Nanook Suite · Frank Zappa

291 bars of 4/4 at 138 BPM, about 8:11 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

RockProgressive120 to 149 BPM
TEMPO
138 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
291
LENGTH
8:11
DIFFICULTY
77/100
THE BEAT

One bar, and 4% of the song

The beat the song is built on is one bar, played through bars 39-40, 66-68 and 70, and 3 more places -- 4.3% of every bar the kit plays. This one moves around more than most: the beat is where to start, not the whole job.

LOOP · 138 BPM
NANOOK SUITE · BAR 40
THE FILLS

Where it comes off the beat

25 fills to learn, played 49 times: bars 24, 55, 56, 59, 60, 61 and 43 more.

LOOP · 138 BPM
BAR 24 · LANDS ON BAR 25
LOOP · 138 BPM
BARS 55-56 · LANDS ON BAR 57 · PLAYED 2 TIMES
LOOP · 138 BPM
BARS 59-61 · LANDS ON BAR 62 · PLAYED 3 TIMES
LOOP · 138 BPM
BAR 63 · LANDS ON BAR 64

21 more fills are written out on the fills page.

THE SHAPE

How the song is built

291 bars across 34 sections: 186 keep time, 49 are fills, 2 are stops and 14 are silent. The longest unbroken stretch of time is bars 39-54.

CHORUS
PART S
PART BZ
PART DK
PART EB
PART EO
30 groovesTBZSDKEO+25Fill into the next barFill that ends a sectionInto the next partStop / hitRest

Questions

What BPM is Nanook Suite?

138 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 Nanook Suite hard to play on drums?

77 out of 100: demanding, mostly on the independence between the hands and the feet. The beat itself is 31 out of 100; the rest of the number is everything around it.

How long is the drum part?

291 bars, about 8:11 at the written tempo. The course breaks it into 128 exercises over 40 sittings, about 27 minutes each.

What do I need on the kit?

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

How many fills are in Nanook Suite?

25 fills to learn, played 49 times: bars 24, 55, 56, 59, 60, 61 and 43 more.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 291 BARS ANALYSED
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