Joseph Burns Moore (1872–1951) was a champion rudimental snare

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

, member of the

Connecticut National Guard The Connecticut Military Department is a state agency of the government of Connecticut. Its primary components are the Connecticut Army National Guard, the Connecticut Air National Guard, and four companies of the state militia. The Military D ...

, instructional author, and founding member of the

National Association of Rudimental Drummers The National Association of Rudimental Drummers (N.A.R.D. or NARD) is an organization created to encourage the study of Drum rudiments, rudimental drumming. NARD is responsible for the creation of the Standard 26 American Rudiments. History The N ...

Career

J. Burns Moore was born in 1872 in

North Sydney, Nova Scotia North Sydney (Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk: ''Kweso'mkiaq'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Suidni A Tuath'' or ''Am Bàr'') is a former town and current community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Located on the north side of Sydn ...

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. His family moved to

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

in 1888 when he was sixteen years old, and he studied drums with Jack Lynehan. He played in his first snare drumming competition while a sergeant in the New Haven Grays. Moore also played in the Morris Drum Corps during the 1890s. He would go on to win the Connecticut Championship in 1891, 1895, 1897, and 1900. He also placed 3rd in 1893, which outraged him. He took out an ad in the paper challenging the 1st and 2nd-place finishers to a drum-off. In 1905 Moore joined the

New Haven Symphony Orchestra The New Haven Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in New Haven, Connecticut. The New Haven Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert on January 25, 1894 and is the fourth oldest orchestra in the United States. Today, the o ...

as a percussionist, a post he held for over 45 years. He was also a drummer in the 2nd Company of the Governor's Foot Guards. In 1933 Moore was invited to be a judge at the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

National Convention in

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. While at the convention he participated in the formation of the

with William F. Ludwig, Sr.,

George Lawrence Stone George Lawrence Stone (1886–1967) was an American drummer and author. He wrote the books ''Stick Control for the Snare Drummer'' (1935) and ''Accents and Rebounds for the Snare Drummer'' (1961). Among his students were Joe Morello, Gene Kr ...

, and 10 other prominent rudimental drummers that eventually organized the 26 Standard American

Drum rudiment In ''rudimental drumming'', a form of percussion music, a drum rudiment is one of a number of relatively small patterns which form the foundation for more extended and complex drumming patterns. The term "drum rudiment" is most closely associ ...

s. Moore served as the first president of the new organization from 1933 to 1945. In the 1930s Moore was known as a tough teacher, reportedly throwing out students who had not practiced and using profanity around them during lessons, which cost 25 cents per half hour.Mazur, Ken. "The Perfectionists: The History of Rudimental Snare Drumming From Military Code to Field Competition." ''Percussive Notes.'' April 2005. According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, this would have been equivalent to about $5 in 2019, extremely inexpensive by today's standards. Moore had a strong relationship with William F. Ludwig and the W.F.L. Drum Company published his rudimental drum book ''Art of Drumming'' in 1937, which includes 27 rudiments despite his involvement with the selection of the Standard 26, and produced a signature model marching snare drum for him. The company also ran an ad in 1941 calling Moore the "World's Greatest Drummer" and touting his 54 years of experience at the time. Moore and Ludwig judged a NARD and Ludwig Drums sponsored competition together in 1940 called "East Meets West" where drummers from different regions of the USA competed. Moore recorded the drum solos "Connecticut Halftime" and "Old Dan Tucker" in 1940 for the WFL Drums album ''Wm. F. Ludwig Rudimental Drum Album No. 1''. "Connecticut Halftime" would later be re-released on an album called ''Ruffles and flourishes : music for field trumpets and drums'' in 1957. Among Moore's students was Hanaford Fife and Drum Corps founder Gerd Sommer, noted rudimental teacher Carl Frolich, champion snare drummer Frank Fancher, noted teacher, drum shop owner, and contributor to ''Modern Drummer'' and ''Downbeat'' magazines Jimmie Stavris, and champion snare drummer (and namesake of the Dan English Trophy) Daniel English. In 2013, Moore was awarded the USARD Lifetime Achievement Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, J. Burns 1872 births 1951 deaths American male musicians Canadian emigrants to the United States