Dystopian Overture · Dream Theater

136 bars of 4/4 at a walking 97 BPM, 5:24 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick.

ProgressiveMetal90 to 119 BPM
TEMPO
97 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
136
LENGTH
5:24
DIFFICULTY
60/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 29% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 1-7, 11 and 14-15, and 6 more places -- 28.8% of every bar the kit plays. That is the spine of it; everything else is what happens around it.

LOOP · 97 BPM
DYSTOPIAN OVERTURE · BAR 2
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

14 fills to learn, played 26 times: bars 13, 17, 22, 24, 25, 26 and 20 more.

LOOP · 97 BPM
BAR 13 · LANDS ON BAR 14
LOOP · 97 BPM
BAR 17 · LANDS ON BAR 18
LOOP · 97 BPM
BAR 22 · LANDS ON BAR 23
LOOP · 97 BPM
BARS 24-26 · LANDS ON BAR 27 · PLAYED 3 TIMES

10 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

136 bars across 11 sections: 51 keep time, 27 are fills, 34 are stops and 18 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 87-98.

CHORUS
PART D
PART P
PART R
PART S7
PART AG
OUTRO
OUTRO 2
9 groovesARDS7AG+4Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Dystopian Overture?

97 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second notes. The room plays it at any tempo from a quarter of that up to the written one, against the record where the record can follow.

Is Dystopian Overture hard to play on drums?

60 out of 100, a step up from a first song, and the work is in the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 22 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

136 bars, about 5:24 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 38 exercises over 11 sittings, about 26 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. That is most of a full kit; the part moves around it rather than sitting in one place.

How many fills are in Dystopian Overture?

14 fills to learn, played 26 times: bars 13, 17, 22, 24, 25, 26 and 20 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 136 BARS ANALYSED
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