with the music abbreviations FF. mf and P under each stroke.

One manual indicates two types of Poing Strokes:

I. Klinehanse, (1853), page 2.”Poing St. Hard, and “Not so hard as Poing”.

Four other texts are worthy of scrutiny. Three pre-date the seven manuals above and contain  drum strokes appearing to be variants of Poing.

Two texts mention a Pong Stroke. Their notation, a bold slanted line through the stem of a quarter note, is similar to the Hard Poing Stroke in Ashworth, Klinehanse and Nevin. In these manuals the Pong Strokes appear in many of the same camp duty signals, as the Poing, and in similar places, usually the beginning or ending of phrases:

1A. The oldest of these ‘Pong Texts’ may be The Young Drummers Assistant, Longman and Broderip, London, ca.1785. Page 2, “Explanation of Marks”, contains two columns of strokes notated on five line staves. The left column, reads from top to bottom: “Faint Stroke”;  “Hard Stroke” & “Pong Stroke”. The order suggest the Pong Stroke was the loudest & hardest.

2A. The ‘Pong’ stroke also appears on page 22 of A Revolutionary War Drummer’s Book, property of the Massachusetts Historical Society and dated by them, 1778.² The book was written with a quill pen by an anonymous Continental Army drummer. It contains drum exercises and beatings for tunes that appear in name only.  On page 22 appears: “8 A stroke and a pong; 9 A pong and a stroke”. Under The Water Call on page 36, there are two very faint marks that look like half notes. Their placement corresponds to the Poing, Poing, Flam sequence on page 9 of Ashworth’s Water Call.

Pong is in the Oxford English Dictionary, and may be a predecessor of, or another name for, the Poing stroke. “Pong, (1823, OED, 1981, [Echoic], “The sound of a ringing blow; a bang; taken as the name of such a blow, or of an explosion.”

The authors of The Young Drummers Assistant and A Revolutionary War Drummer’s Book, do not explain how the Pong Stroke was played. However, the French definition for Poing and the English definition for Pong, provoke my imagination.

3A. The third text offers a puzzle in that it contains a stroke name that, to my knowledge, does not appear in any other manual.  J. L. Rumrille and H. Holton, The Drummer’s Instructor: or Martial Musician, Packard & Van Benthuyser, Albany, 1817, page 4, lists Heavy and Light “Paying” Strokes. My guess is that Paying, like Poing and Pong, were heavy strokes. Neither ‘Poing’ nor ‘Pong’ appear in the text.

4A, The Douce manuscript (ca.1650) contains one page of pictographs with English definitions. One of these reads, “Is a bang by ye hoop” and may be a predecessor of Levi Lovering’s Poing Stroke (no. II above).

5A. An even older example of what may have become the Pong or Poing Strokes appears in the Warrant issued by Charles I  (ca.1632) in England ca. 1632. This is the “Poung stroke”. It appears only eight times as the last note in each of the Warrant’s eight lines of music, and without explanation.

Summation:

“What exactly was a “poing stroke(s)? You choose.

Three authors indicate the Poing Stroke is to be played “Lightly” with two sticks; two authors list three types of Poing Strokes in some variant of, “Hard, Not so Hard and Soft”-one of these includes “a soft, long, drawing stroke”; a sixth calls for a single “Smart Sliding” stroke, a seventh calls for a single “Hard” stroke.

In the manuals of the 18th & 19th century, the Poing or Pong Stroke was a fundamental stroke of drumming and may have been or become comparable to the modern “Down stroke”-the pulse and loudest stroke. Also, three dynamic levels are indicated by Poing: Hard. moderately hard and  faint, which may have been comparable to the modern  Down, Up and Tap.

In perusing old drum manuals it becomes obvious that many were not intended to be Tutors-Self instructors, and many technical issues were thought to require no explanation.  Therefore, some ambiguity exists.

Bruce and Emmett’s “Drummers’ & Fifers’ Guide” (1862) and Gardner Strube’s “Drum and Fife Instructor” (1869), perhaps the two most influential drum books in 19th century North America, do not mention the Point Stroke, and to my knowledge, no drum manual after 1864 (Nevin) contains The Poing Stroke.

I wrote a tune for fifes and drums called “Speak Softly” in which I used ‘Poing Strokes” according to the  Hazeltine, Robinson and Howe method.³ I like the sound, particularly on a drum with wooden hoops. If properly executed, the stroke does indeed ‘Poing’. The hoops on many rope tensioned drums, modern or antique, rise well above the heads, thus making rim shots easy, if sometimes unwanted.

If I can be of further assistance, please contact me.

Robin

Notrs:

1. George Kusel wrote in his “The Marching Drummer’s Companion” (p. XVIII, private publication, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, 1970): “It would appear that in Ashworth the ‘Poing Strokes’ are simply played only as strongly as flams, not more or less so. A ‘Hard Stroke’ is less than a flam, and a ‘Faint Stroke’ is lightest of all.” If Kusel is correct about hard flams and poing strokes being of equal strength, the control of three dynamic levels would have been one of the goal of a colonial military drummer.

2. The Massachusetts Historical Society dated the book 1778 because the book contains a drum beat titled ,”The Valley Forg”(sic) and Washington’s army encamped in Valley Forge during the winter of 1778.  However, the music historian Susan Cifaldi, using a powerful microscope, found a watermark on a page of this book. The mark was traced to a printer/paper dealer in Boston who was active between 1800 and 1810.

3. A composition for fifes,two parts, and field drums.

Copyright©2008 & 2010, Robin Engelman-revised August 28, 2009 & March 22, 2010.