In several other articles I have gone into some depth on where or when some rudiments may have originated, but it seems fitting to put a very basic outline of that information in a single place. Here I will try to list, to the best of my ability, where each of the 40 American rudiments was invented or first printed. For some, like the double stroked rolls, they are so obviously old and ubiquitous that there may be no good answer other than “in Europe a long time ago.”

According to my research of the 40 PAS standards, up to 5 rudiments were invented in Britain, possibly 2 in France, 1 in Germany, 5 in Switzerland, 14 appear so many places around the same time that they are difficult to assign a definite origin, leaving up to 16 (at least 13) possibly invented right here in America. You will probably notice that this doesn’t add up to 40 exactly. The Flam Accent, Single Stroke 4, and Pataflafla, have been narrowed down to a couple of places, but I have not been able to make a definitive call. It has been stated, and often repeated, that the “Flamacue is the only American rudiment,” however I see no evidence that this is the case. Quite a few of our standard 40 rudiments have no written record before the 1770s and show up in America books first. It is plausible, but not proven, that some of these may have been invented in Britain and imported during our colonial period. The lack of evidence makes it purely conjecture, so we must default to the written record.

Please feel free to contact me if you disagree on any of these points. I would enjoy discussing possible corrections or additions. For a list of when each of these most likely appeared in the USA for the first time see my PAS timeline.

1- Single Stroke Roll: Unknown, ubiquitous

2- Single Stroke 4: 4 stroke ruff- Britain; regular notes- France

3- Single Stroke 7: America, possibly France

4- Multiple Bounce Roll: Unknown, ubiquitous as an orchestral technique

5- Triple Stroke Roll: Germany

6- Double Stroke Open Roll: Unknown, ubiquitous

7- 5 Stroke Roll: Unknown, ubiquitous

8- 6 Stroke Roll: Uknown, very common

9- 7 Stroke Roll: Uknown, ubiquitous

10- 9 Stroke Roll: Unknown, ubiquitous

11- 10 Stroke Roll: Unknown, very common

12- 11 Stroke Roll: Unknown, very common

13- 13 Stroke Roll: Unknown, very common

14- 15 Stroke Roll: Unknown, very common

15- 17 Stroke Roll: Unknown, very common

16- Paradiddle: America

17- Double Paradiddle: America

18- Triple Paradiddle: America

19- Single Paradiddle-Diddle: America

20- Flam: Unknown, ubiquitous

21- Flam Accent: America or Britain

22- Flam Tap: Britain

23- Flamacue: America

24- Flam Paradiddle: America

25- Single Flammed Mill: Switzerland

26- Flam Paradiddle-Diddle: America

27- Pataflafla: Possibly America or otherwise France

28- Swiss Army Triplet: Switzerland

29- Inverted Flam Tap: Britain

30- Flam Drag: America

31- Drag: Unknown, ubiquitous

32- Single Drag Tap: Switzerland

33- Double Drag Tap: Switzerland

34- Lesson 25: Switzerland

35- Single Dragadiddle: America

36- Drag Paradiddle #1: Britain

37- Drag Paradiddle #2: America

38- Single Ratamacue: America

39- Double Ratamacue: America

40- Triple Ratamacue: America

Most likely American rudiments: Paradiddle, Double Paradiddle, Triple Paradiddle, Paradiddle-Diddle, Flam Paradiddle, Flam Paradiddle-Diddle, Flam Drag, Dragadiddle, Drag Paradiddle #2, Single Ratamacue, Double Ratamacue, Triple Ratamacue. Possibly American: Single Stroke 7, Flam Accent, Pataflafla.

Most likely British rudiments: 4 Stroke Ruff/Single Stroke 4, Flam Tap, Inverted Flam Tap, Drag Paradiddle #1. Possibly British: Flam Accent.

Most likely Swiss rudiments: Single Flammed Mill, Swiss Army Triplet, Single Drag Tap, Double Drag Tap, Lesson 25.

Possibly French rudiments: Single Stroke 4, Single Stroke 7, Pataflafla

Most likely German rudiments: Triple Stroke Roll

The remainder could possibly be attributed to Switzerland, since that is where rudimental snare drum was first documented to have been used, though France is another possible candidate since they have the longest history of written notation. Single Strokes, Double Strokes (and the numbered rolls), Flams, Drags, and Multiple Bounce Rolls are just too old and too common to assign an origin with any certainty. The earliest notation for essentially every rudimental tradition includes some or all of these simple elements, except the Multi-Bounce which comes from orchestral playing.