Analysis of Buzz Stroke

For American Rudimental Snare Drumming, the practice of rudiments is approached with different combinations of basic strokes. The basic strokes are basic movement ideas that enable a snare drummer to develop the technique needed for rudiments. The rudiments allow the snare drummer to apply the technique developed from the basic strokes. This is similar to basketball fundamentals like the layup and jump-shot, which have individual elements that composite the entire movement.

The Buzz Stroke is the stroke used for all multiple bounce strokes. For example, the double stroke (or diddle) is included in the Buzz Stroke. In analysis, the Buzz Stroke shows the relationship between the number of bounces and the rate in which the most relaxed grip (different for each player) produces each bounce. The Buzz Stroke is considered a basic stroke because the technique used for a Double Stroke Roll, a Three Bounce roll, and a Buzz stroke utilize the same motion. For every bounce after the initial stroke, the elbow contains that stroke until the stick dissipates and the stroke reaches rest position. The elbow contains each stroke. The body is relaxed enough to allow transfer of weight from the shoulder to the tip of the stick. Here's the sequencing of the Buzz Stroke by stroke type: Rest->Up->Down->Tap->Tap->Tap->Tap->Tap->Rest. The Buzz Stroke can be viewed as a fundamental stroke because the double stroke is contained inside of the Buzz Stroke movement. From rest to upstroke, the elbow moves in close to the body while the hands reach the farthest place from the head of the drum. 

This is one stroke sequence based on sequencing of movement by stroke type:
From Upstroke to Down stroke, the elbow moves further away from the body as the hands move toward the drum in order to strike the head of the drum. From down to tap, the elbow reaches its furthest point as the second stroke is performed. Note: this is the sequence for the Double Stroke Roll. The elbow continues to move closer to the body through each subsequent tap until the body reaches rest position. This completes one stroke sequence. 

The 3D data captured from the right shoulder, elbow, and wrist show how the movement of the right arm affects the right stick’s movement.  For the data, an algebraic translation was performed using the Peak Motus system with one rotation plane (x,y,z). For Figure 1, the trajectories that show the greatest movement are displayed in one graph (shoulder x, elbow y, wrist z). In comparison to the elbow and wrist, the shoulder shows a smaller range of motion (see Figure 1). The elbow is the second smallest range of motion while the ulna and radius share a common trajectory. The displacements of the right arm affect the right stick. In Figure 2, the right stick (z vector) is shown to have a similar trajectory to the wrist. This is the general displacement of the stick over time. All data pertains to the experiment date of April 23, 2016.

There is a correlation with the movement of the stick tip and the theory of a bouncing ball. If the peaks of the stick tip were compared to the peak-matching-hypothesis, then a correlation of analysis techniques should be present (Feucht, 2017). 

This is a graph of the right stick tip’s displacement (cm) over time (fps) in the z vector (vertical).
The displacement of the right stick tip corresponds with the idea of projectile motion in physics. The idea is representing the right stick tip through peak-matching 2nd degree polynomials and comparing that data to a bouncing ball (figure 3 and 5). The standard deviation for the joint markers are represented in figure 4 which shows that most of the movement recorded is repetitive in nature.   

Figure 5

The stick tip reaches its maximum height (t=269fps, displacement=56.9989cm) and discontinues its trajectory at rest position (t=540fps, displacement=-7.99958cm). The intermediate points of contact with the head of the drum show how the grip of the stick influences the bounce of the stick since the shoulder, elbow, and wrist show minimal displacement after the initial strike of the head at the first stroke (t=315). This phenomenon can be explained by comparing the standard deviation of displacement in X, Y, and Z vectors in the right shoulder, elbow, and wrist (Figure 4). The Buzz Stroke performs an Up Stroke, a Down Stroke, followed by numerous taps. Each successive tap is smaller in amplitude to the previous tap in a manner that resembles a decay algorithm. The data shows how the motion of the tip of the stick matches the sound of the stroke. In other words, the height of the tip of the stick (z plane) directly affects the decibel rating of the resulting stroke which produces sound on the drum. Striking velocity is closely related to the height of the stick which influences the force of the stick towards the drum (Dahl 2004). If the force of the stick strike has a correlation to the height of the stick (and the force of the strike has a correlation to the decibel rating of the resulting sound of the snare drum), then the displacement data presented of the Buzz Stroke should have a direct correlation to the sound produced by the drum via the stokes. This occurrence of the Buzz Stroke necessitates that the grip of the hand must be loose enough to allow for a natural decay of velocity and the resulting decibel rating.

Dahl, S., et al. "Playing the Accent - Comparing Striking Velocity and Timing in an Ostinato Rhythm Performed by Four 

Drummers." Acta Acustica United with Acustica, vol. 90, no. 4, 2004, pp. 762-776.

Feucht. "Peak-Matching Polynomial." N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2017.