This has been around before, but it's to encourage new drummers to learn to read.
    My teacher transcribed a Peter Erskine lick I've been trying to figure out, in addition to showing me how to play it.  Once I heard it, I could easily see how the written music worked out.  SO, hey, why not try it some more?
   I got a copy of John Riley's Bop Drumming book, and started doing some exercises.  Tough at first, but the same deal... I can hear and see it. 
    So now I've learned two new rhythms from Riley's book, and I can read through his interdependence exercises, too.
    So why am I telling this?  A lot of guys figure that reading isn't cool or that it's boring.  But I found that it's as important as being able to learn to read written words.  There's a hell of a lot to learn and remember, but if you've got the book, you don't have to try to carry it around it your head.  And learning stuff from the Riley book is helping ALL my playing... very fun!
   

Very cool, Bill! When you can see the notation in your head as you play, that's when you know you've crossed that line and you've really absorbed it. Ironically, I think the more you learn about reading music, the easier it is to play things by ear.

Reading is what has kept me in paycheques playing music. I'm reading several 1-hour long musical review shows a week and often have to sight read shows the day of. I'm so glad my father (a drummer) made me take piano lessons before he would teach me drums so that I could get a foundation in reading, harmony, and melody. Reading has been one of the most indispensible musical techniques I've ever learned.

But, I've found that at times I've become overdependent and overfocussed on the visual element, relying too much on the chart and not "hearing" what's happening around me. It's very important that you get the idea out of the chart/book/page and try to absorb it into your mind and body as quickly as possible so that you can shift your attention to the SOUND you're making. The most important parts of any chart aren't usually in the ink. Usually, the ink is just a sketch - you have to turn it into music.

Jim Blackley, a great jazz teacher and author who I study with now and again, has instructions listed for the chapters in his books. For instance, it might say,

1) Play all exercises this way.

2) Play all exercises that way.

3) etc...

4) etc...

5)GET YOUR NOSE OUT OF THE BOOK!

The value of that instruction cannot be understated.

FWIW, sight reading for a horn player and sight reading for a drummer aren't always the same exercises. A horn player computes every note and at the highest levels, they are also great interpreters of the music. They probably know some history of the composer and what the goal of the composition is supposed to be.

For drummers, the likelihood of being asked to sit down and read drum notation is about 1 in 1,000. Maybe less likely. I've never seen it, but I admit my professional experience is severely limited. You're more likely to get either a horn or keyboard part. I've seen a few vocal parts in my lifetime, too. One time I get a single line/four bars of notation rhythm, and that was very helpful, but I know to never count on that kind of help.

The most important thing for a drummer to understand about those charts is navigation. Because you won't likely be allowed the opportunity to read note-for-note, it becomes more of a challenge to know where you are at: verse/chorus/bridge/coda, or something to that effect. Drummers need to know how to navigate those charts primarily for things like transition fills, specified "horn hits," and how he/she will be moving along the song (ride cymbal on the chorus, tom-tom beat on the outro, etc.). Or even more common, you get a piece of paper with the song structure (A/B/A/B/C, etc) and some handwritten notes on what they want from the drummer. In Nashville studios and pro gigs, they often hand out something that looks like this: "1///4///5///1///" with a key at the top, which you are supposed to understand "C///F///G///C///" and that's 16 bars; a brief discussion usually takes place directly before playing about what the rhythm section will be doing.

Learning to read drum notation is important to your education and ability to communicate. It will accelerate exponentially the time it takes to learn anything. Unfortunately, only drummers read/speak drum notation.

Absolutely.  That's the one big downside of the computer system.  Without a monstrous monitor, it's impossible to read ahead.  I wouldn't recommend that as the ONLY way to practice site reading, but it helps.

I have to ask, though, how can you guys site read music while playing the kit?  When I play woodwinds, the sheet music is right in front of me.  When I play a drum kit, I can't get the music that close.  So how do you cope with deciphering fly dropping from three feet away?

Also, every time I glance at my kit, I lose my place in the sheet music.  Do you guys learn to play your kit "blind", do you have amazing peripheral vision, or what?

My music stand sits next to my hi hat.  I can play time and most fills without looking at my drums.  As you do it you figure out how to keep your place, although I do still get lost sometimes, especially when just playing time for 64 bars where every measure is written out.  I hate those.

The stand usually goes near the high-hat, always within reach so I can turn pages.  It's also positioned between me and the conductor so I can see the baton with peripheral vision when not looking directly at him/her.

see bill read.
read, bill, read!

see bill play.
play, bill, play!

see bill walk off with 20 more paying gigs coz he can read better than the next drummer.
GO, BILL!!
 


reading is fundamental, as they say. i am definitely getting better at it, though i struggled for a while coz i have a bit of symbol dyslexia. after a while, everything looks crazy to me. i take it in doses, and when i o.d., i just stop and pick it up again. i've found fatigue just magnifies dyslexia. another good trick is to cover portions of the page when it gets overwhelming. it's easier to progress when you compartmentalize information.

Ah... that's what I'm doing wrong.  From your description, I assume your music stand has a boom arm so the sheets are "above" the hi-hat.  Correct?  Are such stands readily available, or would I need to cobble one together from bits of hardware?

No boom. I usually fit my stand in between the HH and 1st tom, assuming no one's laid any cables are anything that would tip the stand over. This is more complicated if you have more battery or a lot of cymbals to your left.

At one point in my life I saw a very cool clip stand that attached to the BD hoop and boomed upwards. Maybe I wouldn't do that to a wood hoop, but it would be a great thing to have otherwise. Anyone know of the manufacturer? Possibly custom made?