PERCUSSION
THE POWERFUL PARADIDDLE : PART 1 | Mark Shelton
If you ask a group of non-percussionist musicians to name a drum rudiment , the paradiddle would likely be one of the most mentioned . The name just sticks with you . It ’ s kinda fun to say . “ Paradiddle .”
The paradiddle is a hand permutation — a series of hand movements occurring in a specific order . Although there are several paradiddlebased rudiments , the basic one is the single paradiddle . ( In normal usage , paradiddle refers to the single paradiddle ). The paradiddle permutation consists of four strokes with the first three alternating hand-to-hand and the fourth stroke played from the same hand as the third stroke . There are two versions of the single paradiddle :
The Right Paradiddle : Right Left Right Right The Left Paradiddle : Left Right Left Left
Rudiment lists will often notate the paradiddle with an accent over the first note in the series . Even without the accent or with the accent placed on another note , it ’ s still a paradiddle ( trust me ).
We will never know the percussionist who created the paradiddle . My theory is that early humans got bored with alternating strokes and somebody on a whim knocked out a Right Left Right Right . This ancient musician immediately realized this lick had potential and merited further exploration . After several attempts , Left Right Left Left sprang forth , and both paradiddle possibilities were off to the races . Since all of this happened before copyright laws and the invention of money , the composer ’ s name never made it into music history books .
As the centuries moved forward , various sticking permutations , rolls , and ornaments developed into rudiments of drumming . According to the National Association of Rudimental Drummers website ( www . nard . com ), The Drummer ’ s and Fifer ’ s Guide ( 1862 ) by George Bruce and Daniel Emmett is among the early listings of many of our commonlyused American rudiments . Yes , the paradiddle is included in this historic manual .
Fast forward to 1933 when thirteen prominent percussionists organized the National Association of Rudimental Drummers and