THE THREE CAMPS REVEILLE

Also known as “The Mother and Three Camps” and as “Points of War,” “The Three Camps” is one of the oldest and most famously known of all snare drum compositions. It was played as a morning wake up reveille in all U.S. military branches from 1779 until 1875 when a bugle call replaced it.¹ During the 20th century, it received wide U.S. distribution as an educational resource. Its value as an exercise to improve technique and stamina and as a performance etude has never been disputed.

The earliest known written notation of the “Three Camps” is found in The Young Drummers Assistant, published by Longman and Broderip in 1780.² It is much older, but the precise date and place of origin are unknown. It has been a standard within editions of U.S. military Camp Duty since 1812 when Charles Ashworth included it in A New, Useful, and Complete System of Drum Beating.³

The Camp Duty was a collection of military directives that specified the musical repertoire and performance standards, or “duty” of fifers, drummers, and buglers.

The way “Three Camps” is written and interpreted has evolved. During the 1800s, the 11-stroke roll, now standard, was frequently noted as a 7-stroke roll or a 9-stroke roll. The oldest notations, including Ashworth’s, indicate no time signature. We assume Ashworth intended a time signature of 2/4 because he wrote the companion fife melody in 2/4 time.

In 1862, George B. Bruce wrote it in 2/4 time.⁴ In 1869, Gardiner A. Strube transcribed it to 4/4 time.⁵ During the 20th century, 4/4 time versions were the most common.

The “Three Camps” may be written in 2/4 or 4/4, but the rolls should be interpreted with a triple pulse division and feel. Because of the triple pulse nature, notations written in 6/8 or 12/8 have become common.

As a reveille, the timing of each roll compliments the fife melody’s phrasing. The rolls commence with an unaccented double stroke and resolve on a single accent.

It is acceptable to play “Three Camps” as a continuous roll exercise with accents. For that purpose, the rolls can be thought of as inverted. That is to say, commencing with a single accent and resolving with double strokes. A goal, when used as an exercise, is to play it as fast as possible.

Regarding the name, “Three Camps.” During a lecture he delivered in 1988, William F. Ludwig Jr. claimed that the name derives from the practice of dividing a company of troops into multiple camps, “For reasons of security.” According to Ludwig, three separate camps were each assigned one drummer. “The drummer in each camp would play a passage and wait for the neighboring camp drummer to repeat it or embellish it as a sign that all was well.”⁶

That is a good story, but, like so many examples of drum legend and lore, the source of Ludwig’s information is unknown, and its accuracy cannot be verified. No evidence of this practice exists in historical editions of British or American military Camp Duty. “Three Camps” has long been identified as a reveille call and not a signal between camps. Its title remains as mysterious as its origin.

NOTES

1. U.S. Marine Corps, Prologue, Manual For Drummers And Buglers (Washington D.C.: Department Of The Navy, Dec., 1971), viii.

2. Longman, James & Broderip, Francis. The Young Drummers Assistant (London: Longman and Broderip, 1780), 4-5.

3. Ashworth, Charles S., and George P. Carroll. A New, Useful and Complete System of Drum Beating (Williamsburg, VA: Geo. P. Carroll, 1966), 12-13.

4. Bruce, Geo B., and Dan D. Emmett. The Drummer’s and Fifer’s Guide (New York: Wm. A. Pond & Co., 1862), 28.

5. Strube, Gardiner A. Strube’s Drum and Fife Instructor (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1869), 29.

6. From a lecture by William F. Ludwig, Jr. on Revolutionary War Drumming given on January 24, 1988 at the Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion (Maryland/Delaware) held at Towson University, Baltimore, Maryland.

ROLL ABBREVIATIONS

Roll abbreviations can often be ambiguous. Rudimental rolls are assigned a specific number of strokes ending with an accented single stroke. Untied rolls do not end with an accent, and like tied rolls, they can release from either hand. An untied roll intends to complement the phrasing of other voices or instruments in a composition. There are no arbitrary restrictions on the duration of a musical idea or when and how it must end. Composers and performers make those interpretations.

It may be useful to think of untied rolls as having a “timed-release” rather than an “ending.” An untied roll characteristic is an audible gap between the roll’s release and the next note’s beginning.

The default solution is to release the untied roll on the last upbeat before the next downbeat—a safe call most times but not every time.

The release count of an untied roll depends on the tempo, meter, and pulse count. Does the roll require an even-duple pulse feel or a swinging, triple pulse feel?

Another important consideration is if the roll will be “pressed” or “open.” Moreover, if open, how close or wide is the interval between open double strokes? Consider all contributing factors within context to musical phrasing—the roll releases when the phrase completes, not before and not after.

An obvious way to side-step all questions about the duration and release of a roll in written music is to not use roll abbreviations at all. Composers could write every roll beat-by-beat. If that is what you are waiting for, then dream-on. Roll abbreviations are here to stay. Practice the possible ways that rolls can resolve, but most of all, LISTEN. Ultimately musicians must rely on their ears to make the proper interpretation. 

Play the music, not just the drum. The drum is an instrument for rhythmic musical expression. Think of the sound needed to compliment the music FIRST, then consider which techniques will achieve that.

The following examples of abbreviated whole note rolls illustrate the literal “gray area” that could end an untied roll.

In these examples, there is no difference in the way the untied rolls are abbreviated. Nevertheless, depending on musical context, an untied roll can be interpreted to release at different counts. A musical phrase takes as long as it takes, and the roll must reflect that.

There is no musical symbol to distinguish an abbreviated duple pulse roll from an abbreviated triple pulse roll. The time signature is the first clue, but it is not always the final answer.

Determining which roll type to play when the notation is abbreviated is the Drummer’s responsibility to interpret.

Tempo, dynamics, and listening are the ultimate judge of which roll FEEL is correct.

An important detail to look for in abbreviated roll notation is the number of cuts (slash marks) above or below the note head: three cuts (counting beams) means that the roll is 32nd notes and two cuts represent 16th notes.

Some composers notate all roll abbreviations with three cuts. The number of counts the roll sustains is correctly specified, but the cut marks indicate only that “some kind of a roll.” is to be played. It is left to the Drummer to interpret the pulse, roll rapidity, and playing technique.

An abbreviated roll may represent press strokes, double strokes, or single strokes. For example, tympani and snare drum roll abbreviations are the same, but tympani rolls are always single strokes.

UNIVERSAL DRUM EXERCISES

There has always been a need for widely-known exercises that drummers can practice individually or together. Drum warm-up and workout exercises that everyone knows about but nobody seems to know where they came from are called “universals.” Some of the most popular include Eight On A Hand, Sanford Doubles, Sanford Triples, Irish Spring, and Dugga Dees. Old-school check pattern exercises abound, consisting of standard rudiments played in repetition, usually alternating between paradiddles to allow lead hand changes.

Universal arrangements create an opportunity for drummers who may not have previously played together to organize and get to work quickly on establishing an ensemble, such as a drumline. Universal arrangements provide the individual drummer with a study plan and a way to develop techniques.

There are many universally known warm-ups and workout exercise patterns. The most successful are long enough to be fun and engaging to play but short enough to be memorable. 

Most exercise patterns are written in even number sets of 4, 8, or 16 measures. There are no creative restrictions, but they should not be too long and complicated to have practical use. Successful exercises include ways to apply all fundamental strokes: singles, doubles, flams, drags, diddles, and rolls.

RELEASE THE SWARM

I’ve written two warm-up routines using combinations of universal exercises: one in 12/8 for a swinging triple pulse practice; another in 4/4 time for an even duple feel. It seems easier to remember two extended compositions than it is to remember ten individual short workouts. 

I have posted a video on my YouTube Channel where you can see and hear my interpretations played. The sheet music is here for you to download as jpeg files. Thank you for following my blog and my video channel.

Link to YouTube Video: 

CIVIL WAR DRUMMERS AND THE MEDAL OF HONOR

Ed Flack ©2020 

The youngest soldiers ever awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor were drummers. Here are a few of them and their stories.

HILLIKER, BENJAMIN F.

Rank and organization: Musician, Company A, 8th Wisconsin Infantry. Place and date: At Mechanicsburg, Miss., June 4, 1863. Entered service at Waupaca Township, Wis, born: May 23, 1843, Golden, Erie County, NY. Date of issue: December 17, 1897. 

Citation: When men were needed to oppose a superior Confederate force, he laid down his drum for a rifle and proceeded to the front of the skirmish line, which was about 120 feet from the enemy. While on this volunteer mission and firing at the enemy, he was hit in the head with a mini ball that passed through him. An order was given to “lay him in the shade; he won’t last long.” He recovered from this wound, being left with an ugly scar.

HORSFALL, WILLIAM H.

Rank and organization. Drummer, Company G, 1st Kentucky Infantry. Place and date: At Corinth, Miss., May 21, 1862. Entered service at ------. Birth: Campbell County, KY. Date of issue: August 17, 1895. 

Citation: Saved the life of a wounded officer lying between the lines.

HOWE, ORION P.

Rank and organization: Musician, Company C, 55th Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Vicksburg, Miss., May 19, 1863. Entered service at Woken, Ill. Birth: Portage County, OH. Date of issue: April 23, 1896. 

Citation: A drummer boy, 14 years of age, and severely wounded and exposed to a heavy fire from the enemy, he persistently remained upon the field of battle until he had reported to Gen. W. T. Sherman the necessity of supplying cartridges for the use of troops under the command of Colonel Malmborg.

JOHNSTON, WILLIAM H. “WILLIE”

 Rank and organization: Musician, Company D, 3d Vermont Infantry. Place and date: Unknown. Entered service at St. Johnsbury, Vt. Birth: Morristown, NY. Date of issue: September 16, 1863. Citation: Date and place of the act not on record in the War Department. Johnston’s story is found at https://historycollection.com/kids-battle-10-american-child-soldiers-civil-war/7/.

Citation: The youngest soldier ever to receive the Medal of Honor was a drummer boy, William H. “Willie” Johnston. During his service, he participated in several events, including the Seven Days Retreat in the Peninsula Campaign. He served in an “exemplary” fashion. During this event, Johnston was the only drummer in his division to come away with his drum during a general rout. 

His superiors considered this a commendable feat when many soldiers had discarded their weapons to lighten their load. Through his division commander’s recommendation, Johnston earned the Medal of Honor, becoming the youngest recipient of the highest military decoration at 13 years of age. Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, presented the Medal of Honor to Johnston on September 16, 1863.

LANGBEIN, J. C. JULIUS

Rank and organization: Musician, Company B, 9th New York Infantry. Place and date: At Camden, N.C., April 19, 1862. Entered service at New York, N.Y, born: September 29, 1846, Germany. Date of issue: January 7, 1895.

Citation: A drummer boy, 15 years of age, he voluntarily and under a heavy fire went to the aid of a wounded officer, procured medical assistance for him, and aided in carrying him to a place of safety.

MAGEE, WILLIAM

Rank and organization: Drummer, Company C, 33d New Jersey Infantry. Place and date: At Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 5, 1864. Entered service at ------. Birth: Newark, NJ. Date of issue: February 7, 1866. 

Citation: In a charge, was among the first to reach a battery of the enemy and, with one or two others, mounted the artillery horses and took two guns into the Union lines.

SCOTT, JULIAN A.

Rank and organization: Drummer, Company E, 3d Vermont Infantry. Place and date. At Lees Mills, Va., April 16, 1862. Entered service at Johnson, Vt. Birth: Johnson, VT. Date of issue: February 1865. 

Citation: Crossed the creek under a terrific fire of musketry several times to assist in bringing off the wounded.

NOTES

“ARMY.MIL Features.” Recipients of the Medal of Honor for the United States Army. Accessed March 17, 2020. https://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/recipients.html.

TRADITIONAL SNARE DRUM GRIP, YOUR LEFT HAND AND YOUR RIGHT MIND

Ed Flack ©2020 

There is no shortage of epitaphs written in remembrance of the traditional grip method. Against the crushing odds of millions of words uttered to pronounce its inevitable doom, the popularity of conventional grip perseveres, literally in the hands of some of the world’s most accomplished drummers.

Why has this awkward-looking, ancient technique remained so appealing to modern drummers? Here are some reasons cited by drummers who use traditional grip:

• To preserve a tradition.

• To partway from the rest of the herd by being different or unique. 

• A sense of accomplishment. The pride of mastering a technique others consider too difficult to learn.

• Aesthetics. “It looks cool.”

• To change the “feel” of things played by adopting a counter-balanced, asymmetrical feel.

• To alter thinking. To seek inspiration and new ideas gained by using asymmetric techniques.

• Personal preference. Many drummers are more comfortable using traditional grip.

What other reasons might there be to play traditional grip? What if the left hand is neurologically inclined to respond positively to a grip that is the complementary inversion of the right hand? What if we had not only two hands but also two brains?

BRAIN LATERALIZATION

The human brain has two separate cerebral hemispheres (left and right), with each half exhibiting observable dominances in various functions. 

Modern science has debunked the popular idea of attributing personality traits to “brained-ness.” The old presumption was that creative, artistic people were “right-brained” and that analytical, logically minded people were “left-brained.” Granted, we cannot attribute personality to brained-ness; however, our divided brain biology may explain other fascinating phenomena.

Individuals who suffer a stroke or other traumatic injury to the brain’s left side can become paralyzed on the body’s right side. Other symptoms of a brain injury affect speech, sensory perceptions, and a wide range of cognitive performances, depending upon which part of each hemisphere is damaged.

Our two brain hemispheres communicate across a connective network called the corpus callosum. Without it, the left hand can literally not know what the right hand is doing.

The study of separate left and right brain hemisphere task dominance is known as the “lateralization of brain function theory.”

During the 1960s at the California Institute of Technology, Dr. Roger W. Sperry and his colleagues conducted extensive studies on epileptic patients treated for their condition by having the two brain hemispheres surgically separated at the corpus callosum. 

Sperry observed, “Both the left and the right hemisphere may be conscious simultaneously in different, even in mutually conflicting, mental experiences that run along in parallel.”¹ For this brain lateralization research and findings, Dr. Sperry, received a Nobel Prize.²

An art educator, Dr. Betty Edwards, developed visual perception and drawing techniques based upon Sperry’s research. In 1979 she published her theories in a drawing method book titled Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

The Edwards drawing method operates on the premise that the left brain is the source of logical and sequential thinking where abstract ideas translate into symbols, numbers, letters, and words. By contrast, the right brain recognizes patterns and relationships to form a holistic interpretation of what is perceived. Edwards believes the right brain does not express ideas as symbols or words. The right hemisphere is the source of intuitive understanding, things we readily understand without the words to express them.

The drawing method that Dr. Edwards developed involves using exercises to “shift the mode of thinking” from the left brain (L-mode), which sees an object and wants to represent it with a symbol, to the right brain (R-mode), which sees what it sees and draws what it sees.³

According to Edwards: “In order to gain access to the subdominant visual, perceptual R-mode of the brain, it is necessary to present the brain with a job that the verbal, analytic L-mode will turn down.”⁴

BRAIN LATERALIZATION AND TRADITIONAL GRIP 

Within the context of brain lateralization, traditional grip reveals itself as a natural, balanced, and complementary approach to drumming.

When right-handed drummers use a matched grip, the left brain takes the lead using the right hand. The right brain must then mimic whatever the left brain and the right-hand do. Relegating the right brain to the mundane “monkey see, monkey do” task of imitating whatever the left brain does will not fully exploit the right brain’s natural potential. 

To ignite the right brain and get the left hand more engaged in the creative kinesthetic process, it responds best when it receives a different way of doing things. 

When the right brain hemisphere is allowed to complement in an asymmetric capacity, what the opposite side does, a significant shift in the thinking process occurs — once released from the assignment of imitation, right-brain activity shifts to the endeavor of creative problem-solving.

By inverting the left hand from an overhand grasp to an underhand position, the brain’s attention changes from visually matching the hands to seeking the best way to play and control the strokes.

The balance point of the drum stick does not change with an underhand grip. The types of drum strokes required to play a specific pattern do not change, and the laws of physics and gravity do not mysteriously reset. The only change is that the left-hand is moved under the stick where the forefingers can push down ahead of the fulcrum while the right hand is above the stick where the fingers pull up behind the fulcrum.

That simple change is all it takes to tranquilize the left brain’s demanding insistence to be copied and gives the right brain the sense of independence on which it thrives. 

Once the right brain has discovered for itself what the strokes are and how to control them while using the underhand grip, it can then successfully transfer that understanding to a left overhand grip when desired.

NOTES

1. Sperry, R. “Some Effects of Disconnecting the Cerebral Hemispheres.” Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science, September 24, 1982. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/217/4566/1223.

2. “The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1981.” NobelPrize.org. Accessed March 19, 2020. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1981/sperry-article.html.

3. Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (Los Angeles: Penguin Putnam, 1999), 38.

4. ibid., preface xiii.