The Roll

Sholle Emil

General Info

Year: 1957
Edition: 1st Edition
Publisher: Ludwig Masters Publications
Cost: Book Cost - $8.05   |   Supplemental Books - $0.00

Chapters

Chapter I:
Chapter II:
Chapter III:
Chapter IV:
Chapter V:
Chapter VI:

Reviews

Student Reviews

Organization: While there are no table of contents, there is a preface and five listed sections. The first section deals with 29 exercises which are played with varied tempos in three different ways, described as follows: with a “hit free bounce”, which is essentially a buzz roll with matching bounces in each hand, a “controlled double bounce”, which is a double, and a “controlled triple bounce”, which is three bounces on one hand with one stroke. Section 2 deals with one-handed rolls and includes 10 exercises, including a short description of what to watch out for in the left hand during one of the exercises. Section 3 has no listed time signature and focuses mainly on the evenness of each note in the 16 exercises. Section 4 includes different notation to show the roll base of each of the 18 exercises, along with the roll written out as it normally would appear. In Section 5, with the final 5 exercises, different metronome markings and dynamics are assigned for each exercise, with these being the longest exercises in the book. The back cover of the book features a list of recommended books by other authors.

Content: While the definition of a “hit free bounce” is mentioned in the first section of the book, advice on how to actually perform it is left out. It describes what a “hit free bounce” should sound like, but there are no suggestions on how to perform one or how to know when to use one in favor of a different stroke, such as a “controlled double (or) triple bounce.” There are different notations used for doubles and rolls, but it is never specified which one is which, which may be confusing to beginners who could assumed they are played the same way. Dynamics are not introduced until Section 4, so until this point, the student has not worked on rolling at lower or higher dynamics which could halt their progress on their rolls quickly.

Uses: With the exercises in the book, I would say this book would be best used with a middle to high school-level player. While there are important aspects of rolls left out, such as playing areas on the snare and differentiating between closed and open rolls, this book could still be used between an instructor and a student to build their rolls and give them something to practice with.

Rating: While there are good exercises in this book, I still feel a good explanation of rolls should be introduced to the student prior to them playing these exercises. At least a full page on how rolls should be performed, and the different kinds of rolls encountered in musical literature would go a long way to understanding the roll. The preface explains that this book is focused towards providing exercises for building good rolls, and not explaining the roll itself, so to that point it fulfilled its purpose. 3/5. User:Hondogracias

Works for Percussion by this Author

Emil, Sholle. The Roll. Ludwig Masters Publications, 1957.