The Three Camps is a snare drum solo with quite a history behind it. This was one of three solos that my brother had me memorize when I was his student. In the mid 80's I attended a percussion history lecture/demonstration given by William F. Ludwig II whose father was the co-founder of the famous Ludwig Drum Company in 1909.
This is the story of The Three Camps as I remember from his lecture.
The Three Camps goes back to at least the French and Indian War. When the troops were traveling from point A to point B they would have to bivouac every night (no Holiday Inns at the time). To guard against surprise attacks during the night they would break into 3 groups. The first group would stop and make camp while the rest would continue on. Far enough away but still within ear shot the second group would make their camp followed by the third group doing the same.
At daybreak the drummer from the first group would play the 'First Camp'. The last roll of the 'First Camp', the drummer of the second group would join in and continue playing the 'Second Camp' and the first drummer stopped. On the final roll of the 'Second Camp', the third drummer would join in and continue through the 'Third Camp' as the second drummer stopped. Finally all three drummers would play the final section to the end. Hence the title 'The Three Camps'.
The logic behind this was to assure to each group that the others were safe through the night. If by chance one group were ambushed and captured one of the sections of the solo would not be played and therefore the remaining two groups realized the danger. But what if the enemy's drummer would play the proper section? The three drummers knew how each other played this solo, spending their days together they would constantly play separately and together. In time they would recognize the slight differences of each others playing just as one would recognize the sound of a friend's voice.
Some of the specifics of this story might be wrong (remember he told me this some 35 years ago) so any variations can be attributed to my lack of memory.
After the lecture was over I went up to tell him how much I enjoyed it and found the story so compelling. After relating that my brother required me to memorize this solo he was disappointed that we didn't speak before the lecture. He would have had me play one of the sections at the opposite end of the room as he played another section.
We spent an hour talking about the history of drummers during war time, how the differences of drum depth would dictate the tempo of solos- during the Revolution drums were quite deep therefore the drummers would march slower around 86bpm. By the time of the Civil War the drums were much shorter allowing the tempo to be faster.
This is the story of The Three Camps as I remember from his lecture.
The Three Camps goes back to at least the French and Indian War. When the troops were traveling from point A to point B they would have to bivouac every night (no Holiday Inns at the time). To guard against surprise attacks during the night they would break into 3 groups. The first group would stop and make camp while the rest would continue on. Far enough away but still within ear shot the second group would make their camp followed by the third group doing the same.
At daybreak the drummer from the first group would play the 'First Camp'. The last roll of the 'First Camp', the drummer of the second group would join in and continue playing the 'Second Camp' and the first drummer stopped. On the final roll of the 'Second Camp', the third drummer would join in and continue through the 'Third Camp' as the second drummer stopped. Finally all three drummers would play the final section to the end. Hence the title 'The Three Camps'.
The logic behind this was to assure to each group that the others were safe through the night. If by chance one group were ambushed and captured one of the sections of the solo would not be played and therefore the remaining two groups realized the danger. But what if the enemy's drummer would play the proper section? The three drummers knew how each other played this solo, spending their days together they would constantly play separately and together. In time they would recognize the slight differences of each others playing just as one would recognize the sound of a friend's voice.
Some of the specifics of this story might be wrong (remember he told me this some 35 years ago) so any variations can be attributed to my lack of memory.
After the lecture was over I went up to tell him how much I enjoyed it and found the story so compelling. After relating that my brother required me to memorize this solo he was disappointed that we didn't speak before the lecture. He would have had me play one of the sections at the opposite end of the room as he played another section.
We spent an hour talking about the history of drummers during war time, how the differences of drum depth would dictate the tempo of solos- during the Revolution drums were quite deep therefore the drummers would march slower around 86bpm. By the time of the Civil War the drums were much shorter allowing the tempo to be faster.
Very interesting! I have never heard this before! Thanks for sharing!
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