IDOLI · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Malena

2 fills to learn, played 4 times across 178 bars. Two fills that share a rhythm and differ only in how they are spread round the toms are one fill here, learned once and orchestrated twice.

TEMPO
125 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
178
LENGTH
5:42
DIFFICULTY
47/100

Bar 28, and 1 more time

LOOP · 125 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 28 AND 60 · LANDS ON BAR 29

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 12 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 29. The exercise loops the figure on its own first, and the one after it puts it back: one bar of rest to count yourself in, the figure, then the landing with the time still running. Getting out of a fill is the half most people never practise.

Bar 51, and 1 more time

LOOP · 125 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 51-52 · LANDS ON BAR 53

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 34 out of 100 -- a fair first song -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 53. The exercise loops the figure on its own first, and the one after it puts it back: one bar of rest to count yourself in, the figure, then the landing with the time still running. Getting out of a fill is the half most people never practise.

How a fill is practised

A fill is rhythm before it is orchestration. The room plays the whole figure on the snare first, puts the feet under it second, and moves it round the toms last -- looped on its own, round and round, until the hands know it. Then it puts the fill back where it lives: a bar of rest to count in, the figure, and the downbeat it lands on, because landing square is the other half of the job.

PRACTISE THESE FILLS →

Questions

How many drum fills are in Malena?

2 distinct fills, played 4 times: bars 28, 51-52 and 60.

What is the hardest fill in Malena?

The one at bar 51, at 34 out of 100. 178 bars of 4/4 at 125 BPM, about 5:42 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, floor tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 178 BARS ANALYSED