3. Double Beat

Summary

Once basic eighth note timing and accent-to-taps are developed, drumlines typically move into a double beat exercise to work on wrist control and muscle twitch mechanics to develop strong, consistent double strokes with a focus on quality of sound for both the outer and inner beat.

Description

Likely based on the drum introduction to Phil Collin’s “In the Air Tonight”, this memorable and easy to learn exercise helps develop the foundational skills required for open, double stroke rolls. Students will jump right into to a repeating double stroke pattern with eighth notes on beat 4 to help lock the tempo in as they transition between right and left hands.

Purpose

Developing the ability to play consistent diddles with quality is critical component of rudimental drumming, as well as developing double stroke rolls. A goal is to make sure the outer beat (the first of the two beats) sounds the same as the inner beat (the second of the two beats). To accomplish this, the performers should use a legato stroke technique similar to what’s used in 8-8-16.

As mentioned in the technique guide, when playing any legato stroke, your stroke initiates with the wrist. Once the wrist reaches about 90% of its flexible range, the student incorporates arm movement to bring the stick to a straight, vertical position (or other stick height based on the dynamic level being played). The stick should never go past vertical, as this encourages a “whipping” motion which impacts quality of sound.

Important: The downstroke at a slower tempo is one arm motion with two wrist motions. To state that in reverse, each note of the diddle does not have its own arm motion. The two wrist motions at a slower tempo should be “stroked out” with the intent of achieving consistent quality of sound and volume for each note. Players should absolutely utilize the rebound of the stick off of the drumhead to lessen the amount of work required to achieve this; however, they should not solely rely on the rebound — wrist motion will also be required for a quality inner beat.

The exercise is performed on a loop, with a 4 beat tap off between each rep.

Considerations

The tendency for playing diddles will be to “throw them in” and solely rely on the bounce, which results in a heavy outer beat and a light inner beat. Encourage your drummers to stroke out the inner beat while utilizing the rebound of the outer beat to create a dynamically consistent phrase.

Here are things you want to consider while running this exercise:

1. Attack: Start the exercise with a clean attack. Make sure all of the performers are subdividing vocally the last four beats of the tap off to help with a clean attack. if the attack isn’t clean, cut the exercise, and start again.
2. Quality of Sound: Start off teaching this exercise at forte (12″) to leverage the rebound of the stick off the head in conjunction with the wrist motion. As you see achievement in this area, you can run this exercise at softer dynamic levels — this requires more finesse and training with rebound and wrist control to achieve the same volume and quality of sound for both beats.
3. Rhythmic Interpretation: The interpretation of the double beats must be consistent from player-to-player. Make sure the diddles aren’t too closed or too open. Metrically, they should lock in perfectly within a check pattern of 16th notes being played over the exercise. If players are “throwing them in”, the double beats will be closed and rush the tempo. If the players are trying to use two arm motions, they will likely be too open and drag the tempo.
4. Rushing the Eighth Note Transitions: Beat 4 of each measure consists of two eighth notes to help lock in the tempo for the new hand. After playing three beats of notes with minimal rhythmic spacing, the tendency will be to rush through the eighth notes. As they approach this transition, have them internalize the (4 and 1) to help navigate them to the new hand and lock them into the tempo.
5. Release: The final pain point is the release because it’s a transition to a new hand and the end of the piece. Because of this, a drummer may try to make it extra loud by reaching higher or adding velocity, both of which can cause clarity issues on the release. Reinforce that the last beat should never be overplayed.
6. Marking Time: Marking time can be problematic with this exercise, and students new to the marching arts will likely lean towards rushing their foot motion to match the attacks of the double beats. Reinforce having their foot breaking ground while marking time and pumping the feet hard back into the ground. Using a metronome with a strong quarter note beat will be helpful.