What makes the great cadences that everyone knows so great?

What aspects make them classics that everyone knows?

is it the grooves or the difficulty etc.?

I think if your talking about the cadences like Bunco Rules and Spyder (Old-ish) I think it is really a mix of things.

I think to the drumming crowd, a great candence involves doing something that looks great, sounds great, and feels great. I suppose sometimes it is tradition that makes a candence great. Spyder was around and is STILL around in my older junior high school.

Maybe it is the difficulty. I dunno how many times I've sat down and tried to figure out the Tenor part to Electric Wheelchair. Yeah, I could have just bought the music, but that's no fun.

Maybe it IS just the groove. I have gotten into MANY arguments over whether or not Double Beat is an Exercise or a Cadence, my side being the later. Though it is a warm-up (or something of the like) that groove gives it that feel. Something you can just jam to I suppose. Somethings that would set the crowd off if they heard it.

Hmm... I don't think I actually answered you question now...

There are a couple of things.

The first and probably most important thing (at-least to me) is something that a lot of people overlook: Uniqueness. What makes this different from everything else? Is it just a lot of notes with a lot of groove? or just a groove?

The second thing, is (as kind of stated before) the mix of rudimental style and groove. Not much really to explain here, as everyone has their different opinion as to what ratio of groove to rudiments they like. I like a 60:40 of groove to rudiments. This ratio gives the drumming crowd something to enjoy while also giving the crowd a lot to listen too.

The third thing is the visual aspect. This doesn't even have to be a huge thing. But many of the "greats" we hear about have some kind of visual, however small.

A final thing, is flow. If a cadence doesn't flow, people will get bored listening to it.

Those are some of my thoughts. hope this helps

CarrollDrummer

Flow is a big thing to me. If the transitions are suspect, then it won't stand the test of time.

Groove is also a big thing. If you can't "bob-ya-head" to the cadence, you probably will not remember it.

I disagree about tradition making a good cadence. If it was not a good cadence to begin with, then it never would have developed into a tradition (spyder, bunco, wheelchair, D I C K).

Personally, I think the cadences of today are not as memorable as some of the ones of the past. Arrangers try to cram so many wierd odd meter licks and "different" types of feels into a cadence, that they end up lacking something that makes them memorable. What is newest cadence that is considered a memorable cadence? (name, group, and year would be nice if you remember)...and double beat is not a cadence (tempo is too fast, and it was never marched to).

also not a cadence...Latin Lover and Grevious Groove

I think that that CarrollDrummer hit an important aspect right on. How new/unique it is certainly makes a cadence more fun. The groove is way more important than beats in my opinion. But, then again, I've been biased by my early years in Cali. VK played "Push" for years and I think that cadence is a classic. No cheese-cha-chaddas, but phat grooves and a killer tenors solo. Matt Savage at his best.