The Drumming World 2

Beginnings

The first recognizable ancestors of the modern drum kit were born in the Vaudeville era. Pecuniary and theater space considerations demanded that fewer percussionists covered more percussion parts. In military and orchestral music settings, drums and cymbals were traditionally played separately by one or many percussionists. The bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, and other percussion instruments were all played using hand-held drum sticks. Circa 1890, experimentation with foot pedals began. Many patented their systems such as Dee Dee Chandler of New Orleans 1904-05.Liberating the hands for the first time, this evolution saw the bass drum played with the foot of a standing percussionist (thus the term "kick drum") and became the central piece around which every other percussion instruments would later revolve. Ludwig-Musser, William F. Ludwig, Sr., and his brother, Theodor Ludwig, founded the Ludwig & Ludwig Co. in 1909 and patented the first workable bass drum pedal system, paving the way for what was to become the modern drum kit.

Development

Drummer in a Memphis "juke joint" orchestra playing a kit with four non-tunable toms. Marion Post Wolcott, October 1939

Gene Krupa, 400 Restaurant, New York City. William P. Gottlieb, June 1946

Louis Bellson with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at the Palomar Supper Club. Vancouver, B.C., 19 April 1952

By World War I, drum kits were characterized by very large bold marching bass drums and many percussion items suspended on and around them, and they became a central part of jazz music, specifically (but not limited to) dixieland. Metal consoles were developed to hold Chinese tom-toms, with swing out stands for snare drums and cymbals. On top of the console was a "contraption" tray (shortened to "trap"), used to hold items like whistles, klaxons, and cowbells, so drum kits were dubbed "trap kits". Hi-hat stands appeared around 1926.

By the 1930s, Ben Duncan and others popularized streamlined trap kits leading to a basic four piece drum set standard: bass, snare, tom-tom, and floor tom. In time legs were fitted to larger floor toms, and "consolettes" were devised to hold smaller tom-toms on the bass drum. In the 1940s, Louie Bellson pioneered use of two bass drums, or the double bass drum kit. Gene Krupa was the first drummer to head his own orchestra and thrust the drums into the spotlight with his drum solos. Others would soon follow his lead. Krupa is also known to have been the first to record a drum solo on a commercial record.

In this era, jazz drummers were highly influential in developing both the concept of the modern drum kit and extending the playing techniques. Important drummers of the jazz tradition included Gene Krupa, "Papa" Jo Jones, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Haynes, Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Joe Morello, and many more.

Rock and Roll

John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, New York City, 1975

With the ascendance of rock and roll, a watershed moment occurred between 1962 and 1964 when the Surfaris released "Wipe Out", as well as when Ringo Starr of The Beatles played his Ludwig kit on American television; these were events that motivated legions to take up the drums.

A trend towards bigger drum kits in Rock music began in the 1960s and gained momentum in the 1970s. By the 1980s, widely popular drummers like Billy Cobham, Carl Palmer, Nicko McBrain, Phil Collins, Stewart Copeland, Simon Phillips, and perhaps most notably Neil Peart were using large numbers of drums and cymbals and had also begun using electronic drums. In the 1990s and 2000s, many drummers in popular music and indie music reverted to the basic four piece drum set standard.

In the 21st century, it has not been uncommon for drummers to use a variety of auxiliary percussion instruments, found objects, and electronics as part of their "drum" kits. Popular electronics include: electronic sound modules; laptop computers used to activate loops, sequences and samples; metronomes and tempo meters; recording devices; and personal sound reinforcement equipment (e.g., a small PA system to amplify electronic drums and provide a monitor for singing).

Recording

On early recording media (until 1925 such as wax cylinders and discs carved with an engraving needle, sound balancing meant that musicians had to be literally moved in the room. Drums were often put far from the horn (part of the mechanical transducer) to reduce sound distortion. Since this affected the rendition of cymbals at playback, sound engineers of the time remedied the situation by asking drummers to play the content of the cymbals onto woodblocks, temple blocks, and cowbells for their loudness and short decay.

This recording-specific particularity had the effect of altering the evolution of the drum set and of stigmatizing the sound of the music recorded at the time.

The drum kit featured in almost all rock and roll songs and the Rock and Roll period played a big role in modernizing the drum kit.