PATAFLAFLA

The Pataflafla is another highly stylized and commonly used rudiment in the American Fife and Drum tradition.  As notated in the example, the emphasis is placed on the first and last note of the rudiment.  This rudiment provides direction into the next beat.  The player should be wary of the hand-to-hand flams when playing this rudiment multiple beats in a row.  Care should be placed on the evenness of the rhythm, as well as the spacing of the grace notes, so as to not muddy the sound of the emphasized beats.  In some instances the last note of the rudiment is played slightly lower in dynamic than the downbeat, so as to provide more of a sense of momentum into the next beat.

The Pataflafla is a technical rudiment and introduced at level 7 in the RMSoM syllabus with the aim tempo of crotchet = 108.  Written as 8 even strokes there are Flams placed on the 1st and 4th taps.  Played with accents on all these flams it can give the feel of a dotted rhythm with the 4th and 1st acented flams being close together.  This rudiment doesn’t alternate therefore should be practiced with both Left and Right Hand leading.

Kein Text vorhanden.

The Pataflafla Stroke is well known in Switzerland, often linked to the Basler drumming and hence assigned to the “Basler Rudiment Family”. It is important to play the crescendo as described in structure. The starting tempo is 44 quarters per minute, then the rhythmical feeling changes into sixteenth-note package and finally the rudiment is ended in a tempo as fast as 112. Swiss literature identifies two main difficulties: Firstly, the two single taps should be played in proper rhythm, lightly and softly. Secondly, the flams should not be contracted. The Pataflafla Stroke often occurs in marches and mostly in its natural practice structure.

It has to be emphasized that, contrary to wide misconception, not the Basler invented the Bataflafla as they speak German. Ba-Ta-Fla-Fla is a French acronym for the rudiment itself: “Ba – Ta” describing the single taps and “Fla-Fla” the Flams.

La pataflafla est un vieux rudiments du tambour que l’on rencontre d’abord dans les marches traditionnelles. Le patafla est toujours en anacrouse, commençant piano-crescendo, du fla sur le temps, qui doit être accentué. Les dynamiques et les nuances ne sont pas toujours écrites.

Ce coup doit être léger et il faut veiller à une bonne articulation des flas.