JAMIE FRANÇOIS · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in The Emptiness Around Me

2 fills to learn, played 8 times across 118 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
120 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
118
LENGTH
3:56
DIFFICULTY
47/100

Bar 43, and 5 more times

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 43, 50, 95, 102 AND 109, AND 1 MORE PLACE · LANDS ON BAR 44

On crash, snare and kick. 19 out of 100 -- straightforward -- and what decides that is how many notes a second it asks for. In the song it lands on bar 44. 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 104, and 1 more time

LOOP · 120 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 104 AND 118 · LANDS ON BAR 105

On crash, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom and kick. 45 out of 100 -- a step up -- and what decides that is the independence between the hands and the feet. In the song it lands on bar 105. 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 The Emptiness Around Me?

2 distinct fills, played 8 times: bars 43, 50, 95, 102, 104 and 109, and 2 more places.

What is the hardest fill in The Emptiness Around Me?

The one at bar 104, at 53 out of 100. 118 bars of 4/4 at 120 BPM, about 3:56 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 118 BARS ANALYSED