drums lesson #48

"Round the Flam"

Improve your flams. Flam is a snare drum rudiment made with a grace note and a main note played closed together.
In order to play a flam : the grace note starts close to the head and the main note farther; the two sticks are played same time to the drum. The closer hand hit the head first and give a light sound followed by the second hand from farther giving a louder sound. The height between the two sticks at the beginning give the distance between the two sounds when hitting the drum.

Start slowly.
Keep an eye on the height of the sticks.
Using a mirror is helpful.

To go further with this lesson you can play the etudes "Flammes en rose" and "Flakimor" availables at The Shop.