Origins Of The Military Zil Pattern
“Why is it called the Military Pattern? Where did it come from?”
One of the reasons I’m still this passionate about FCBD®Style after 19 years is because I stay curious. I never get bored of digging deeper. Nothing gets me excited more than getting a question that I don’tknow the answer to.
When I was asked these questions about the military zil pattern (sometimes called the 3-3-7), I had my ideas, but got excited about researching and sharing what I found.
Where did it come from?
First stop on this quest was of course, Carolena. She confirmed that she learned the zil pattern and name from her teacher, Masha.
I reached out to my friend and dance historian, Abigail Keyes, to see if she had some history on the military pattern from the Jamila Salimpour perspective (Masha’s teacher).
Abigail says, “I’m not sure where 3-3-7 came from, but it’s the first pattern we teach in Salimpour vocab and it’s in Jamila’s cymbal manual.” She went on to say that while they used to call it the military pattern, they stopped naming patterns because they added so many it was getting complicated.
Abby also shared this amazing vintage zil poster!
Why is it called the military pattern?
This one is still a little mystery, but my theory is that the pattern is very similar to snare drum rhythms played by a military marching band.
See this YouTube video example:
Side note: It also reminds me of the 20th Century Fox Theme song
When do we the Military Pattern in FCBD®Style?
While most of fast steps use our standard R-L-R pattern, we do have a few that work best with the Military pattern such as the DoubleBack, Up2 Down3 and the Push Forward and Back.
However, we want to practice the Military zil pattern with all of our fast steps that are used in chorus because if the featured dancers dance any step with this pattern, the chorus will play the pattern too.
For FCBD®Style the best resource to learn this pattern is Carolena’s Tribal Basics Volume 3: Zils Yin and Yang and, of course, by Kelley’s fantastic course on FCBDU, I Bloody Love My Zils.
This month we are showcasing this pattern as well as the movements we play it with. You’ll find this in our new releases like Lore’s brand new class on the Up2 Down3 as well as our class recommendations including ways to prepare your hands and wrists for your zil practice.