Vorticity

Vorticity (2021) (∇ x v) is an ensemble chop-out exercise that hits lots of big legatos, some doublestrokes, some rolls (and even some flam accents, snares!), and some more big legatos, so your line can jam out, get a work out, and stretch out, all in one warm-up. This piece would be suitable for a committed high school or university drumline, and I think the vibe, the vocabulary, and the vivacity of the music would make this a hit in any parking lot or pre-show warm-up.

The title is an obvious nod to the Bluecoats warm-up that inspired the person who asked me to write something like this to ask me to write something like this.

Chow Down

Chow Down (2021) is an all-around and all-in-one ensemble warm-up targeting the high school level. It consists of five “movements”: 1. Legatos, 2. Bucks, 3. Doubles I, 4. Doubles II, and 5. Triplet Rolls. Each movement could be used as a standalone warm-up, and you can gradually work each movement into the full sequence as the season progresses, so that you have both a warm-up book, and a cohesive ensemble warm-up, however you are able to deploy it. It may be beneficial for the snares to learn the tenor part in some places, as some passages involve the snares playing a fundamental exercise pattern while the tenors play an even more fundamental breakdown of the motion involved in that pattern.

This warm-up was originally conceived for tri-toms instead of quad or quint tenors, so that is the arrangement you will hear in the Virtual DrumLine (VDL) recording. I am providing the score to both arrangements here:

East Coast [...]

East Coast (2007) is an onfield warm-up I wrote. It’s not nearly as good as High Five, and it’s well short of 60 seconds, but there are still some interesting moments in this piece, so it might be worthy of study.

High Five (Onfield)

This High Five (2007) is the original exercise that the paradiddles warm-up was based on. This version is an onfield warm-up that I wrote while I was in high school. It has a sort of Ditty vibe to it, and it’s big, choppy, and nuts. This was my pride and joy on the very first incarnation of fatmattdrums, and I think it still stacks up pretty well against the rest of my work.