The origin of
snare drum rudiments can be traced back to fourteenth century
Swiss mercenaries armed with long
polearms. The use of
pikes in close formation required a great deal of coordination. The sound of the
tabor was used to set the
tempo and communicate commands with distinct drumming patterns. These drumming patterns became the basis of the snare drum rudiments.
Swiss The earliest instance of rudimental fife and drum is often cited as the Swiss military at the battle of Sempach in 1386. There is evidence, however, that the Swiss were already using drums in battle in 1315 at the
Battle of Morgarten. Initially, Swiss rudiments were very influential to the French system, which in turn was the basis for many other rudimental systems. Switzerland produced two distinct rudimental cultures, the wider
Swiss Ordonnanz Trommel practiced in
Zurich,
Valais, and
Geneva, and the Basel version or
Basler Trommeln. The Basler Trommeln rudiments, in contrast to the Swiss Ordonnanz Trommel, are much more widely known and practiced outside of Switzerland due to
Fritz Berger's publications,
Das Basler Trommeln, Werden und Wesen and
Instructor for Basle Drumming, and travels to the
United States in the 1930s. His student
Alfons Grieder continued to promote Basel style drumming in North America for many years. French professional drummers became part of the king's honor guard in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1754 published
Instruction pour les Tambours, which was one of the earliest military drum manuals to codify a specific national duty in legible drum notation. The craft was improved during the reign of
Napoleon I. The French dance known as
Le Rigodon is one of the cornerstones of modern rudimental drumming.
Kastner's
Manuel Général de Musique Militaire a L’Usage des Armées Françaises from 1848 details the rudimental signals starting as far back as the 17th century and works up through the variations to his contemporary mid-19th century usage, showing that the complexity of French drumming increased significantly over time. At least 5 French military manuals appeared between 1870 and 1900, beginning with Félix Carnaud's
École du Tambour from 1870 and N. Pita's
Methode de Tambour from 1885, followed closely and expanded upon by H. Broutin (1889), Théophile Dureau (1895), and E. Reveillé (1897). In the 20th century, published his
Méthode de Tambour in 1901. Robert Tourte's ''Méthode de Tambour et Caisse Claire d'Orchestre'' was published in 1946 and combined a selection of 34 rudiments and the classic French military calls with studies of common orchestral excerpts such as
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade and
Maurice Ravel's Bolero. The French system is complex and expansive, rivaled in scope only by the Swiss, American, and Scottish systems. Between 30 and 34 rudiments have normally been taught from the mid-20th century onward, from a historical catalog of over 70 rudiment variations.
Spanish Spain used its own rudimental system, documented as far back as 1761, with publication of
Toques de Guerra. Composed mostly of single strokes, the system is extremely simple with only around eight to ten named patterns.
Italian The Italian peninsula was home to fife and drum traditions as far back as the 1400s. During the 19th century, at least 3 distinct styles of drumming were practiced: Austrian style drumming in the northern regions adjacent to the Austrian Empire, a central Italian style in Sardinia, Piedmont, and the Papal States, and a southern style in Naples and Sicily. With the unification of the Kingdom of Italy in the 1870s, the central Italian style was adopted over the Austrian or Sicilian as the official pan-Italian rudimental system.
German German speaking regions of Europe, often referred to historically as Prussian, had developed their own unique rudimental system by the late 18th century, as evidenced by Wittwe's 1777 publication
Kurze Anweisung zum Trommel-Spiel The system was dominated by the right hand and featured only about 14 standard rudiments, such as the druckruf and doppelwirbel. The Prussian drumming style was distinct from the regional rudimental practices of Bavaria, despite Bavaria being a part of modern Germany. It also did not apply in Hannover – which was effectively part of the British Empire for a significant period and thus used British drumming idioms.
Swedish Sweden had drummers on military payrolls as early as 1528. The Swedish rudimental style has some unique features and rhythmic interpretations, however it draws significant influence from both French and Prussian sources. The first written manual dates from 1836 with little variation in style until the 20th century. After the 1960s the drum parts in standard military music became simplified compared to their earlier incarnations.
Dutch The military tradition of the
Netherlands has a distinct rudimental system. Drummers are known to have participated in military functions from possibly as far back as 1570. Military units paid the drummers from their own commanders' budget until 1688 when the military began paying musicians directly. The rudimental term "Tattoo," a term for a meeting of drum corps and a signal from the standard camp duty, derives from the Dutch "Taptoe" Tamboers. Manuals go back at least as far as 1809 with the publication of
Over Het Tromslaan – Met Marschen En Andere Muziekstukken Voor Den Trom which indicates some basic rolls and a few military signals.
Marsen en Signalen voor de Koninklijke Nederlandsche Armee by was published in 1815 and shows about nine basic rudiments. Several manuals are known from the late 1800s and early 1900s, such as
Voorschrift voor den seargent of korporaaltamboer of 1893,
Tamboers- and Hoornblazersschool of 1896, and
Tamboers- and Hoornblazersschool from 1901. The system was simplified and many embellishments removed in the 1930s. The system was again refined following WWII in 1945 and 1946. Now, only the
Dutch Marines continue the official military tradition actively, along with a few civilian groups. There are currently only about 14 Dutch rudiments.
Russian Russian drumming was originally brought in from abroad specifically to emulate the drumming of other nations. Dutch drumming was used verbatim in the 17th century. This gave way to a more distinct Russian style in the 18th century under Peter I. Imperial Russian military units stopped using drummers around 1909 but the USSR reintroduced drumming to the military in the 1920s. Russia actually has no names or specific sticking for rudimental patterns but a selection of rolls and ruffs of various lengths are present in military music. Youth Pioneer groups use simplified military signals, though the rudiments taught in these groups use American terms.
British British rudimental manuals with decipherable rudiments date back as far as 1634 with the publication of Thomas Fisher's
Warlike Directions or the Soldiers Practice which shows at least 4 ruff-based rudiments. A more thorough manual appeared in 1760, Spencer's ''The Drummer's Instructor
. British military drumming had already been exported to the American Colonies by the time of the American Revolution in the 1770s. The anonymously authored Young Drummers Assistant
was published around 1780 and was an influential book on both sides of the Atlantic. The British system was further refined for the 19th century by Samuel Potter in 1817 with his book The Art of Beating the Drum''. In the 18th century, drummers uniforms were reverse color from the rest of their military unit, but after the War of 1812, and coincidentally during Samuel Potter's service, their uniforms were switched to the standard color scheme so as not to stand out in battle. Samuel's son, Henry Potter, a noted instrument maker, would later publish an updated drum manual called ''Authorised Sergeant Drummers' Manual.
In 1887, the War Office published Drum and Flute Duty for the Infantry Branch of the Army'' which is one of only a few pre-20th century publications to feature the 17 stroke roll. In modern times, every
infantry battalion in the British military has a rudimental Corps of Drums except for Irish, Scottish, and Rifle Battalions which feature
Pipe Bands and their associated style of Scottish drumming.
Scottish Scottish drum and fife signals (those differing significantly from the English) date back to at least the 17th century, when the English referred to them as the "Scots Duty." The old Scottish calls used similar rudimental patterns and drumming idioms to the English, but featured slightly different drum arrangements and fife tunes, rather than the distinctively snappy dot-cut triplet shuffle sound that pipe band drumming would use later. The Scotch Reveille that would normally accompany The Mother and the Three Camps was adapted from, or at least inspired by, the Scotch Reveilly [sic] from this pre-pipe band era. Scottish pipe bands, in their modern form, were created by the British Army around 1830. British regiments made up of Scottish clansmen married rudimental drumming with the
Highland bagpipes and
kilts in order to regain their independent culture. The drum rudiments were modified from British and European sources to fit with the piping idioms that had been in place for several hundred years prior. Pipe bands, and their stylistically unique drummers, saw their first widespread use during the
Crimean War. They continued to be an active part of battle until
World War I, after which they assumed a ceremonial role. There are currently around 60–75 Scottish rudiments played in pipe bands around the commonwealth countries and former British colonies, taking influence from Swiss, French, and American Hybrid drumming as well as traditional Scottish rhythms.
American Many attempts at formalizing a standard list of American snare drum rudiments have been made. The first publication to formally organize American drumming was by
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben during the
American Revolutionary War while he was at
Valley Forge. He included camp duty signals in his general manual on military practices for George Washington’s troops, the “blue book” written in 1778–79, though the drum parts were listed in prose. The first America rudimental manual to have prescribed rudimental exercises in notation was
A Revolutionary War Drummers Book, also from 1778, which displayed 20 exercises that can be taken as rudiments as well as "drum beatings" such as the piece
Valley Forg [sic]. This was followed by Ben Clark's manual on military drumming in 1797 and David Hazeltine's book
Instructor in Martial Music in 1810.
Charles Stewart Ashworth was the first person to actually label short drum exercises as "Rudiments" in 1812. Several more manuals of note were printed between 1812 and 1860, including those by Charles Robbins (1812), Rumrille and Holton (1817), Alvan Robinson (1818),
Levi Lovering (1819), and George Klinehanse (1853). A number of manuals next appeared during the
American Civil War, including those by
Elias Howe (1861), Keach, Burditt, and Cassidy (1861),
Bruce and
Emmett (1862),
H.C. Hart (1862), Simpson and Canterbury (1862), William Nevins (1864). Adjutant-General
Samuel Cooper's general military manual of 1861 also contained a small section on rudimental drumming, but in a very simplified form, as did Brigadier General
Silas Casey’s tactics manual of 1862.
Gardiner A. Strube published his influential distillation of Civil War practices in 1870. Between the Civil War and the 20th century, Fifes and Drums were phased out in favor of
bugles for official signals, though military music continued to be taught and practiced for ceremonial purposes.
John Philip Sousa produced a manual in 1886 that would later be revised several times by the U.S. Army. Walter Smith also produced a manual in 1897 for the Army and Navy, though he was a bandleader in the
Marines. In 1912, just 42 years after Strube's Lessons, Harry Bower, in his book
The Harry A. Bower System for Drums Bells Xylophone and Tympani, calls the military rudiments "ancient," "old fashioned," and "old style beats, rolls, and flourishes," to be played only when emulating a military sound. The Bower book offers several competing versions of many rudiments taken from multiple competing 19th century manuals. During World War I,
V.F. Safranek published a manual in 1916 (based on Smith's 1897 work), while
Carl E. Gardner released another in 1918.
Sanford Moeller put a list in his 1925 book, which is one of the few books here intended for civilian drummers. The
Moeller method advocated for a return to the "ancient" traditions of military drumming technique and rudiments. The
National Association of Rudimental Drummers, an organization established to promote rudimental drumming that included
George Lawrence Stone and
William F. Ludwig, Sr., organized a list of 13 essential rudiments and second set of 13 additional rudiments to form the Standard NARD 26 in 1933. This was largely based on Strube's 25 rudiments from 1870, with a single addition, the single stroke roll. During World War II, the War Department used a manual from 1940,
TM 20–250 Field Music Technical Manual, that clearly echoes Smith and Safranek. The Marine Corps had a competing manual, essentially mirroring Sousa but updated in 1942,
Manual for Drummers, Trumpeters, and Fifers. Later in the 20th century there were several notable variations and extensions of rudimental drumming from teachers like
Charles Wilcoxon, author of
All-American Drummer and
Modern Rudimental Swing Solos, and
Alan Dawson, whose "Rudimental Ritual" was popular at
Berklee College of Music in the 1970s.
Drum Corps International was founded in 1971 bringing together drum corps from around North America to compete, some of which had been in existence since the 1930s or 1940s (though many others were formed as late as the mid-1960s). From the outset, the drummers steadily expanded the rudimental vocabulary from the traditional American military and NARD repertoire to include Swiss rudiments as well as Hybrid rudiments that combined elements of multiple unrelated rudiments into new, more complex patterns. In 1984, a
Percussive Arts Society committee led by Jay Wanamaker reorganized, and reinterpreted, the NARD 26 and added another 14 to form the current 40 International Snare Drum Rudiments. Beginning in the early 1990s, rudimental instruction began to focus heavily on hybrid rudiments. Edward Freytag's 1993
Rudimental Cookbook and Dennis Delucia's 1995
Percussion Discussion both feature significant hybrid rudiment instruction. This trend continued into the 21st century with
John Wooton's 2010
Rudimental Remedies,
Bill Bachman's 2010
Rudimental Logic, and
Ryan Bloom's 2019
Encyclopedia Rudimentia significantly focusing on hybrid corps-style rudiments as well as older standards.
Present day In the 21st century there are four principal rudimental drumming cultures: Swiss
Basler Trommeln,
Scottish pipe drumming, Anglo-American
ancient drumming, and American modern drumming (or
DCI hybrid drumming). Other organized rudimental systems include the French, Dutch, German (Prussian), , , Bavarian, Austro-Hungarian, Italian,
Belgian, , , Swiss Ordonnanz Trommel (non-Basel, poorly understood outside of Switzerland), and Bajoaragonés systems, which are still studied and performed on a small scale in their home countries. as well as a similarly defunct Sicilian system. though only eight of the extra 14 rudiments (that do not appear in the Standard 26) are foreign or not found in American military manuals prior to Strube. Only two of those eight non-traditional rudiments can be traced to a Swiss origin. There is a movement in the German-speaking areas of Europe, led by
Claus Hessler and
Percussion Creativ, to revise rudimental practices and combine the French and Basel systems with some of the modern American rudiments into a single Rudimental Codex of 42 rudiments. The Rudimental Codex has been submitted to
UNESCO as an intangible World Heritage Site. ==Terminology==