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dancingtongue Those swing-band drummers could read music to a high degree.
They used a heck of a lot of improvising and could be very egotistical, almost taking over the music at times. However, even though they didn't have the manuscript on stage, they still had to be capable of sight-reading to be able to learn their parts in the semi-formal arrangements used by such bands.
They did not just play the bass drum either. They used full kits.
I don't know if I still have it but I bought a copy of a book over 100 pages long, just on snare-drum skills. Written by Buddy Rich, it started with the basics of musical notation, then drum notation specifically, followed by the "Rudiments" (half-a-dozen primary rhythm and fill building-blocks) gradually moving into the arcane world of stroke-blizzards with names like "Triple Flam Paradiddle". Which of course is a Paradiddle containing three Flams... I didn't try to get that far.
It didn't seem to occur to them that played on a single drum, such a fancy figure would sound to anyone not an experienced drummer merely like a.... blizzard of strokes. Or a rather irregular roll.
......
"... bought a copy..." That's when most respectable towns had at least one music shop.
