FONTAINES DC · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Roman Holiday

2 fills to learn, played 2 times across 125 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
122 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
125
LENGTH
4:06
DIFFICULTY
51/100

Bar 84

LOOP · 122 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 84 · LANDS ON BAR 85

On ride, snare, mid tom and kick. 44 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 85. 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 124

LOOP · 122 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 124 · LANDS ON BAR 125

On hi-hat, snare and kick. 46 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 125. 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 Roman Holiday?

2 distinct fills, played 2 times: bars 84 and 124.

What is the hardest fill in Roman Holiday?

The one at bar 124, at 46 out of 100. 125 bars of 4/4 at 122 BPM, about 4:06 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 125 BARS ANALYSED