Rudimental Drumming

Skip,

Is this even close?




Dennis

That's cool looking. I'll have to work it up. Thanks for posting.

--James

James,

I think there's more to the toss than that. I sortof threw this together. Maybe Skip can shed some light on what rhythms were played during the toss. It's a little awkward to me, so maybe I didn't execute it correctly. Not sure?

HELP US SKIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dennis

Nice! How about adding some left to right in there?

_________________
Cavies drum staff '88-'92, Blue Devils '85, Phantom '83-'84, Saginaires '81-'82, Michigan State '81-'86

I don't think you can.

Dennis

Dennis:

That is really great for never having seen it.

OK, in the version Spirit did in 84, during the base toss, the left had is still facing up during the left hand hand off to the right. This improves the visual of the toss but makes it harder to play anything with the left hand. So for just the toss the left hand stays palm up, while you are playing and you catch the stick palm up like you did. You set it up by placing your right stick into your left hand (palm up) with the bead up (away from the drum). You then reach into your stick case and pull out a new right stick.

Now at the end of the video where you start to play around with turning your hand different ways, that is what they added to the base toss and extended the playing time between each toss. What they did was pretty much play with both the butt and bead of each stick in the left hand (both palm up and palm down). You can turn the double stick hands in such a way that it is kind of flat to the audience (don't know how to explain this), so that it is visually very easy to see the X of the sticks from the front. So during the playing between tosses your left hand is playing, palm up and palm down (like backsticking) with at least 3 stick ends (maybe all 4?).

I only learned the base toss in 83, they expanded on the "backsticking" section in 84 to improve the visual. From about 30-40 yards in, it was pretty cool to watch, the fact that this line could really play didn't hurt. From really far out you really couldn't tell what they were doing, so it probably wasn't effective from the box?

Skip

_________________
Memphis Blues 1981-82 *Snare*
Spirit of Atlanta 1983 *Snare*
Private Teacher - High School Lines 1982-97, 2011-13

Wanted to add, that they may have made some changes to the toss to make it easier than what Tony originally came up with? It is awkward at first and takes a while to get used to it. I know I have really long fingers so it wasn't as hard for me to learn any kind of toss but especially this one. On the other hand Tony's not a big guy and he invented it, so there you go?? Tony was one of the smartest drummers I ever marched with and flat out the most creative one, I bet he came up with 3/4's our visuals at least. Very creative drummer.

_________________
Memphis Blues 1981-82 *Snare*
Spirit of Atlanta 1983 *Snare*
Private Teacher - High School Lines 1982-97, 2011-13

thats a money maker for sure!

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John Donovan The Party Percussionist
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http://www.JohnDonovan.Biz

I don't get it. Only two sticks were actually tossed the third one was stationary. I'm guessing someone else did this originally? Any clips from when it was first done.

Ken,

Spirit '84- no vid has surfaced. The 3rd stick is just an added bonus, but they actually played some kind
of rhythm with it "4 mallet style". I think Skip is researching this one.

Dennis

Yes, you are correct the third stick (actually your original left stick) is stationary. The toss is the old Anheim toss, with the original left stick stationary underneath the tossed stick. Tony Sawyer came up with it as far as I know, playing around with the toss we did in 83. We could do the toss in 83 but the drill would have to have been rewritten to get the stick in and out and expand the time between each toss.

_________________
Memphis Blues 1981-82 *Snare*
Spirit of Atlanta 1983 *Snare*
Private Teacher - High School Lines 1982-97, 2011-13

I send messages to the guys in Spirit's 84 snare line and see if there are any pics or video's. I know the broadcast video was too high to see anything so it would have to be a video from somewhere else. And yes they played a kind of left handed thing 4 mallet style in between each toss. I never learned that part, I only learned the base toss.

_________________
Memphis Blues 1981-82 *Snare*
Spirit of Atlanta 1983 *Snare*
Private Teacher - High School Lines 1982-97, 2011-13

I didn't realize they did the 3 stick toss in 85 also. The 85 version is really stripped down and doesn't have the "4 mallet" stuff, but you can see the base toss. This line wasn't as good as the 84 line, but they were still very good. I think the toss starts around 5:10.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/nBAm7kYECFA[/youtube]

https://youtu.be/nBAm7kYECFA

_________________
Memphis Blues 1981-82 *Snare*
Spirit of Atlanta 1983 *Snare*
Private Teacher - High School Lines 1982-97, 2011-13

I did not realize what a great show they had in 1985. Percussion seems much meatier than 86. Colorguard looks really good too. I don't remember their placement, but they should have done quite well.

That's a cool skill Dennis. I'm going to have to try this out.