"Rosebud Reel"

[jkdrinkard]

I have 3 versions of “Rosebud Reel” (page 26 of “Col. H.C. Hart’s New and Improved Instructor for the Drum”) I thought I would post here for anyone interested. I am particularly interested in thoughts and opinions concerning the accents. The sticking is the same in each since Hart indicated Left and Right hand sticking.

“Rosebud Reel” – without accents

“Rosebud Reel” – with accents as suggested in the “Instructor”

“Rosebud Reel” – with modern accent placement. This version places accents where we generally would in modern drumming. I do this for younger students who may or may not be interested in ancient drumming, but want to practice modern rudimental technique.

And if I've missed the mark on something please point it out.

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: "Rosebud Reel"

For the accents that come on the "e" of the 1-e-&-a 16th notes, I see that you are following this rule in Hart's:

"Where any beats occur in the staff, connected with the Five, Seven, Nine, Eleven, or the Fifteen Rolls, upon which the accent should come instead of the last Blow of the several Rolls, they will be indicated by a dot above the line immediately over them."

Hart says that "The Seven Roll...closes with a right hand single blow, which gives accent to the Roll" and that "a light accent should be placed on the last blow of the Five Roll, as well as the other Rolls used."

So I agree with your placement of those accents, and the accents at the end of the 7 stroke rolls, although according to Hart all of those accents should be "light accents," right? There's probably not a way in modern notation to indicate a "light accent" unless regular notes are mf and "light accents" are f...

Now for the rest of the accents (the first beat of the sextuplets for example), I see that you are interpreting the large dots as accents and the smaller dots as unaccented beats. Is there any indication in Hart's "rules" that indicates that the large dots are beat harder than the small dots, and if so, are they "light accents" or should they be played harder than the "light accents"? I see in Hart's notation that a "full blow" is a large dot and a "hard quick blow" is a small dot. He says that the full blow is equivalent to a quarter note and a hard quick blow is equivalent to an eighth note. I begin to wonder if Hart knew how to read music, because if you used those definitions when interpreting his beats, they would be very strange! So what really is the difference between a "full blow" and a "hard quick blow" because the 1/4 note, 1/8 note definition does not make any sense when you actually look at his drumbeats?

Also if a "full blow" (large dot) is beat harder than a "hard quick blow" (small dot) shouldn't a "full flam" be beat loud too? All the flams in Rosebud Reel are "full flams".

See why I mentioned frustrated drummers 150 years ago not being able to figure out Hart's system in the Rogue's March thread? I don't think most would have figured out all these "light accents" and big dots and small dots and the difference between them all. I think Hart's notation is flawed...

I think you did a good job though...let me know if anything I wrote makes sense.

[jkdrinkard]

Re: "Rosebud Reel"

Concerning the sextuplets, the accent occurs in accordance with this rule, found on page 5:
"2/4 time is accented on the first part of each measure" (first line under section 8).

As far as the full blows, hard quick blows, full flams, etc. are concerned - I'm not entirely sure what Hart intended. It's confusing and inconsistent in my opinion. Sometimes I think Hart got confused over his own system. It is possible, however, in modern notation to indicate different accents - a regular accent ">" or a harder, more staccato accent "^".

[33rdaladrummer]

Re: "Rosebud Reel"

It's confusing and inconsistent in my opinion. Sometimes I think Hart got confused over his own system.

I agree. I think he had good intentions, but ultimately failed to convey what he was trying to express. I am sure he was quite the drummer and teacher...in person but not in print.

I was just wondering if you found something his rules that I couldn't. It gives me a headache.

Hart did have some later editions with some corrections...one of the late editions has bass drum parts.

Look forward to seeing more old beats in modern notation.