Swiss Triplet and Windmill Combinations

By Brad Schlueter

These snare drum exercises are designed to increase your ability to play Swiss Army Triplet and Flammed Windmill combinations.
Given enough practice time, they will increase your chops while helping you learn to feel and hear some interesting polyrhythmic
phrasings. Once your hands can comfortably play these exercises, try tapping your foot on quarter notes to really feel the
polyrhythms and increase your phrasing skills. Be kind to yourself and go slowly at first. This will help you hear the phrases correctly
and learn the patterns more quickly.

These are written in monolinear notation which was originated in 1928 by Dr. Fritz Berger, a Swiss Basle drummer. The right hand
notes are written above the line and the left hand notes are written below it. This style of notation simplifies learning stickings by
keeping your eyes on the notes (and not on R's and L's) and is the style of notation used by Scottish Pipe Band Drummers.

1) right swiss triplets 2) left swiss triplets

R. Hand
L. Hand

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3) alternating flammed windmills in 1/16th notes 4) alternating double windmills

3 3 3 3

5) alternating windmills in triplet rhythm 6)

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

7) 8 bar exercise in triplets

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

8) 4 bar exercise in 1/16th notes

2001