LESSON 25

The Lesson 25 is an extremely common rudiment in the American Style.  The name comes from Gardiner Strube’s “Drum and Fife Instructor” book from 1869 that teaches this rudiment in the 25th lesson.  The National Association of Rudimental Drummers selected it for their list of 26 essential rudiments, and hence named it the Lesson 25.  This rudiment is so common for its ability to put a punctuation on a phrase.  The Lesson 25 is often phrased like some other drag rudiments, with the drag being played softly, and the two 16th notes played with a slight crescendo towards the accented release.

Lesson 25 is a rudiment played in simple time with a grouping of two semi-quavers and a quaver, preceeded with a drag on the first stroke. Care needs to taken over where the accent is placed and not to be mistaken for accenting the drag at the start. Not commonly used amongst Royal Marines drumming, however can be found in many study pieces to broaden the trainee whilst at the RMSoM.

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In Switzerland, the Lesson 25 is classified to the “Reveille Rudiment Family”. It starts on a tempo of 60 quarters per minute and after continuous accelerating ends with a tempo of 120. Grace notes should be played very softly. Most important is the crescendo and its beginning in mezzo piano. In the final tempo, the grace notes can be played in three different styles:

– Evenly spaced and hence aim for a triolic sound

– a small pause before the grace notes and therefore aim for a “swing” (mostly played like this at Swiss drum competitions)

– bind the grace notes to the following main stroke, aiming for a very neat style

For all three different styles, the rhythm of the main strokes must be respected.

In modern Swiss drumming, the “Lesson 25” occasionally occurs in Marches.

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