Accents and Rebounds (Revised and Updated) for the Snare Drummer – George Lawrence Stone – Alfred Music
Accents and Rebounds (Revised and Updated) for the Snare Drummer – George Lawrence Stone
The authoritative follow-up to Stick Control — expanded and updated with Joe Morello's Moeller arrow notation to take snare drum technique from solid to refined.
Who This Book Is For
If Stick Control is the foundation, Accents and Rebounds is where the real detail work begins. George Lawrence Stone wrote this volume as a direct continuation of his landmark Stick Control for the Snare Drummer, and it assumes the player has already put in serious time with that material. The focus shifts from pure stick control and rudiment repetition to something more nuanced: the relationship between accented and unaccented notes, the physics of rebound, and the musical shaping of rhythmic phrases. Those are the skills that separate a drummer with raw speed from one with genuine finesse — and this book is specifically designed to build them. The revised and updated edition makes an already essential text even more useful by incorporating Joe Morello's arrow notation system, which gives students a clear visual road map for integrating the Moeller technique into their practice. Whether you are a serious high school percussionist, a college-level drum student, or a working drummer looking to sharpen the edges of your snare technique, Accents and Rebounds belongs in your library right next to Stick Control.
Key Highlights
- The definitive follow-up to Stick Control for the Snare Drummer — both books by George Lawrence Stone, designed to be used in sequence
- Covers accented eighths, accented dotted notes, accented triplets, rebound control, and the buzz roll
- Revised and updated edition adds Joe Morello's legendary arrow notation for hands-on integration of the Moeller technique
- Exercises drawn from Stone's private collection of hand-conditioners — material not available anywhere else in print
- Builds dynamic control, stick rebound awareness, and musical phrasing at a level well beyond basic technique books
- 52 pages of focused, high-density snare drum material — no filler, no redundancy
- Published by Alfred Music under Stone Percussion Books — the trusted steward of Stone's legacy
Why You'll Love It
Features
In-depth studies on accented eighths, dotted notes, and triplets build rhythmic precision and dynamic range. Dedicated rebound control exercises develop the stick rebound awareness that underlies all advanced snare technique. The updated edition adds Joe Morello's arrow notation, integrating the Moeller method into the existing Stone framework in a way that is both practical and immediately applicable.
Advantages
Unlike books that treat technique as a collection of isolated exercises, Accents and Rebounds builds a connected understanding of how accent placement, dynamic contrast, and rebound interrelate. The Moeller arrow notation added in this edition gives students a physical language for a technique that is notoriously difficult to teach from notation alone — making what was once an oral tradition accessible on the page.
Benefits
Drummers who work seriously through this book come out with a measurably different relationship to their sticks — more control at all dynamic levels, cleaner accents, and a deeper understanding of how to shape a musical phrase on an unpiched instrument. These are the qualities that get players hired, noticed, and advanced to the next level of study.
Great Fit For
- Drummers who have completed or are actively working through Stick Control and are ready for the next step
- Serious high school and college percussionists developing advanced snare technique
- Private lesson students whose teachers assign Stone's books as part of a structured technique curriculum
- Working drummers looking to develop greater finesse, dynamic control, and rebound awareness
- Percussion educators stocking studio libraries with essential technique texts
- Any drummer interested in understanding and applying the Moeller technique through Joe Morello's notation system
How This Book Is Used
Most teachers and players use Accents and Rebounds the same way they use Stick Control — as a daily technique warm-up worked through systematically over months and years rather than consumed in a single season. The accent studies are best approached slowly and precisely before speed is added, allowing the hands to internalize the accent-to-rebound relationship before tempo obscures it. Stone's own instruction in the original edition notes that accents should be practiced heavily — the idea being that the discipline of heavy accent practice in the practice room produces natural, musical contrast in performance.
The Moeller arrow notation added in this revised edition is particularly valuable for students working with a teacher on physical technique, as it provides a shared visual vocabulary for up-strokes, down-strokes, tap strokes, and full strokes — the four fundamental motions of the Moeller approach — that can be referenced and discussed without ambiguity.
Specifications
There is a short list of books that every serious snare drummer eventually ends up with on their stand, and this one has been on that list for decades. Stone wrote Accents and Rebounds because Stick Control left something on the table — the dynamics, the shaping, the rebound relationship that turns technical proficiency into real musicianship. This revised edition makes that already essential text even better by giving players Joe Morello's notation system as a guide to the physical technique underneath the notes.
If you are buying this alongside Stick Control, you are making a smart investment in your playing. If you are coming to it already well into your Stone journey, you already know why you are here. Either way, we are glad to have it in stock. Questions about how it fits into a broader practice plan? Give us a call or shoot us a text at 814-371-5666 — Spotts Music Center, 377 Midway Drive, DuBois, PA. We love talking drums.