Alfons Grieder

Alfons Grieder was a Swiss rudimental drummer who helped popularize the Basel Drumming style in America during the mid to late 20th century through his traveling, teaching, and publications.
==Biography==
Grieder was born in Basel, Switzerlandhttps://drummagazine.com/history-of-the-snare-drum/ in 1939 and began studying Basel style snare drumming with Dr. Fritz Berger in 1949. He came to the United States in the 1950s to study classical percussion with teachers like Saul Goodman and Morris Goldenberg. Starting in 1957, Greider began working with Dutch drummer Rob Verhagen to organize Basel drumming workshops in The Netherlands.http://fasnacht.ch/2001/03/09/%C2%ABbasler-fasnacht-%E2%80%93-eine-hl-messe%C2%BB/ 
In the 1960s he visited the Deep River Drum Corps's annual muster, inspiring them to start a group called the Swiss Mariners, and realized that the ancient American Fife and Drum Corps tradition was very similar to that of his native Basel.Clark, James. Connecticut's Fife and Drum Tradition. Wesleyan University Press, 2012. In addition to inspiring Americans to play in the Basel style, he also reportedly took American Ancient drumming back to Switzerland and inspired Swiss drummers to play in the American style, which they took to fairly adeptly.Clark, Jim. "Basel Drumming, A Close-Up View." Ancient Times. Issue 119, November 2006. He would later tour around the United States visiting other drum corps teaching Fritz Berger's version of Swiss drumming, and in doing so he established himself as a world expert on Swiss rudiments, though some experts do not agree. 
In 1968, he had an article published in the Ludwig Drummer periodical about Swiss rudiments,Grieder, Alfons. "Introduction to Swiss Basel Drumming." Ludwig Drummer. vol. 8, no. 1, 1968. which he followed in 1971 with a book on the same subject, Das Basler Trommeln.Grieder, Alfons. Das Basler Trommeln. Musik Hug, 1971. It is primarily due to his, and Berger's, teachings and publications that Swiss rudiments have been incorporated into both the PAS 40 International Drum Rudiments of 1984, and into several Drum Corps International hybrid rudiments. His goal in America was to become a professional orchestral percussionist, and he did indeed perform and record Rolf Liebermann's Geigy Festival Concerto several times, but was forced to become an insurance analyst when his percussion career failed to take off seriously. Back in Switzerland he became a member of the Fastnacht Society and was the director of their drum school for many years. In 1974, Greider performed at a Basel event called the Sticksland Meeting Two, which was captured as a live audio recording by George Gruntz.https://www.mps-music.com/releases/monster-sticksland-meeting-two-live/ He also appeared at the Internationales Schlagzeug- und Percussion-festival in Metzingen, Germanyhttp://www.fuchs-charrier.de/einternationalesfest.html in 1996 with the Basler Trommel-Ensemble.http://www.martinmusic.ch/ABOUT_ME_files/Alain%20von%20A-Z.pdf
Grieder remained an active ambassador of Swiss drumming in America for his entire life. He performed at the Percussion Creative Symposium and Hanover,"Alfons Grieder 1939-2002." Drums & Percussion. April, 2003. and in November 2002, he performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventionhttps://www.usard.org/administration/item/744-ameri-clique-25th-muster.html with the American Basel-style ensemble Americlique. Just a few months later in April 2003 he died of cancer.
Among Grieder's students are drum book author and orchestral percussionist Steve Fitch,Fitch, Steve. Fantastic Feet: Stepping Outside the Box. Mel Bay, 2012. snare drummer, instructor, and composer Ben Dijkgraaf,http://www.drums2play.nl/componisten/ben-dijkgraaf and President of The Pipes and Drums of Basel, Gilbert Widmer.“ Was er wirklich ist und macht.” The Voice of the Band. November, 2010.
==Publications==
*Rudimenter Good Luck (Basel-America Mixpickles) Snare SoloLudwig, William F. America's NARD Drum Solos. Charles Dumont and Sons, 1943.
*Dr Dudelsagg : e Marsch fir 3 Piccolo : [op. 7] Musical compositionGrieder, Alfons, et al. Dr Dudelsagg : e Marsch fir 3 Piccolo : [op. 7]. Basel : E. Oesch, 1965.
*Das Basler Trommeln Book
*Das Basler Trommeln Vinyl RecordingGrieder, Alfons. Das Basler Trommeln. Switzerland: Basilisk. Vinyl LP.
*Monster Sticksland Meeting Two Vinyl recordingGruntz, George. Monster Sticksland Meeting Two. 1974.
* Giegy Festival Concerto CD Recording Grieder, Alfons. Liebermann: Concerto for Jazz Band / Furioso / Medea-Monolog / Giegy Festival Concerto. Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Gunter Neuhold. Naxos, 2002.
* Maître de tambour CD recording Grieder, Alfons. Maître de tambour. Basel, Switzerland: Swissdrum GmbH, 2004.
==In the media==
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==References== 
==External links==
* Alfons Grieder- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music
* Alfons Grieder | Robin Engelman
* Swiss and Basel Drumming. | Robin Engelman
* The United States Association of Rudimental Drummers
* Drum Corps & Swiss Rudiments | CADRE
Category:20th-century male musicians
Category:1939 births
Category:2003 deaths
Category:Swiss drummers
Category:Drummers from Switzerland
Category:People from Basel-Stadt