Drums

OVERVIEW

The word “percussion” is derived from the Latin “percussio” which means to beat or strike with musical intent. A percussion instrument is one that is made to vibrate and therefore produce sound through the action of beating, scraping, rubbing, shaking, or any similar action. Percussion instruments are sometimes categorized by having “pitched” or “unpitched” qualities, i.e. a xylophone being “pitched” and a set of claves being “unpitched”.

PERCUSSION HISTORY

Along with the human voice, percussion instruments are the oldest used by people. Research in French caves that were inhabited by humans roughly 25,000 years ago suggests that people were already focusing on the percussive properties of certain materials and spaces. Certain painted areas of the caves appeared to have been repeatedly struck with the purpose of exploiting the acoustics of the caves. Macaque monkeys will drum trees as a display of dominance and drum beats have been used to organize troops for marching for thousands of years. In the last hundred years or so it has become increasingly popular to play some sort of drum kit or set.

WHEN TO START

Since playing a beat is so primitive and children are able to beat things even before they start to develop vocal abilities, it is never too early to start learning percussion. No matter what instrument you play it is necessary to be able to count a beat and play a rhythm so beginning with percussion will only help to strengthen the fundamental musical requisites.

PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS

There are thousands of different types of percussion instruments used all over the world. In Western Music we most commonly hear drum kits, which are combinations of different drums, cymbals, and other percussion instruments like cowbells, woodblocks, etc. Conga and bongo drums are also popular along with a huge variety of other hand drums. The percussion category can also include “found” instruments, which basically means that an everyday object can be used as a percussion instrument. Frank Zappa once played a bicycle on the Steve Allen Show.

PERCUSSIONISTS & DRUMMERS

Inspiration for playing the drums and/or percussion can be found everywhere in music. Classical music uses its percussion conservatively, while rock music is founded on it and some world music consists of nothing but percussion. Composers like Beethoven and Listz used percussion instrumentation to imitate the sounds of battles. Airto Moreira and Ruth Underwood are two jazz percussionists. The most popular modern percussionists are drummers like Neil Peart (Rush), Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones), Ringo Starr (Beatles), John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Keith Moon (The Who), Terry Bozzio (Frank Zappa), and Danny Carey (Tool).

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

For those who already play one or more styles there is always another style out there to master. Drummers can sometimes simply add a new piece to their set or upgrade to something like a double bass pedal in order to change things up. For percussionists, there are always new instruments to experiment with including “found” instruments.