Current Issue | Home | Back Issues | Other Mel Bay Sites | Purchase Percussion Products
Around the Set | Chops! What To Do With Them!
Metric Subdivisions For Smoother Buzz Rolls

Metric Subdivisions For Smoother Buzz Rolls

by Brad Williams

When the opportunity to play a buzz roll in a symphonic or drumset setting, I am faced with the challenge of how to subdivide the roll and still make it sound full and balanced. Tempo plays a major role in the subdivision itself. If playing a sixteenth (16th) note subdivided roll, the pulse may be too slow to make the roll sound full. However, if I play a thirty-second (32nd) note pulse, the sound may become too rushed and over pulsed.

So, what would happen if we use odd-note groupings instead to find a ‘happy medium' between the 16th & 32nd note pulses?

Look at example 1. If I were playing this exercise at a moderate to allegro tempo, a standard 16th note pulse would give me a full buzz roll sound. However, if I were playing it at a slower speed, the 16th note pulse may make my sound choppy and too open. Example 2 shows the same one measure exercise, but this time, I am using a quintuplet subdivision. This slightly speeds up the pulse and makes the buzz roll smoother.

Now, if we bring down the tempo even more, the slower pulse is now more difficult to maintain. So, try two different subdivisions at a slower tempo: one with a sextuplet, and another with a septuplet.

This idea works in different meters and at various speeds. I use it as a warm-up exercise as well as in a professional setting. I hope it works for you!

Brad Williams is a free-lance musician in Atlanta. He is also the percussion instructor at Wesleyan School in Norcross, Georgia. Brad attended Brevard Music Center in Brevard, NC and The Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY. He studied classical percussion performance at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. His instructors include: Tim Howard, Jack Bell, Massie Johnson, and Todd London. He is married, and he and his wife live in north Atlanta with a 3-year old son, Skyler.