This may be old hat for some (i.e. if you attended Berklee, you don’t need to read any farther), but if you are one of the many drummers who are constantly pushing to develop solid technique/chops, check out this method handed down by drummer/educator extraordinaire Alan Dawson.
One of his many exercises is something called the Rudimental Ritual. In a nutshell, it’s every single snare drum rudiment you can think of (and many, many more) condensed into a [very] musical format. I think its something like 80 different combinations of drags, ruffs, flams, diddles, singles and doubles. You play it over a bossa/samba foot pattern. And its pretty fun…
For someone who has spent quite a few hours with a practice pad, pounding out rudiments, it’s a great way to capsulate these exercises into a routine as part of a warm-up or something. Even better, since it puts all the rudiments (American, Swiss, and “innovations.”) into a musical format, you’re seeing first hand, how they can all be applied.
Because, after all, we’re drummers and we play MUSIC. It worked for Tony Williams!
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