How to read a jazz band or pep band drum chart

A jazz band or pep band drum chart doesn't write out every note. It gives you the style, the form, and the places where the band plays rhythms together. Your job is to keep time in that style, decide how to support the band's rhythms, and follow the road map. Here's a short chart with each mark numbered. Tap a number in the list to jump to what it means.

What a drum chart looks like

Slashes: keep time in the style

Slashes, one per beat, mean keep time: play the groove the style marking asks for, at the band's tempo. The style is usually written at the top of the chart, like "Med. swing," "Rock," or "Latin." If it isn't, listen to the band and ask your director. Slashes with "Fill" above them mean make up your own fill that lasts that long.

Swing, shuffle, rock, funk, bossa nova, and half-time are written out and playable in common drum beats. Under slashes, keep the groove simple. The band is reading hard parts, and a plain groove gives them a pulse to follow.

Written beats and one-bar repeats

Some charts write the groove out for a bar or two, then use repeat signs. Keep playing the written bar until the part changes. Numbers over the repeat bars count them for you. "Sim." (similar) also means keep playing the same way.

A two-bar repeat has two slashes and sits across a bar line: play the last two bars again. For the rest of the drum key, see how to read drum set music.

Ensemble figures above the staff

Small notes above the staff are an ensemble figure: a rhythm the whole band, or the horns, play together. The figure tells you what the band is doing. It isn't a list of notes you must play. You choose how to support it:

• Keep time under it and leave space for the band, especially for a short or quiet figure.
• Catch the important notes with the band. A common starting point: long or accented notes with the bass drum and a crash, short ones with the snare or the bass drum alone.
• Set it up with a short fill just before it, so the band hears it coming.

Whatever you choose, keep the time going in between. If the part writes out exact notes, or your director asks for something specific, play that.

Setting up a figure

A setup is a short fill right before a hit, usually a beat or less. It tells the band the hit is coming, the way a conductor's breath does before a downbeat. The simplest setup is one snare note just before the hit. Compare three ways to play the same hit on the & of 4:

All three are real choices. To practice, start with Catch it, and add the setup when the hit lines up every time. In a real chart, pick the one that fits the music and what your director asks for.

Road map: repeats, D.S., coda, and endings

The road map tells you the order to play the bars in. Before you trace this one, here are the rules it follows:

• Bars 3 to 6 have repeat signs: play them, then go back to bar 3 once.
• Bar 6 is the 1st ending: play it the first time only. The second time, skip to bar 7, the 2nd ending.
• To Coda in bar 8 does nothing the first time. It only sends you to the coda after the D.S. al Coda in bar 9 has taken you back to the sign.
• After the D.S., skip the repeat and take the last ending. That's a common rule, but some charts say to take the repeats again. If the chart says so, follow the chart.

Trace it before you play: follow the bars with your finger and say each jump out loud.

After a D.C. or D.S., players usually skip the repeats and play the last ending. Some charts print a different instruction, such as "with repeats." Follow what the chart says. Mark the jumps in pencil: circle the sign and the coda, and draw an arrow at each jump.

Counting multi-bar rests

A thick bar with a number above it is a multi-bar rest. Drum set parts often have fewer of them than horn parts, but pep band and concert charts do have them. Count by saying the bar number in place of beat 1: "1 2 3 4, 2 2 3 4, 3 2 3 4," up to the number on the rest.

Rehearsal letters and cue notes from other parts help you check your count. If you lose your place, find the next rehearsal letter and listen for it.

Practice

Swing Play-along in Percussion Trainer is time under slashes: play it until the groove runs without your attention. Then get a recording of a chart you're playing and follow your part from start to finish without playing. Point at each bar, say each jump as you reach it, and tap the figures on your knees.

Before a first read, use the sight-reading checklist: style, tempo, road map, then the figures.