Multiple Bounce Roll
R L R L
Practice tempo
What it teaches
Controlled multiple-bounce (buzz) technique — pressing each stroke just enough into the head that the stick rebounds several uncounted times on its own before the other hand strikes, producing one continuous wash of sound rather than individually discrete strokes. This is close to the opposite skill from the Single Stroke Roll's hand-to-hand evenness: the goal here is sustained density, not separately audible notes.
The common mistake
Pressing too hard and choking the bounce into a single dead stroke (losing the buzz entirely), or pressing too little so the bounces trail off into silence before the next hand comes in, leaving audible gaps between hands; the correction is adjusting fulcrum pressure stroke by stroke until the buzz sustains evenly for the full duration of each hand's turn.
Tempo progression
Start at 58 BPM, one hand per quarter note, focused purely on getting each single stroke to buzz with a full, even decay before switching hands — do not chase speed yet. Once the buzz sustains cleanly at 58, shorten the note value (half note, then quarter, then eighth) rather than raising the metronome number, since a good multiple bounce roll is judged by sound density, not raw BPM.
Where it shows up
The sustained roll under a cymbal crescendo, a drumline roll-off, or the concert snare roll notated with a 'z' through the stem — anywhere a passage calls for a continuous wash of sound instead of a string of individually countable strokes. Widely known outside PAS terminology as the 'buzz roll,' 'closed roll,' or 'press roll.'