The Single Stroke Roll With Each Hand On A Different Drum

This lessons follows on from our Single Stroke Roll Sticking lesson. It will be much easier to follow if you are familiar with the content from that lesson.

In this first single stroke roll orchestration concept each hand will just play a different drum. For example, in the first exercise the right hand plays the floor tom and the left hand plays the high tom. This is a great one for giving the rudiment a melodic feel and will be particularly useful when our rudiments start getting more complex.

I could put a note with each exercise explaining where each hand goes. However, I have chosen not to to test your knowledge of parts of the kit. There is a useful list here if you need a quick recap.

Remember, you hands will always be playing a single stroke roll in all exercises of this series. In the later exerrcises the orchestration switches at various points in the bar. I have included feet in all exercises, it may be worth removing them whilst you are learning the orchestration then adding them back in later. Experiment with using different feet patterns from our previous lessons.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

Exercise 7

Tasks

Use the 2 minute rule to aim for the following target tempos. This list covers from an absolute beginner to a hardened veteran player so potentially represents several years worth of practice.

• Level 0: Crotchets and Quavers at 120bpm
• Level 1: Quavers and Semi Quavers at 100bpm
• Level 2: Semi Quavers at 120bpm
• Level 3: Semi Quavers at 140bpm
• Level 4: Semi Quavers at 160bpm & Demi Semi Quavers at 80bpm
• Level 5: Semi Quavers at 180bpm & Demi Semi Quavers at 90bpm
• Level 5+: Semi Quavers at 200+bpm & Demi Semi Quavers at 100+bpm

• Create your own orchestrations using this concept.
• Use as many different feet patterns as you can think of with each exercise.
• Apply the orchestration concept to the rudiment in various other time signatures and note values.