AN EVENING AT ELMWOOD · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Secrets.

3 fills to learn, played 3 times across 113 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
100 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
113
LENGTH
4:31
DIFFICULTY
84/100

Bar 32

LOOP · 100 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 32 · LANDS ON BAR 33

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom and kick. 99 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 33. 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 56

LOOP · 100 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 56 · LANDS ON BAR 57

On crash, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 84 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 57. 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 112

LOOP · 100 BPM
PLAYED AT BAR 112 · LANDS ON BAR 113

On hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 87 out of 100 -- hard -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 113. 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 Secrets.?

3 distinct fills, played 3 times: bars 32, 56 and 112.

What is the hardest fill in Secrets.?

The one at bar 32, at 99 out of 100. 113 bars of 4/4 at a walking 100 BPM, 4:31 of playing, on crash, ride, hi-hat, snare, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 113 BARS ANALYSED