Moonlight on the River · Mac Demarco

117 bars, 6:41, at 70 BPM: slow enough that every note is exposed. Crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick and nothing else.

Under 90 BPM
TEMPO
70 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
117
LENGTH
6:41
DIFFICULTY
57/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 41% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 1-3, 5-11 and 13-19, and 10 more places -- 41% of every bar the kit plays. Learn that one and most of the song is already under your hands.

LOOP · 70 BPM
MOONLIGHT ON THE RIVER · BAR 1
THE BEAT, WRITTEN OUT →
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

6 fills to learn, played 18 times: bars 4, 24, 36, 40, 56, 64 and 12 more.

LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 4 · LANDS ON BAR 5 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 40 · LANDS ON BAR 41 · PLAYED 5 TIMES
LOOP · 70 BPM
BAR 76 · LANDS ON BAR 77 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 70 BPM
BARS 98-100 · LANDS ON BAR 101 · PLAYED 3 TIMES

2 more fills are written out on the fills page.

EVERY FILL, WRITTEN OUT →
THE SHAPE

How the song is built

117 bars across 7 sections: 91 keep time and 18 are fills. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 5-23.

CHORUS
PART L
PART M
PART L
PART E
OUTRO
6 groovesAELMR+1Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Moonlight on the River?

70 BPM, in 4/4, with the time kept in thirty-second notes. Slow enough to hear every mistake, which is why the room lets you sit at the written tempo rather than under it.

Is Moonlight on the River hard to play on drums?

57 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 30 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

117 bars, about 6:41 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 35 exercises over 13 sittings, about 25 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, 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 Moonlight on the River?

6 fills to learn, played 18 times: bars 4, 24, 36, 40, 56, 64 and 12 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 117 BARS ANALYSED
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