The Great Drag/Ruff Conspiracy

Of all the traditional snare drum rudiments, two have had more than their share of drama. The Drag and the Ruff (a.k.a. Dragg, Rough) have been around for centuries, but a lack of documentation has led to some confusion. There have been attempts to clarify the situation, but none have fully resolved the issue. Fast forward to the present day and we have a three-way tie. One ‘official’ list has both, one claims they’re the same, and one leaves the Ruff out entirely. So after a bit of research, I have formed an opinion about the issue.

According to Strube*, the Ruff is two grace notes followed by a single stroke: rrL / llR. This is the Ruff that I learned years ago. Then came another interpretation where the grace notes are played as quick single strokes, so rlR / lrL. There’s also the 4-stroke Ruff, which is normally played as single strokes --  rlrL lrlR -- and it too has variations.

The Drag is more consistent as the grace notes are always diddles. There is also the Half Drag -- rrL / llR -- which is identical to the original 3-stroke Ruff. And then we have the Drag-ruff and the long forgotten Half Ruffe, Whole Ruffe, and Ruffe’n’Half. Hmmm.

Sorting Out the Raw Data
When I compared 10(!) different configurations of the various Ruffs and Drags, a couple of aspects stood out. The Ruff consists of grace notes plus a single stroke, whereas the Drag family always have diddles followed by two or more strokes. So there is a clear demarcation between the two: 2 or more grace notes and a single stroke for the Ruff, and diddles plus two or more single strokes for the Drag.

So:

3-stroke Ruff	4-stroke Ruff	Drag Family
rrL / llR	rlrL / lrlR	rrL-R / llR-L
rlR / lrL	rrlR / llrL	R-llR / AL-rrL
	rlR / lrrL	rrL-R-AL / llR-AL-R
	rrL / lllr	rrL-rrL-R / llR-llR-AL

The Final Analysis

So at risk of raising the ire of the powers that be, I'd like to propose the following solution:

1. Bring back the diddle-driven 3-stroke Ruff and call it a Ruff.
2. Add the 4 (and 5) stroke Ruffs to complete the set.
3. Forget about the Half Drag and the Drag-ruff. The Ruff can replace them both.

And In Conclusion
Here’s what Ryan Bloom has to say on the subject:

“In summary, a modern Ruff is a 3 Stroke Ruff, or a Single Stroke Drag, while a historical Ruff is the same as a Drag, except for when it is a buzzed orchestral Ruff or Rough. A Drag, of course, is the same as a Half Drag because if it were a Full Drag or Single Drag it would be a Drag Tap. This leaves us with the obvious: that a Double Drag is just a Double Drag Tap.”

And here’s how Strube presented it:

Any questions?

For more on drags, ruffs and rudiments, see:

The Percussive Arts Society: https://www.pas.org/resources/rudiments

The National Association of Rudimental Drummers: https://www.nard.us.com/N.A.R.D._Rudiments.html

Gardiner A. Strube: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardiner_A._Strube

Photo credit: 1265529 © Steve Mann | Dreamstime.com