Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1990 A History of Rudimental Drumming in America From the Revolutionary War to the Present. Eric Alan Chandler Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Chandler, Eric Alan, "A History of Rudimental Drumming in America From the Revolutionary War to the Present." (1990). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 4901. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/4901 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Order Number 9104118 A history of rudimental drumming in America from the Revolutionary War to the present Chandler, Eric Alan, D.M.A. The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical CoL, 1990 Copyright ©1991 by Chandler, Eric Alan. All rights reserved. 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A HISTORY OP RUDIMENTAL DRUMMING IN AMERICA FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR TO THE PRESENT A Monograph Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of th« Louisiana State University Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in The School of Music by Eric Alan Chandler B.S., Ball State University, 1983 M.M., Louisiana State University, 1985 May 1990 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I vould like to express sincere appreciation and thanks to all of the people who have contributed their time, guidance, and support during the completion of this monograph. To Prof. Griffin Campbell, Prof. Larry Campbell, Dr. Wallace McKenzie, Dr. Mary Hansard, and Dr. John Raush, my thanks are extended for the valuable assistance they have given me as members of my doctoral committee. I am sincerely grateful to John Raush for his wealth of knowledge, vast experience, and constant support and companionship during the preparation and comple­ tion of this monograph, and through my graduate studies at Louisiana State University. Special thanks go to Prof. George P. Carroll £na Marty Hurley for their devoted time and knowledge in the area of rudimental drumming. Also, thanks are extended to Steve Beck and the Percussive Arts Society, to Dr. Guy Gauthreaux for his assistance and friendship, and to Valerie Serice and Laurie Buechel for their time, patience, and skills during the preparation of this project. I am forever indebted to my parents for their constant encouragement and support for my educational and musical endeavors. To my mother, Dr. Susan Spencer, who has always served as a role model in the pursuit of success and happi­ ness, special gratitude is extended. Lastly, I would like to express my deepest appreciation iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and gratitude to Mr. John W. McMahan who "took me under his wing" many years ago. His guidance, knowledge, and pedagog­ ical skills served as a constant inspiration during my early years o£ percussion study. It is to his memory that this paper is dedicated. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. FOREWARD Since the morning of April 17, 1775, when drummer William Diamond was given orders by Captain John Parker in Lexington to sound his drum to warn that the British were coming,1 the drum and its music have held a prominent place in American history. At the Battle of Yorktown, which was the virtual end of the Revolutionary War, a British drummer from the 23rd Royal Fuseliers stepped up on a redoubt and beat the Parley which stopped the firing. This signified the desire for a conference with the enemy. The fact that the Revolutionary War started and ended with the beat of a drum indicates the instruments' historical importance. A study of the origins of drum rudiments, calls, and signals in a single source containing the accurate inter­ pretation of notation from previous eras has long been overdue. In the process of transcribing the drum notation, various rudiments had to be ommitted since they are already presented in their modern form. Sources are not discussed chronologies' ly but rather by the following catagories of beatings: Rudiments, Reveille, signals and Calls, and Other Martial Music. A number of drum manuals such as Benjamin Clarks Drum Book (1797), lArthur Bernon Tourtellot, William Diamond's Drum (London: Hutchinson, I960), 13. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Herman Mann’s The Drummer's Assistant (1811), Charles Robbins The Drum and Fife Instructor (1812), and Nathan Weston's The Young Drummer's Assistant (1815) are unlo­ cated and could not be examined. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................... , i i i FORWARD.......................................................... v ABSTRACT................ viii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITION............................. 1 II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE.......................... 12 III. TWENTIETH-CENTURY RUDIMENTAL DRUMMING................ 71 IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS................................ 30 SOURCES CONSULTED..............................................93 APPENDIX 1 ...................................................... 98 APPENDIX 2 .....................................................100 APPENDIX 3 .....................................................102 APPENDIX 4 .....................................................104 VITA ........................................................... 106 vii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Rudiments1 drumming gained significance in America during the period of the Revolution. Ever since the late eighteenth-century and through the nineteenth-century, it was used exclusively in the military. This study traces the migration of drum rudiments and their use in military settings from Great Britain to America. The contributions of the Swiss drummers and the incorporation of their drum music into American rudimental drumming are also examined. The introductory chapter covers related pertinent and prefatory topics such as a definition of rudimental drumming, the duties of the military drummer, non-rudimental types of drumming and a summary of the origin and development of rudimental drumming in Europe. The second chapter, which constitutes the body of the work, begins with an investigation of military drumming in America beginning in the Revolutionary War era and contin­ uing through the nineteenth-century. This chapter also includes calls, signals, and various rudiments used by the American military drummer as well as an analysis and inter­ pretation of the changes that took place in performance practices and notation. The third chapter deals with rudimental drumming in the twentieth-century beginning with the bands of John Philip Sousa, comparing techniques and principles of the past to viii Reproduced with