Marching S.D.s exercises

Paradiddle Pyramid

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Purpose:

This purpose of this exercise is to increase the quality of your single, double, and triple paradiddles

1) Stick motion: This exercise should have two very distinct heights. Make sure that every tap is exactly 3" (or whatever you define for your tap height) and that every accent is the same exact height. Another thing to watch out for oversqueezing of the stick from the accent to the tap. Make sure the stick motion is legato throughout, even when going from an accent to a tap.

2) Sound Quality: If you have practice the stick motion I described above, the sound quality should pretty much take care of itself. Again, don't squeeze the stick too much from the accent to the tap or you will get a 'poundy' quality of sound.

3) Rhythm and Timing: Getting the rhythm perfect in this exercise is one of the biggest challenges. There are many opportunities to make rhythmic errors, especially during transitions from alternating notes to diddles and back to alternating notes. Oh wait, that's the entire exercise!

For me, the easiest way to check my rhythm is to play the entire exercise as taps. This requires a lot of stick control! Once I'm convinced my 16th notes are solid, I will add in the accents.

4)Variations to this exercise:

a)Play all at one height, especially tap height

b)Move the accent to the 2nd note of every paradiddle grouping (fun stuff).

c)Play exercise as an 'inverted pyramid', i.e. triple - double -single - double - triple.

d)All the above plus off the left!

Paradiddle Race

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Purpose:	This purpose of this exercise is to increase your paradiddle speed. The exercise is called 'Paradiddle Race' because a
	common variation is to race your buddy during the 2nd half of the exercise. Play the 16th notes together, then play the
	32nd notes as fast as you can. Good times. :)

1)Stick motion: This exercise can be practiced a couple of different ways.

a)Play very strict accent-to-tap heights. Playing the exercise with these heights will really increase your ability to control the stick from a high accent to a low diddle. Make sure that all of the taps are exactly at 3"

b)Play a more relaxed, 'full bodied' 32nd note paradiddles. I'm thinking 12" to 9" at moderate tempos and 9" to 6" at the fast tempos. You should be able to max out the tempo a lot more playing these heights.

2)Sound Quality: If you are playing the strict height version, make sure you don't pound the accents when you freeze the stick. Also make sure

the sound quality and volume of the non-lead paradiddle hand matches that of the lead hand. If you are playing the more relaxed version, make sure it isn't TOO relaxed. If you are playing 9" to 6", make sure that you are ACTUALLY playing exactly 9" to 6" so that the taps and accents will all have a consistent volume and quality of sound.

3) Rhythm and Timing: Be sure to check the underlying 16th note and 32nd note rhythms. Check yourself by having your friend play straight 16th notes and 32nd note rolls while you play 16th and 32nd note paradiddles.

4)Variations to this exercise:

a)Play off the left.

b)Move the accent to the 2nd note of every paradiddle.

Paradiddle Speed #1

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Purpose:	This purpose of this exercise is to increase your paradiddle speed. The note 'density' starts low and slowly rises throughout
	the exercise.

1)Stick motion: This exercise should be practiced a couple of different ways.

a)Play very strict accent-to-tap heights. Playing the exercise with these heights will really increase your ability to control the stick from a high accent to a low diddle. Make sure that all of the taps are exactly at 3"

b)Play a more relaxed, 'full bodied' paradiddles. I'm thinking 12" to 9" at moderate tempos and 9" to 6" at the fast tempos. You should be able to max out the tempo a lot more playing these heights.

2)Sound Quality: If you are playing the strict height version, make sure you don't pound the accents when you freeze the stick. Also make sure

the sound quality and volume of the non-lead paradiddle hand matches that of the lead hand. If you are playing the more relaxed version, make sure it isn't TOO relaxed. If you are playing 9" to 6", make sure that you are ACTUALLY playing exactly 9" to 6" so that the taps and accents will all have a consistent volume and quality of sound.

3) Rhythm and Timing: The main tendency in this exercise will be to rush the 16th notes immediately following the 32nd paradiddles. The key here is to hold on with the back of the hand and play the correct rhythm. Another tendency, especially at high tempos, will be to

drag the last one or two measures of the exercise. Push through! A really good test is to play this exercise with a buddy who is just playing rolls while you paradiddle.

4)Variations to this exercise:

a)Play all at one height.

b)Move the accent to the 2nd note of every paradiddle.

c)Play on low-rebound surface to improve muscle strength and endurance

Sanford Double Beat

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Purpose:	This exercise focuses on the basic velocity double and triple stroke. This is one of the most important exercises for rudimental snare
	drumming.

1)Stick motion: a) Do your sticks move exactly the same way for each double stroke and for each triple stroke?

b)The neutral stick position (in between each set of double strokes or triple strokes) should be at the top of the stroke. Never freeze the stick at the bottom of the stroke!

c)The first note of each grouping should be initiated by a wrist turn. The second / third notes of each grouping still use some wrist turn,

but are produced primarily with the fingers (right hand) and thumb and index finger (left hand). The exception to this rule is at faster tempos where there is little or no wrist turn on the second and third notes.

2) Sound Quality: Does every stroke sound the same? How about from left to right hand? Make sure you play every note with the same volume. Some common mistakes:

a)Playing the second note of each double and the second and third notes of each triple quieter than the first note. This is all about chops. If you are having trouble in this area, the best remedy is to bust out the pillow / gel pad and work your muscles!

b)Pounding the eighth notes at the end of each phrase.

c)Pounding the very last note of the exercise.

d)Playing the right hand louder than the left... don't be the guy with the weak left!

3)Rhythm and Timing: How perfect is your rhythm? Some common areas where mistakes occur:

a)Rushing the last two eighth notes of each phrase. The eight notes are much easier to play than double and triple strokes so the common tendency is to rush them.

b)Warping the rhythm / timing of the first two notes. The first note defines the exercise starting point and the second note defines

the tempo. You must internalize the tempo before you start so that these two notes are 'perfect' 16th notes.

b)Closing down the double and triple strokes, especially at fast tempos. In order to 'keep up', a common tendency is to close down the double and triple strokes. Make sure to give every 16th note its full value.

4)Variations to this exercise:

a)Play the entire exercise on one hand.

b)Play exercise at different heights; 1", 3", 6", 9", 12", 15", Full.

c)Play exercise as all double stops, checking that the stick motion from left to right is the same.

d)Play on low-rebound surface to improve muscle strength and endurance.

e)Play exercise with each individual finger on right hand and the thumb on the left hand to improve hand / finger strength.

f)Play entire exercise on one hand while filling in the 16th notes with the opposite hand. This is a great way to check if you are closing down the double and triple strokes. If you are playing correct rhythm you will be able to hear a nice steady stream of 16th notes. If you are closing down the doubles and triples the 16th note rhythm will be noticeably choppy.

SCV Threes

SnareScience.com - SCV early 90s

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					Purpose:																																			This is a jammin exercise that focuses on the triple stroke roll (i.e. 'threes'), with some shirley murphies, egg beaters, and a
																																								single stroke five thrown in just for fun.

1) Stick motion: Stick motion is key in the first four measures. The top of your stroke should look exactly the same whether you are playing the eighth notes or the triple strokes. Use that eight note alternating sticking motion as a skeleton for your triple strokes. The

first four measures should all be played as an accent height (as notated by the capital letters in the sticking). The only taps in this entire exercise are in measures 5 and 7.

2) Sound Quality: The key to acheiving good sound quality in this exercise is to have the ability to play triple strokes with strong 2nd and 3rd notes. If you are not yet to this point, don't spend a whole lot of time on this exercise... yet. For now, you should be busting Sanford double beat (with double stops, on your pillow, for hours) until your triple strokes are stellar.

3) Rhythm and Timing: The rhythms can be tricky to play perfectly in this exercise. I think the following will be the most common mistakes: 1)rushing the eighth note check patterns

2)morphing the 16th note rhythms at the beginning of the 3rd and 4th lines.

3)morphing the rhythm in the shirley murphies (RLLRRR LRRLLL). If you haven't played these before, start out really slow and make sure the rhythm is even sixtuplets.

Supersized Three

'Flam Drags'

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'Cheeses'

'Flam Fives'

Purpose:	This exercise is basically an extension of the stock 'big three' exercise, covering variations of the flam drag, cheese, and flam five.
Notes:	The eighth note is constant in this exercise - don't let the time signatures fool you, we are just grouping the eighth notes into groups of three,
	five, and seven. If you want to practice this with a metronome (and you should), just set the metronome to play the eight note subdivision. Watch
	out for rushing the tempo during the check patterns, especially in the five and seven note groupings.

Tap Drags and Fives

SnareScience.com - PR '06 -Universal

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Purpose:	This exercise focuses on tap drags and tap fives. This is a straight forward, yet very important exercise for developing
	consistent roll quality and correct rhythmic interpretation of diddles.
1) Stick motion:	Stick motion is huge in this exercise. The sticks heights should look exactly the same during the check patterns as they do
	during the diddle measures. If a deaf guy is watching you play, it should be very hard for him to tell that you are changing from
	the check pattern to the diddles. Also, there should be exactly two distinct stick heights in this exercise and nothing in between.

2)Sound Quality: Does every tap have the same exact quality of sound? How about every accent? Some common mistakes:

a)Pounding the last note of the exercise

b)Playing weak 2nd noted diddles. If this is you, bust out the gel pad or pillow and bust them chops!

c)Playing uneven volume taps. This goes back to stick heights - if the heights are solid, the tap volume will be consistent.

d)Playing the right hand louder than the left... don't be the guy with the weak left!

3)Rhythm and Timing: How perfect is diddle interp? How about the underlying eight note 'skeleton' rhythm? Some common errors:

a)First two notes of the exercise: The first note defines the exercise starting point and the second note defines the tempo. You must internalize the tempo before you start so that these two notes are 'perfect'.

b)Rushing the first couple of notes in the check pattern immediately following a roll measure. The check pattern is easier which makes it easy to rush!

b)Slurring diddles! Don't drop the diddle in before it is supposed to be played. Play the exercise very slowly so that you are forced the think about the 16th note rhythm in the diddles.

4)Variations to this exercise:

a)Play all at one height.

b)Play off the left.

c)Play exercise with BUZZ rolls.

d)Play on low-rebound surface to improve muscle strength and endurance

Three Camps

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Double Accent Triplet Grid

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Purpose:

As with most grid exercises, this exercise presents some tricky accent pattern / pulse relationships. The pattern that usually presents

the most difficulty is the accent on the 2nd and 3rd partials of the triplet. The key to this excercise is MARKING TIME! Once you

have this exercise mastered, you should know exactly how your feet (i.e. the pulse) line up with the accents.

1)Stick motion: Do your sticks move exactly the same way for every tap? How about for every accent?

2)Sound Quality: Does every tap stroke sound the same? How about from left to right hand? Make sure you play every tap with the same

exact volume. The same goes for all of the accents. Some common mistakes:

a)Playing the first tap on a hand after an accent at too low of a height. You need to control the rebound of the stick so that it comes up to the correct tap height.

b)Pounding every accent. Don't squeeze the stick into the head. The accented stroke should be identical to an eight on a

hand stroke. After the note has been played, control the rebound to the correct height with RELAXED (not clenched) fingers.

c)Pounding the very last note of the exercise.

d)Playing the right hand accents louder and higher than the left... don't be the guy with the weak left!

3)Rhythm and Timing: How perfect is your eighth note rhythm? Some common areas where mistakes occur:

a)First two notes of the exercise: The first note defines the exercise starting point and the second note defines the tempo. You must internalize the tempo before you start so that these two notes are 'perfect'.

b)Underlying eighth note pulse: Don't let the accents affect the rhythm! Every tap should fit between the double accents with perfect eight note rhythm.

4)Variations to this exercise:

a)Play one hand on drum and one hand on rim to check for stroke and quality of sound consistency on each individual hand.

b)Play dotted eights on one hand to keep the pulse, while playing the accents only with the other hand. --- independence!!!