A synthesis and comparison of the socioeconomic, cultural, religious, and musical effects the invention of the drum kit has had on America since its invention circa 1900.
The Modern Drum Set: Driving the Rhythm of Change in America Jeffrey Ringle
A synthesis and comparison of the socioeconomic, cultural, religious, and musical effects the invention of the drum kit has had on America since its invention circa 1900.
Perhaps the greatest American musical feat was the invention of the foot pedal and the modern drum kit. The drum kit epitomizes American ingenuity and the diversity that melted into what became American music. It’s central role in the development of American music flowed out into American culture as music became more commercialized, industrialized, and secularized. As it did, the modern drum set, along with the music it drove, became more and more influential in American culture.
The history of drums and their close connection to religion, ritual, and rhetoric goes back to the beginning of civilization in the Indus, Tigris, and Euphrates valleys, and is too comprehensive to discuss in detail in this context. (Hart) As early as 1623, Turkish metalworker Avedis Zildjian had perfected a process of treating alloys to make musical cymbals that is essentially still in use today. However, the acceptance of drums into American culture was brought about mostly by the military and it’s need for snare and bass drummers, (also cymbals in the case of some Eastern armies.) Had war not driven the need for loud and striking rhythm, drums may not have made their way to America, especially in light of the cultural intolerance in America at the time and the obvious correlation between drumming, drums, rhythm, and the African continent. Thankfully though, drums did make their way to America, in a big way.
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African American religious music is the foundation of all contemporary forms of so called "black music." African American religious music has been a fundamental part of the black experience in this country. This common staple of the African American experience can be traced back to the cruel system of slavery. It then evolved into what we refer to today as gospel music. The goal of this paper is ...
Until the invention of the trap kit bands required the arms of a bass drum player, a snare drum player, and a player of cymbals. Bringing the three elements together was only a matter of time and who was the most innovative. As early as 1888 Albin Foerester owned a patent for a bass drum/cymbal pedal. (Aldridge) The low-boy, a forerunner to the hi-hat, was introduced circa 1925. According to legend drummer Vic Berton conceived it. (Pinksterboer, 19) Consolidating all the elements of the rhythm section into one player created a more streamlined band, which will eventually be a major detriment to American culture. The invention of the foot pedal created so much more ease of playing that drummers everywhere in America had to get their ‘feet’ on one.
In 1909 Sir William F. Ludwig and his brother Theobald developed a pedal with a spring that changed everything. (Aldridge, 7) Soon afterwards they went into wide-scale production and so began the multi-billion dollar industry of drum and hardware manufacturing in America. The rise of jazz and big band took hold of the American media. You couldn’t turn on a radio station in the 40s and 50s without hearing the rhythm-driven beast called jazz, then rhythm and blues. The authors of “American Music” call the rhythm section the ‘most stable and indispensible element of the jazz ensemble.” (Candelaria & Kingman, 273) As people got into drums, and drums got into people, over the next 50 years in America many changes would occur in both.
The Second World War shaped everything in American culture, including the drum kit. The war effort left shortages of metal in other industries. In the 1940s a regulation called the 10% Law allowed only ten percent of non-war materials to be made from metal. (Pinksterboer) This gave rise to smaller and more compact drums. The invention of the cocktail kit, which is basically: a kick, snare, tom tom, and a small cymbal in one self-contained unit, allowed easier travel and the ability to play efficiently in smaller rooms for smaller amounts of time. Because of the drum kit, music that was once performed only in large cathedrals and halls, mixed with music that had previously been clapped out in fields or made rhythmically with whatever nature afforded, could now be brought to average people in a saloon, dancehall, park, or even right on the street. The smaller and cheaper rhythm section was also now available to the public, and garages everywhere where being cleared out to make room for drums, and rock and roll.
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The inclusion of the drum kit into popular music gave rise to a multitude of new styles driven by this ‘beat monster’. The ability to keep time with either the ride cymbal or on the hi-hat and the increasing speed with which bass drum figures could be played drove the rhythm of rock and roll music. Rock and roll swept over America in the fifties and sixties. Drum sets were so vital to the music that was going on that rock pioneer and legend The Grateful Dead had two of them! Another style of music made possible by the drum kit that had vast sociological effects was punk music. (Kotarba) What a great idea to give the rhythm to everyone, if we could only learn to play together. A sociological look at the music during the sixties makes it easy to see how individuals and cultures are rapidly changed. As bands became more popular and more people could, and wanted to, be in them, music contained more subject matter that the masses could identify with.
The connection of music and masses brought connections in behaviors, whether perceived or not. It’s hard to estimate the amount of people in America whom experimented with LSD as a result of some rock band or another, certainly driven by a big drum set. A whole generation of Americans also embraced marijuana, as they had before, largely because of rock and roll music, and the counterculture was so strong that today state governments are finally giving up their fight and legalizing it. In a way it’s like they are finally legalizing rock and roll. More importantly however, it was the first widespread spiritual tool distributed across America. If rhythm produced by a drum can cause a state of trance enabling humans to perform ethereal tasks, and Mickey Hart among others believes that to be the case indeed, then mass production and distribution of drums is like passing out potential ‘trance pills’ if you will.
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Mariachi is a custom of traditional music that has its pedigrees in Mexico and it began as a regional vernacular style in the central West Mexico. The early musicians formerly played it with string instruments and they clad in shirts and white chinos of country-dweller farmers. Most of the documents mentioning the presence of mariachi are just dated back to the mid of 19th epoch, but there is ...
In many ancient cultures the drummer was also the spiritual leader, tribe doctor, plant expert and head authoritative figure. The percussion instruments weren’t the most important instruments in sacred ceremonies; they were the only ones, save for voice. The power of rhythm enabled sacred trances in which one could heal, communicate with the dead, and see past and future events. Although these sacred traditions have been long lost, the power has not. It is felt every day when people make music. We have only stopped identifying it. Many great musicians like Frank Zappa, Mickey Hart, and Eric Clapton have described a fully immersed performance as ‘out of body.’
Consolidating drums and cymbals together only increases the power and variety of rhythmic textures. The drum set became a convenient package in which these sacred secrets are contained, and made them available to large groups of people. Every drummer’s contribution is equally unique and packed with potential energy. This sacred power oozed out over America as the drum set became more and more prevalent in American popular music. People everywhere where were getting with the rhythm. Now a degree can be obtained in Percussion Arts. Drum sets can be purchased in almost any town in America. The cycle completes, as it always will, and now it’s hard to find a church in America that doesn’t have a plugged in band, and of course, a drum set.
Works Cited
Aldridge, John. Guide To Vintage Drums. Anaheim Hills: Centerstream Publishing, 1994. Candelaria, Lorenzo and Daniel Kingman. American Music: A Panorama. Third, Concise. Belmont: Clark Baxter, 2007. Hart, Mikey. Drumming On The Edge of Magic. Los Angeles : Acid Test Productions, 1998. Kotarba, Joseph and Phillip Vannini. Understanding Society Through Popular Music. New York City: Taylor and Francis, 2009. Pinksterboer, Hugo. The Cymbal Book. Ed. Rick Mattingly. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 1992.
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Mayan musical traditions are characterized by a hybrid nature of pre and post Encounter traditions, instrumentation, beliefs, practice and performance. Today someone can examine contemporary Mayan music to identify these European and indigenous characteristics. This paper is about the scholarly literature and musical selections of Mayan music to confirm the premise of hybridization. The social ...
