Pataflafla

What the pataflafla is

Four sixteenth notes (semiquavers) with a flam on the first and the last, so the flams sit on either side of two plain taps. Brutal on stick control and a genuine chops builder.

How to practice it

• Flams on the first and last of four sixteenths — the middle two taps stay quiet.
• The second flam is led by the other hand, so practice both flams alone before joining them.
• Go slowly: the two flams close together are what make this one hard.

Where it leads

The pataflafla belongs to the flam rudiments family, and it feeds directly into drum-corps flam passages and advanced flam combinations. Get it even at a slow tempo before you move on — every rudiment built on top of it inherits whatever unevenness you leave here.

Reading the notation above

Both hands play the snare drum, so every notehead sits in the third space of the staff and the sticking letters underneath tell you which hand plays which note. Capital letters are full strokes; small letters are grace notes. The small noteheads with a slash through the stem are the grace notes of the ornament — they are played almost simultaneously with the note that follows, not as separate beats. The > marks above the staff are accents: hit those notes harder. Full details in the drum notation guide.