DARK TRANQUILLITY · DRUM FILLS

The drum fills in Therein

2 fills to learn, played 5 times across 206 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
142 BPM
TIME
4/4
BARS
206
LENGTH
5:48
DIFFICULTY
65/100

Bar 10, and 1 more time

LOOP · 142 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 10 AND 16 · LANDS ON BAR 11

On crash, kick and hi-hat foot. 37 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 11. 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 202, and 2 more times

LOOP · 142 BPM
PLAYED AT BARS 202-204 · LANDS ON BAR 205

On crash, hi-hat, snare, kick and hi-hat foot. 58 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 205. 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 Therein?

2 distinct fills, played 5 times: bars 10, 16 and 202-204.

What is the hardest fill in Therein?

The one at bar 202, at 58 out of 100. 206 bars of 4/4 at 142 BPM, about 5:48 of playing, on crash, hi-hat, snare, high tom, mid tom, floor tom, kick and hi-hat foot.

READ OFF THE SCORE ITSELF · 206 BARS ANALYSED