Alphonse Grieder

Alphonse 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.

Grieder was born in Basel, Switzerland 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.

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. 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, which he followed in 1971 with a book on the same subject, Das Basler Trommeln. 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.

Grieder remained an active ambassador of Swiss drumming in America for his entire life. In November 2002, he performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention with the American Basel-style ensemble Americlique.Just a few months later in April 2003 he died of cancer.

Among Grieder's students is drum book author and orchestral percussionist Steve Fitch.

• Das Basler Trommeln Book
• Das Basler Trommeln Vinyl Recording
• Giegy Festival Concerto CD Recording