A drum roll (or roll for short) is a technique the percussionist employs to produce a sustained sound on a percussion instrument. Rolls are used by composers to sustain the sound and create other effects, the most common of which is using a roll to build anticipation.
Read more about Drum Roll: Notation
Famous quotes containing the words drum and/or roll:
“If all would lead their lives in love like me,
Then bloody swords and armor should not be;
No drum nor trumpet peaceful sleeps should move,
Unless alarm came from the camp of love.”
—Thomas Campion (1567–1620)
“Roll on, thou ball, roll on!
Through pathless realms of Space”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)