4. Drums

▶ Open in Aratu to hear and change the examples

Each drum has a line, and each line follows the rhythm rules. The symbol decides the sound, whatever the line is called:

drums {
  hh = cc cc co cc
  bd = b - bb -
  sd = - s - S        // an accented backbeat on four
}

Every line inside drums { } is a drum line, and so is a line called hh, bd, sd, cr, rd, ht, mt, ft, toms, rim, kick, snare, hat, ride or crash anywhere in the piece, and by their Portuguese and Spanish names too: chimbal, bumbo, caixa, prato, palmas, charles, bombo, caja, platillo; the block may also be called bateria. A line called surdo is the samba surdo (see the percussion below); the kit's floor tom is f. An apostrophe makes a hit short: c' is a tight hi-hat. A closed hi-hat cuts an open one that is still ringing.

Rolls. A tilde after the symbol makes a roll, like the tremolo strokes in a score: thirty-second strokes (eight a beat) through the whole length of the hit, the hands alternating. s~ _ _ S is a three-beat roll closing on an accent; under a hairpin it grows into the next mark:

drums {
  sd = p:s~< _ _ f:S
}

It works on any drum (f~ on the floor tom, x~ on a cymbal) and on notes, as a tremolo: c4~ _. A backtick before the symbol puts a light stroke of the same drum just before: `s is a flam and ``s a drag (see chapter 9).