I have chosen to write this essay on the drum kit, which is an instrument that I play myself. The drum is one of the oldest instruments known to man and has been used by many cultures around the world. Primitive tribal societies used drums to celebrate victory in battle as well as in ritual dance and worship to the deities. The drum kit (also known as the drum set or trap set), however, is an American invention whose rise was seen in the late 19th century. This is an instrument that has taken the work of several percussionists and turned it into something that can be mastered by one; a phenomenal contraption that has only gotten better with time and continues to develop over the years.
The drum kit does not have a definite inventor but, instead, has many pioneers and innovators in the field. As its name suggests, the drum kit is a collection of various drums and cymbals played by a single drummer using his/her hands and feet. The first recognizable ancestors of the modern drum kit were born in the Vaudeville era. Pecuniary and theatre space considerations demanded that fewer percussionists covered more percussion parts. Porter/Hullman/Hazel (1993). This was also seen in the early brass bands of North America; whenever the need arose for these bands to perform “indoors” they needed a way to save space and thus found it impractical to have more than one drummer and from then on resourceful innovations began to flourish. Two such examples are the creation of the snare drum stand and the bass drum pedal, where before, the snare would either be hung around the drummer’s neck or placed on a stool and the bass drum would be played with a stick. The very first bass drum pedal to be created was in 1909 by William F. Ludwig Sr., percussioni...
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...drum kit-playing has been a male-dominated field for a long time. However, female drummers like Nikki Glaspie and Cheryl Muchapondwa have inspired me to reach for great heights.
Many other drummers have made a huge impression on the world of drumming. Such examples are Gene Krupa (1909-1973) who is credited with encouraging a drum company to develop tom-toms with tuneable top and bottom heads (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Krupa, Accessed 09-04-2013). Another such example is Buddy Rich (1917-1987) who was billed as "the world's greatest drummer” and was known for his virtuoso technique, power, groove, and speed. Yanow, Scott. "Buddy Rich” (2007).
The drum kit is a very versatile mixture of percussion instruments. It truly is a phenomenal contraption that has only gotten better with time and will hopefully continue to progress to greater heights.
Percussion has evolved from a small category to a wide variety of simple and technical instruments. Percussion is a category of musical instruments that is played using the hands or with a handheld stick/beater. Percussion started thousands of years ago when people played rhythms on random objects to please their friends and scare their enemy’s. People over the years discovered different ways to hit the objects.
Bang The Drum Slowly was written in 1956 and is the second in a series of 4 works by Mark Harris which feature Henry Wiggen, a star left-handed pitcher for the New York Mammoths baseball team. I first read it in 1959 when I was 13 years old and I've read it again several times since.
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, more commonly known as Jelly Roll Morton, was born to a creole family in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Morton lived with several family members in different areas of New Orleans, exposing him to different musical worlds including European and classical music, dance music, and the blues (Gushee, 394). Morton tried to play several different instruments including the guitar; however, unsatisfied with the teachers’ lack of training, he decided to teach himself how to play instruments without formal training (Lomax, 8). ...
The way drum corps members perform is deeper on a cognitive level in the brain. The performer has the music in their head while marching and this requires two different parts of the brain. A way to help with the intensity of cognitive power used is through relaxation training or “insight therapy”. In one study, “both the cognitively based treatment program and the behavior-rehearsal program proved effective in reducing musical-performance anxiety”(Kendrick, Craig Lawson, & Davidson, 1982) . These methods reduced performers’ negative self talk. This gives the members a smoother
In this paper, I am going to discuss my experiences playing in the WNE, the bass guitar, and the one and only Willie Nelson. In the legendary WNE, I am the bass player. For this project, it took hours on end of studying the bass inside and out to become this legendary player that I dreamt of before this project. The electric bass, a mystical object that is the foundation of every song, was invented by Paul Tutmarc. Since the 1960s the bass guitar has replaced other instruments like the tuba, the organ, and other low pitched bass instruments. There are many types of basses. Different basses are used for different music because they all have their own unique sound. There are many different styles of music you can play with the bass. Rock, metal, pop, punk rock, country, reggae, gospel, blues, and jazz are all different styles of music the bass can play in. The bass is often a soloing instrument in jazz, fusion, Latin funk, and in some rock and metal styles.
Jhon Coltrane and Miles Davis to be among his biggest influences in music. After playing
And why did Dr. King referred to himself as a drum major for different causes. A drum major is the leader of the marching band during rehearsals and in performance. His/her job is to carry-out the instructions of the band director and other instructional staff regarding what needs to be done with the band. Rick Wilson (2008) Dr. King wanted to be remembered as a Drum Major for Justice. He implored his congregation to remember his attempts to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort prisoners. ‘‘Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice,’’ King intoned. ‘‘Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter’’ (King, ‘‘The Drum Major,’’ 185–186). The death threats that he received daily did not stop Dr. King from preaching his message of service to others and
There are more than fifty different types of percussion instruments, possibly starting with the antique cymbals and maybe ending with the xylophone. There are many different classes of percussion instruments. For example there is Latin percussion instruments, Classic percussion instruments, and Modern percussion instruments. Most percussion instruments are played by shaking, using hands or using a mallet or stick and have stretched membranes. Percussion instruments also have been used to emphasize rhythm and to heighten climaxes.(1) The drums are part of the percussion instruments and is one of the world’s oldest instruments. An instrument, that is the only orchestral drums of definite pitch, is the timpani, which is also called the kettledrums.(4)
Leo Fender, in the 1950s, with some help from his employee, George Fullerton, managed to develop the first mass produced bass guitar. The Fender P bass, or Precision Bass guitar, was introduced in 1951. It became a widely copied standard in the industry. The Fender Bass Guitar was a new instrument that was easily transportable to a gig. It can be amplified to about any volume without having to worry about feedback. Elvis Presley started using the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. Following Fender in 1953, Gibson introduced the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with an extendable end pin, which allows the instrument to be played upright or horizontally. Gibson renamed this in 1958 to the EB-1. Other small companies began introducing the Electric Bass during the 1950s like Kay in 1952 and Danelectro in 1956. The distinctive Violin Bass was made using the violin construction techniques. It was introduced in 1956 by a man named Walter Hofner. This instrument is mostly known as the “Beatle Bass” since Sir Paul McCartney made it famous.
“How Musical is Man?” was published in 1974. This book was written by John Blacking, a musician turned social anthropologist. His goal in writing this ethnography, and several other papers during this same time period, was to compare the experience of music-making that takes place within different cultures and societies throughout the world. In this book, he discusses and describes the musicology of the Venda people in South Africa. Though he does go to Africa to research and learn about the Venda people and their music, he specifically states that his book is “not a scholarly study of human musicality” (ix), but rather it is a summary (written from his point of view), which is both expressive and entertaining, of several different issues and ideas that he has seemingly been contemplating for some time.
"Music is a common experience and a large part of societies. In fact, anthropologists note that all human communities at all times and in all places, have engaged in musical behaviours. Music as a mode of human activity is a cultural phenomenon constituting a fundamental social entity as humans create music and create their relationship to music. As cultural phenomeno...
A leading pioneer in jazz music and education was drummer Max Roach. He is considered to be one of the leaders of bebop along with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and others.
This ethnography, written and told from Campbell’s point of view, shares her experiences as she sets out on her goal to study the musical culture among children in hopes to provide insight into how music plays a role in the lives of children of all different ages. This ethnography is split into three different sections, the first detailing Campbell’s different periods of observation. During her studies on the subject, Campbell spent time in different settings (such as a school bus, a cafeteria, a music class, and at a playground) in the hopes to observe their behavior and create detailed field notes in order to provide details into their interactions and their usage of music. In the second section, Campbell shares her conversations with several different children. Through these conversations, we get a taste of how music can be integrated within many different aspects of children’s lives. The third section focuses on what music means to children as well as how it can play a role or be integrated into diff...
Long ago, during the 14th century, instruments were used as a form of entertainment and was the primary source of money for most musicians. Instruments, like ours today, were classified into groups, depending on tone, pitch, and how they were played. There were string instruments, such as lutes, mandolins, and early forms of guitars, woodwinds, an instrument played by blowing across the top, which included flutes, pipes, and recorders. Among these instruments, percussion instruments such as drums and small bells. Although the mediums used to create such wonderful items have varied, the style and basic idea of them has barely changed. Today, different string instruments have been developed such as the violin, cello, and bass. Music: Then Woodwinds have been evolved immensely from wooden and brittle to solid and metal. Reeds, small samples of wood that musicians have to keep moist, were included in some mouthpieces, such as bassoons, oboes, and clarinets, after the medieval era. Percussion instruments have changed size and shape as time has passed. In the middle ages, most drums were made out of hollow tree trunks, and covered with the skins of water animals to create a drum head. Nowadays, shells of drums are created by bent wood and fastened with a polyester shell to form the head. Instead of strings holding the skin in place, like they did long ago, the polyester is secured with a metal ring and knobs used...
Mainly the West Africans used percussive instruments. These drums came in all sizes ranging from ten to twelve inches to ten to twelve feet. Their drums were made out of hollowed out logs and gourds with a tight skin over the hollow. They also used idiophones to make music. They used a variety of bells, castanets, gongs, and sometimes they made small xylophones or small pianos. Aerophones weren't as prevalent as the percussions or idiophones. Some explorers made small flutes, horns and trumpets from elephant tusks.