“The Stroke Vocabulary: ”

applying it to the flam

A Clinic by Neal Flum

North Alabama Percussion Festival

Austin High School
Decatur, Alabama
12 May 2006
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Part I, Our Topic And Goal
Our topic—the stroke: how we strike our instrument is our stroke, and our stroke becomes a tool, a
way of achieving our goal.

Our goal: our goal is to produce the best possible quality of sound when striking our instrument.

Part II, Our Posture

If we want to have a fundamentally sound stroke, then we need a posture that helps us do so:
• checklist:
___are we standing up straight
___are our heels together with our toes apart (slightly-less-than-90-degree angle)
___is our head up, chin up slightly, arms relaxed at side
___is our grip correct in both hands (more on that in the next section)
___did we bring our arms straight up;
o turn our sticks/mallets inward, maintaining the natural curvature of our forearms;
o *are our beads together in the center of the head;
o angle slightly less than 90 degrees;
o and beads about 1/8th - 1/4 of an inch above the playing surface

• Always remember that our sticks/mallets are a natural extension of our hands, arms, the
natural set-up of our bodies. We want to work with the way our bodies are designed to
function most efficiently—not against them!

*the playing zone will differ slightly for the tenor player, bass drummer, and keyboard
performer, as will the set-up of the feet for the keyboard player.

Part III, Checking Our Grip

(Grip for percussionist = the embouchure for a wind player)

Correctly done, we can achieve a fundamentally sound stroke:

• checklist:
right hand:
___t-test
___fulcrum: correct and firm
___room at butt end of stick/balance point

left hand:
___same if matched grip
___fulcrum: correct and firm
___contact points
___thumb pointing upward, pressing against first ridge of index finger
___room at butt end of stick/balance point

• Guiding principle: “Thumb and fingers on stick at ALL TIMES!”

• For a great and fuller treatment of the grip and technique, please acquire Thom Hannum’s,
Championship Concepts for Marching Percussion Workbook, (pp. 3 – 8, particularly)
• For more info on Thom Hannum: www.percussion.org
• For info on Thom’s workbook: www.halleonard.com
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Part IV, Prepping for The Full-Down-Tap-Up
We are going to do a Moeller-like approach to prepare for our full-down-tap-up/stroke vocabulary.
We can also use this approach as a part of our daily practice routine. I’ll demonstrate the approach
for you.

• We want to make sure the bead of the stick comes all the way back—slightly past straight up actually.
• We want to think about being relaxed; developing a fluid, continuous, motion; and turning our wrists
(bead comes up first—think bead leads!)
• This Moeller-like approach to warming up should get us to more fully involve our wrists and forearms
in a natural and more relaxed manner.

Here it is:

1. start slowly 2. play continuously 3. speed up gradually 4. reduce groupings to 3 and then 2 if you like

Part V, Full-Down-Tap-Up
Let’s develop a Stroke Vocabulary for ourselves

FULL-STROKE:
1. start with sticks in full position and beads together in front of face.
2. strike drum using energy, intensity, and focus—all while being relaxed
3. use the rebound and return to FULL position

• Things to remember:
o velocity up = velocity down
o we want to use our hand to maintain the PATH of the stick

DOWN-STROKE: similar to the FULL stroke

1. begin stroke at FULL position
2. end stroke about 1/8” – ¼” above the playing surface--what we will refer to as playing position.

• Things to remember:
o when we finish the DOWN stroke, we want the stick to rebound; catch it, and do all of the motion in a
relaxed manner!
o We don’t want to *push the stick into the playing surface! (Chris Lamb Clinic, 2004)

TAP-STROKE: similar to the FULL stroke

1. (except) we begin the TAP stroke at about 3”
2. and end our TAP stroke at 3”

• Things to remember:
o we should use the same technique as we do for the full stroke—the height of rise is the
only difference.
o we want to turn our wrist and not drop the stick on the playing surface or push it into the surface.
o we don’t want to lift up higher than where we begin our TAP stroke—that’s called a “prep.”
o playing well at the lower levels, with control, and with an excellent quality of sound is an essential
element in becoming a better percussionist.

UP-STROKE: similar to TAP stroke

• Things to remember:
o begin this stroke at TAP height, 3”—and no prep with this stroke either
o strike downward like playing a TAP and then go past TAP height back to FULL position
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Part VI, Applying The Strokes

Now that we have a stroke vocabulary and we know what those strokes are, let’s apply what
we have learned by working on developing a “sound” approach to playing a flam.

1. Raise your left hand, the lower of the two strokes in the RIGHT-HAND flam to 3”. This is called the grace
note. We are going to play this stroke, a TAP, 4 times:

2. Raise your right hand to 12”. This is called the accent or FULL stroke. We are going to play it 4 times
returning to FULL position each time:

3. Now let’s play 4 grace notes (TAPS) at 3” followed by 4 FULL strokes at 12”:

4. Now let’s put our strokes together to play a flam:

Remember to fully articulate the grace note, our TAP at 3”, and return to FULL position with our right
hand! Our actual flam approach will differ from that with the right hand. More on that later!

5. Let’s add one flam:

6. Do #5 and add a third flam, and then finish up by adding a fourth and a release:

We can do the same process with the LEFT-HAND flam where the right hand is the grace note and the left
hand the FULL or accent stroke.
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Let’s have some fun and apply our stroke vocabulary/approach to a flam paradiddle:

The open square notehead indicates an UP stroke. You do not actually play the stroke, you lift your stick
into position for the next flam paradiddle. It’s like a ghosted note.

Now let’s put it together:

Start on the left hand also! In fact you should be able to play all your rudiments beginning on the RIGHT or
LEFT hand!

Part VII, Wrap-Up

• For a list of rudiments, particularly the flam rudiments , please go to:

http://www.pas.org/Resources/rudiments.cfm
• Make the Moeller Warm-up and the FULL-DOWN-TAP-UP stroke vocabulary/approach a part of
your daily practice routine.
• When applicable, use your stroke vocabulary to better define what it is you are playing.
• Think about your technique, your posture, your grip, when playing. When done properly they give
you a great foundation from which to develop your skills.
• Strive to relax more in your playing, and more fully and naturally involve your body in what you
are doing.
• For more information about the University of Alabama marching percussion section and our 2nd
Annual High School Percussion Clinic, please go to: www.mdb.ua.edu/percussion06.html
and for our high school clinic: http://www.mdb.ua.edu/Secndhssix.html

Questions, comments, etc:

Neal Flum
Associate Director of Athletic Bands
University of Alabama Bands
Box 870368
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487

office: (205) 348-9440

office fax: (205) 348-0401
cell: (205) 394-2116
e-mail: nflum@music.ua.edu
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Thank you again to my sponsors:
Evans Drumheads INNOVATIVE PERCUSSION
www.evansdrumheads.com www.innovativepercussion.com

Pearl Drums and Adams Musical Instruments The Avedis Zildjian Co.
www.pearldrum.com www.zildjian.com

And please consider becoming a member of The Percussive Arts Society

www.pas.org

NOTES:

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