A Syllabic Language for (Rudimental) Drummers

Vocal drumming? Why?

Reasons and goals

  • Increase efficiency in the process of learning to play the drum
  • Enhance efficiency when studying new drum compositions and thus being sooner able to play them by heart
  • Provide an easy method for drummers to explain their music among them, even in case of existing linguistic barriers

Efficient Learning

Didactic and mathetic are the sciences, and the masters tell us:

  • Trigger and use as many senses as possible.
  • Activate as many of the brain's perception centers as possible.

The more senses triggered during a learning process, the greater the retention rate:

  • Hearing 20% (Auditory)
  • Seeing 30% (Visual), i.e. 50% accumulated
  • Saying 20% (Auditory and communicative), i.e. 70% accumulated
  • Doing 20% (Kinesthetic), i.e. 90% accumulated

Thus, saying increases the retention rate as much as hearing, and even as much as doing! A syllabic language for (rudimental) drummers would therefore not only be of advantage, it appears to be a necessity. Then:

If you can say it you can play it!
Sample of drum scores added syllabic language

A well-known example – Forgotten beginning

At a rehearsal, the leader says: "Celanese one, two...", but gets interrupted by a drummer shouting: "Damn! How was that beginning again?"

Instead of recapping the first bar in a bothersome way with Right five stroke roll, left reverted flam tap, right reverted flam tap, left reverted flam tap, right reverted flam tap, left reverted flam tap, right reverted flam tap, the leader simply answers: "fRra gdi gda gdi gda gdi gda", and one, two, three, four, everybody is playing 1st bar of Celanese

Here is my two cents:

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Examples of Use

Beginnings of Drum Solos

Celanese   Beginning of Celanese fRra gdi gda gdi gda gdi gda

 

dr Drummler Geginning of dr Drummler fRra gdi gdadi RiTa gdi gda

 

Dr Grien Hund Beginning of Dr Grien Hund fRra gdi gda gdi gda RriTaTi  

Pumperniggel Beginning of Pumperniggel fRra fla fLifLa gdi gda  

Walliser    Beginning of Walliser frradidafLifLadidafLifLa gdi gda  

Finals of Drum Solos

Final of 7  Final of 7 frra rridadi RraTiTa

 

Celanese    Final of Celanese frra rridadiTaTi Rra

 

Drummler   Final of dr Drummler frra rridadi Ri Rra

 

“No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion.” (Karl Raimund Popper, 1902-1994)

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Society of International Rudimental Drummers
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Schwertfeger Trommelbau
30+ Jahre im Fokus der Tambouren
"Mein Trommelbauer"

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