Most drummers are familiar with the concept of the Drag, PAS rudiment number 31. It features 2 grace notes before a primary note and is played as a double stroke followed by a single stroke. Normally, all three of these notes are distinctly audible and separate although the exact timing of them is somewhat variable from 16^th notes all that way up to 64^th notes, depending on the context and the player. Pipe band drumming has a Drag as well, and it looks very similar to the American Drag. There are actually two interpretations that are distinct in the modern pipe band style – Scottish Drags and Open Drags. Open Drags are the American style of Drag but Scottish Drags are completely different. What constitutes a Scottish style Drag, exactly, is different depending on the time and place. The most extreme modern interpretation indicates that they should be played with a dead stroke, like a Flam with no rebound, which is not really a Drag at all.

Pipe bands were first formed in the middle 1800s in Scottish regiments of the British Army. Sources differ greatly, citing dates from the Crimean War in the 1850s up to as late as the 1880s. Whenever they actually started, it was definitely sometime in the 19^th century. Today, pipe bands are found in essentially every former British colony or Commonwealth country, making it one of the most popular types or rudimental drumming in the world. Piping has a distinctly different rhythmic feel than fifing or bugling and thus a new type of snare drumming was eventually necessary. At first the difference was subtle, meaning that pipe band drummers played more or less the same way as standard rudimental drummers. Today, some 140-170 years later, the difference is drastic and immediately obvious, even to someone who knows nothing about pipe band. From the sticks to the drums to the rudiments, pipe band drumming is now completely different from other types of rudimental drumming. This includes the Drag.

Modern Scottish style Drags are often said to be “dead stroked,” and there is some debate about exactly how dead that is, but it is definitely not the same as an Open Drag or American style of Drag. This wasn’t always the case, however. The earliest pipe band drum settings that I’ve ever seen, and possibly the earliest that survive today at all, are found in the Henry Potter’s Side Drum Beatings from around 1910.  (No author is listed but Henry Potter was born in about 1817, so unless he lived to be at least 93 and was still writing at the time, it was probably not actually Henry himself.) The settings are pretty much indistinguishable from the fife and drum rhythms or drum and bugle rhythms of the day. This leads me to believe that the Drags were very likely played the same way as any other common types of rudimental drumming in Great Britain at the time. The drums used in pipe band were also very similar, or even identical, to those used in other types of drumming, meaning they did not have the crisp rattle of the modern high tension, double snared pipe band drums. An Open Drag type of interpretation is very likely, as were Open Double Stroke Rolls. Unfortunately, neither the Henry Potter book nor John Seton’s 1925 Drum Tutor have any rudimental instruction to clarify the technique. In both cases the rhythms are all round, that is played in straight 8ths and 16ths without the modern dot-cut and triplet types of rhythms. Similarly to Seton and Potter, the Army Manual of 1934/36 has mostly round rhythms and also no indication of technique. One must assume it is still Open Drags, as higher tension screw tuned drums were not yet very common. In the 1940s, most pipe bands switched over to screw tension drums from rope tension, which meant that higher tunings could be achieved.

In the early 1950s, screw tensioned drums were in common use, but plastic heads had not yet been invented. In this transitional period the Edcath Collection of 1950 contains some dot-and-cut rhythms but again, no indication of technique for Rolls or Drags. Seton published another book in 1954, the Mozart Allan Pipe Band Drum Tutor, this time with rudiments and explanations. He mostly shows Open Rolls and Open Drags, but, for the first time that I can find, he explicitly mentions Buzz Rolls as a technique. This was likely the precursor to the changing of the Drag interpretation.

In the late 1950s, plastic drumheads were invented, also allowing for higher tunings and clearer tones. It is thought that pipe bands made the switch from mostly Open Doubles to mostly Buzzes in this general era. Recordings from this time are very hard to make out, however. In 1962, the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (RSPBA) published its Tutor and Textbook, which indicated closed rolls, probably buzzes without using the word, but still advocated for an open drag with the sound “Trup.”

In 1972, Wilson Young describes the various rudiments and definitely mentions buzzed rolls and the proper execution for Drags, which in this case was closed, like a Ruff. He specifically says to buzz the grace notes and make the sound “Zzup.” This is a distinct change! Allen Benson released a book explaining the pipe band style in 1981 and he reiterated the sound “zup” for the Scottish Drag, so it can be assumed that a closed Ruff with a buzz stroke was standard at that time.

The RSPBA produced a Structured Learning series in the 1990s and they referred to the syllable “trup,” just like in their earlier Tutor, for the required sound on a open drag, BUT mentioned that a closed drag was more likely needed in most cases. Allan Chatto of Australia also published a book in 1992, Learn to Play the Pipe Band Snare Drum, that described a Closed Drag with the sound “trup.” This is confusingly inconsistent as it mixes the sound effect of the Open Drag with the execution of the Closed Drag.

The earliest mention I can find of the grace notes actually being dead stroked is from around 2010, in James Laughlin’s Guide to Pipe Band Drumming. He uses the word “dead stroke” and gives the syllable “thrup.” Steven McWhirter stated in 2011 in an educational video on drumminondemand.com: “The drag is a tap and dead stroke played almost at the same time.” In 2014, Michael Eagle also uses the term “dead stroke” in his presentation on Scottish rudiments at PASIC, and there are videos of him playing Drags with a complete lack of bounce on the grace note. It is almost a Flam, but the grace note sticks to the head. Because of this video evidence, it is very clear that the Drag is totally dead stroked in these cases.

Cadet pipe band manuals in Canada still refer to the Drag as buzzed in 2015 or later, not dead. Some rank and file pipe band drummers of the past few years in the USA, Scotland, and elsewhere, use the term “dead” but simply mean a small amount of buzz, rather than a long drawn out buzz. In these cases they are not referring to the complete lack of rebound. The Denver and District Pipe Band says, “There is no equivalent to the Scottish drag, which looks outwardly similar to a flam,” which is sort of helpful but does not fully commit to either approach. It appears that even with a “dead stroked” interpretation, the term isn’t universally applied to the same technique.

I am no pipe band expert and so I have no way to say what is the most correct or most legitimate opinion. I also must admit that I do not own Duthart’s or Stronach’s tutors, which are some of the most classic. Perhaps there is further evidence there.

It appears that, in summary, the Scottish Drag probably started out as an Open Drag in the 19^th century, then moved into a Closed Drag or buzzed Ruff, “Zzup” or “zup,” phase sometime in the 1960s or early 1970s. In the 21st century, some drummers have moved toward a dead stroked Flam execution, or at least a very, very short buzz. There is a clear progression over time toward a shorter sound and it is likely that at some point the completely dead Flam sound will take over in all cases, as that is the logical conclusion, though it seems that point has not bee reached everywhere.

 –A curious parallel is actually the Russian Drag, or Dvoyki Forshlag.  Today, Drags and Flams are performed exactly the same way in traditional Russian rudimental contexts, as Flams. This makes no sense to drummers of other traditions, of course. Why write two grace notes if you mean to play one? Russian rudimental drumming was heavily influenced by the Dutch and Austrian styles in the 17^th and 18^th century, and those systems definitely had regular Drags with two grace notes. It appears that over time the interpretation by Russian drummers became more and more closed, similarly to the pipe band style, such that by 1903 A. Vassilyev notes that the Flam and the Drag are performed the same way “in battles.” So, the interpretation was variable depending on the context, being played as two different rudiments when not in battle. Over the following 120 years the Flam and the Drag drifted toward one another such that they are the same rudiment in the 21^st century. They continue to write both Flams and Drags in the music, because of tradition, but not for any practical difference in the resulting sound. Pipe band still has a subtle difference between the Flam and the Scottish “dead stroked” Drag, though the number of grace notes in the music is similarly ignored.