Rolls & Marks

Before the bell

Assumes students can already: Students can play controlled single strokes at a steady tempo and hold the sticks without the rebound running away. Roll notation describes strokes; a student without stroke control will read it correctly and play something else.

• The Rolls & Marks poster, projected or on the wall
• Rudiment Builder on the projector
• A pad or snare per student, sticks, and a metronome

The period

1. 5 minNotice and baseline

   Two slashes or three?

   Four roll figures on the board, differing only in slash count and note value. Ask what changes between them. Most of the room will say “nothing” or “speed”, and the honest answer — how many strokes fit inside the written value — is the whole lesson.

   the poster

2. 5 minSafety and sound setup

   Singles, slow, even

   Sticks up, metronome slow, single strokes only — no rolls yet. You are not teaching technique today; you are making sure the hands can execute what the notation is about to ask for, so that anything that goes wrong later is a reading problem and you can tell.

3. 10 minModel and establish target

   The marks stand for strokes

   Open one roll in Rudiment Builder so its notation and its stroke-by-stroke sticking are on screen together. Rudiment names follow the PAS International Drum Rudiments, so what students see here matches what their method book and their audition list call it. Read the slashes, then play the strokes, and point out that the notation did not tell you the tempo — you did.

   Rudiment Builder

4. 12 minCoached attempt

   Same figure, three tempos

   One notated roll, played at three tempos as a room. The stroke count stays written and the sound changes completely. This is where students meet the idea that a measured roll and an open roll can be the same marking read in two contexts, and that the part usually tells you which by tempo alone.

   Rudiment Builder

5. 8 minIndependent evidence probe

   Read it cold, in pairs

   Hand each pair two roll figures they have not seen. One reads aloud what the notation asks for — value, slashes, strokes — and the other plays it. Swap. Circulate and listen for the pair who plays before they have finished reading.

6. 5 minImmediate evidence and next move

   Name what you played

   Each student writes the roll figure they were handed and, underneath, how many strokes they played per written note. Nothing is graded by an app here, so this half-page is the record — take it.

How you will know

Evidence: A half-page per student: the roll figure they were handed, and underneath it how many strokes they played per written note — plus what you wrote on the roster while circulating during the paired reading.

What the current evidence supports

• The stroke count matches what the slashes and the note value actually specify.
• Read before played. A pair that started the sticks before finishing the figure does not meet this even if the sound came out right.
• Tempo is not assessed. The notation does not state it, which is the lesson.

Why this measures the objective: No app grades this topic, so the roster note written during the pairs block is half the evidence and it cannot be reconstructed afterwards. The written stroke count catches the decode; only watching catches the student who played first and worked out the reading later, which is the failure the objective names.

Boundary: Evidence collected in this period describes immediate performance under the stated conditions. It does not establish durable retention or broad mastery.

Check later

Delayed check: At the start of a later rehearsal, use a brief changed example before review or prompting. Record whether the target is available with reduced support.

Reaching everybody

If they are not there yet

• Give the stroke count and ask them to play it. Decoding and executing are two demands and this lesson only assesses the first.
• Slow the tempo until the individual strokes are countable by ear. A roll nobody can hear the insides of teaches nothing about what the slashes meant.

If they are ready for a changed condition

• Hand them the same rhythm written as a measured roll and as an open roll and ask what in the part would tell them which is wanted.
• Ask them to write a figure that would produce a stroke count they choose. Writing the notation is the strongest evidence of reading it.

Getting at the work

• A pad and sticks are not the only route — the reading half can be done aloud, and a student who cannot play can be the reader in every pair and be fully assessed on the objective, which is about reading.
• Hearing protection available and offered without being asked for. A room of snares at close range is loud enough to matter.

If the room is not ready: If the paired reading turns into playing races, stop the sticks entirely and finish the period reading figures aloud. The objective is decoding notation and it is fully assessable with the sticks on the floor.

What to look for

• Reading before playing is the behavior worth watching. A student who starts the sticks before finishing the figure is pattern-matching to a roll they already own, and it will hold up until the day the part asks for a different one.
• Slash count treated as “play it fast” is the common misread and it is invisible at tempo. Slow the same figure down and it becomes audible immediately, which is why the three-tempo block sits before the paired reading.
• No app grades this topic. The exit ticket and what you heard while circulating are the entire evidence base for the period, so write the roster note during the pairs block rather than after the bell.