Drum kit
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| The drum kit |
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1 Bass drum | 2 Floor tom | 3 Snare drum |
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Sizzle cymbal Swish cymbal Crash/ride cymbal |
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A drum kit, drum set[1] or (archaic) trap set is a collection of drums and other percussion instruments set up to be played by a single player[2].
More specifically, a modern drum kit (for a right handed player), as used in popular music and taught in many music schools, consists of:
- A snare drum, mounted on a specialised stand, placed between the player's knees and played with drum sticks (which may include rutes or brushes)
- A bass drum, played by a pedal operated by the right foot
- A hi-hat stand and cymbals, operated by the left foot and played with the sticks, particularly but not only the right hand stick
- One or more tom-tom drums, played with the sticks
- One or more suspended cymbals, played with the sticks, particularly but not only the right hand stick
and is played seated on a drum stool.
Most drummers extend their kits from this basic pattern, adding more drums, more cymbals, and many other instruments. In some styles of music particular extensions are normal, for example double bass drums in heavy metal music. On the other extreme but more rarely, some performers omit elements from even the basic setup, again particularly for particular styles of music.
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[edit] History
[edit] Beginnings
The first recognisable ancestors of the modern drum kit were infants of 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 played by hand. Circa 1890, experimentation with foot pedals began. Many patented their system such as Dee Dee Chandler of New Orleans 1904-05[3]. Liberating the hands for the first time, this evolution saw the bass drum played (first standing) with the foot of a percussionist and became the central piece around which every other percussion instruments would later revolve. Ludwig-Musser, William F. Ludwig Senior 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.
[edit] Development
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" (shortened to "trap") tray used to hold whistles, klaxons, and cowbells, thus 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 spot light with his drum solos, and others would soon follow his lead. Krupa is also known to be the first to record a drum solo on a commercial record.
Influential 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 and, many more.
[edit] Rock and Roll
With the ascendance of rock and roll, a watershed moment occurred between 1962 and 1964 when the Surfaris released "Wipe Out," and when Ringo Starr of The Beatles played his Ludwig kit on American television; 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 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 have reverted back to basic four piece drum set standard.
In the 21st century, it is not 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).
[edit] Recording
On early recording mediums (until 1925[4]) such as wax cylinders and discs carved with an engraving needle, sound balancing meant that musicians had to be literally moved in the room[5]. 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.
[edit] Components
[edit] Drums
[edit] Drum sizes
See #Common configurations below for actual drum sizes.
Traditionally, drum sizes were expressed as depth x diameter, both in inches. More recently, many drum kit manufacturers have begun instead to express the size as diameter x depth, again in inches.
Manufacturers still using the traditional format in their catalogues include:
while those using diameter x depth include:
For example, a hanging tom 12" in diameter and 8" deep would be described by Tama as 8x12, but by Pearl as 12x8, and a standard diameter Ludwig snare drum 5" deep is a 5x14, while a Premier of the same dimensions is a 14x5.
[edit] Snare drum
The snare drum is the centre of the kit. It provides the strongest regular accents, played by the left hand, and the backbone for many fills.
[edit] Toms
Tom-toms are drums without snares and played with sticks, and are the most numerous drums in almost all kits. They provide the bulk of most drum fills.
They include:
- Traditional double-headed rack toms, of varying depths, see tom-tom drum#Classic rack tom setups.
- Floor toms.
- Single-headed concert toms.
- Rototoms.
The smallest and largest drums without snares, such as octobans and gong drums, are sometimes considered toms and sometimes not, and if not there are many borderline cases.
The naming of common configurations directly reflects the number of toms, as only the drums are conventionally counted, and these configurations all contain one snare and one bass drum, the balance being toms.
[edit] Bass drum
The bass drum gives a regular but often varied foundation to the rhythm. Beginners tend to play simple bass drum patterns, moderate players complex ones with many strokes, and accomplished players more subtle ones with fewer strokes.
[edit] Other drums
[edit] Cymbals
Cymbals are as important in most drum kits as the drums themselves.
Beginners cymbal packs normally contain one ride, one crash and a pair of hi-hats, with a few containing instead just a crash/ride instead of the separate ride and crash, and a pair of hats. The sizes closely follow those given in #Common configurations below.
Most drummers soon extend this by adding another crash, a splash or a china, or even all three.
[edit] Ride cymbal
The ride cymbal is most often used to keep a constant rhythm, every beat or more often. Development of this ride technique is generally credited to Baby Dodds[6].
Most drummers have a single main ride, near their right hand, most often 20" but 16"-24" are not uncommon. It is most often a heavy, standard cymbal, but some drummers use a swish cymbal, sizzle cymbal or other exotic as the main or only ride, particularly for jazz. In the 1960s Ringo Starr used a sizzle cymbal as a second ride particularly for use during guitar solos.
[edit] Hi-hats
The hi-hat has a similar function to the ride cymbal; The two are rarely played at once, but one or the other keeps the fine rhythm much of the time, played by the right stick of a right-handed drummer. Changing between ride and hi-hat, or between either and a leaner sound with neither, is often used to mark a change from one passage to another, for example to distinguish verse and chorus.
[edit] Crashes
The crash cymbals are the strongest accents, marking crescendos and climaxes, vocal entries, and major changes of mood. A cymbal crash is often accompanied by a strong kick on the bass drum pedal, both for musical effect and to support the stroke.
In the very smallest kits, in jazz, and at very high volumes, ride cymbals may be used as crashes. Some hi-hats will also give a useful crash, particularly thinner hats and/or those with an unusually severe taper. At low volumes, producing a good crash from a cymbal not particularly suited to it is a highly skilled art. Alternatively, specialised crash/ride and ride/crash cymbals are specifically designed to combine both functions.
[edit] Other cymbals
Cymbals other than rides, hi-hats and crashes are called effects cymbals when used in a drum kit. They include:
[edit] Other acoustic instruments
Other instruments that have regularly been incorporated into drum kits include:
- Wood block and cowbell. These are traditional in some forms of music.
- Tambourine, particularly mounted on the hi-hat stand above the cymbals. An ordinary tambourine can be used, or a tambourine produced specially for drum kit use.
- Timbales can be used to extend the ring of tom-toms, particularly when the drummer owns them for other reasons. However, a timbale is tuned far higher than a tom of the same diameter, so the result is not ideal.
- Xylophone or glockenspiel.
- Tubular bells.
- Gongs.
- Bar chimes.
- Triangles.
- Objets trouves, including spanners, brake drums, cardboard boxes, and jam and kerosene tins.
See also #Extended kits below.
[edit] Electronic drums
As well as providing an alternative to a conventional drum kit, electronic drums can be incorporated into a kit.
This is possible in two ways:
- Triggers are sensors that can be attached to drum kit components. In this way, an electronic drum sound will be produced when the instrument is played, as well as the sound made by the instrument.
- Trigger pads can be mounted alongside other components. These pads make no significant sound themselves, but purely trigger the electronic sound, and are played with the same drum sticks as other drum kit components.
In either case, a control unit (brain) with suitable sampled sounds, and amplification equipment are both required. Sometimes, for the sake of appearance or of the desired "feel" of the instrument, a drum with a trigger will be used as a trigger pad by muffling it so heavily that no significant sound at all is produced, see Electronic drum#Acoustic triggered drum kit.
A trigger pad can contain up to four independent sensors, each of them capable of sending to the brain information describing the timing and intensity of a stroke. A circular drum pad will normally contain only one sensor, but a cymbal-shaped pad often contains two, one for the body and one for the rim of the cymbal, and a triangular pad may contain four, one for the body, played by the stick tips, and one for the rim of each side, played by the stick shafts. (Commonly called a rim shot and often used to trigger a similar effect, playing the rim of the trigger pad is a significantly different and far simpler technique, as it is not necessary or even desired to strike the body of the pad.)
Trigger sensors are most commonly used to replace the acoustic drum sounds. For example, in a live performance in a difficult acoustical space, a sensor may be placed on every drum and cymbal, and used in each case to trigger a similar sound. These sounds are then amplified through the PA and are all the audience hears, and can be amplified to any level without the feedback problems associated with microphones. The sound of the drums and cymbals themselves is heard by the drummer and possibly other musicians, but even there the foldback system will be fed from the electonic sounds rather than the live sounds. The drums can be heavily muffled, and their tuning and even quality is less critical. In this way much of the atmosphere of the live performance is retained but without some of the problems associated with amplified drums.
Trigger sensors can also be used in conjunction with conventional and/or built-in microphones. If some components of a kit prove more difficult to "mike" than others, sensors may be used on only the more difficult instruments.
Trigger pads on the other hand when used in a conventional kit are most commonly used to produce sounds not otherwise available. Any sound that can be sampled can be used. Recordings of barking dogs and stereo recordings of aircraft taking off and landing have for example been used to great effect, as well as the more obvious electronically generated sounds.
[edit] Hardware
Hardware is the name given to the stands that support the instruments. Generally the term also includes the hi-hat pedal and bass drum pedal or pedals, and the drum stool, but not the drum sticks.
Hardware is carried along with sticks and other accessories in the traps case, and includes:
- Cymbal stands.
- Floor tom feet.
- Hanging tom brackets or arms.
Particularly for large kits, many or even all of the stands may be replaced by a drum rack.
[edit] Common configurations
Kits are generally categorised by the number of drums, ignoring cymbals and other instruments. Snare, tom-tom and bass drums are always counted; Other drums such as octobans may or may not be counted [7].
The sizes of drums and cymbals given below are typical. Many drummers differ slightly or radically from them. Where no size is given, it is because there is too much variety to call a typical size.
[edit] Three-piece
A basic, conventional three-piece kit consists of bass drum, 14" diameter snare drum, 12"-14" hi-hats, and a single 12" diameter hanging tom 8"-9" in depth and a suspended cymbal in the range 14"-18", both mounted on the bass drum.
Such kits were common in the 1950s and 1960s and may still be found in small acoustic dance bands. It is a common configuration for kits sold through mail order, and, with smaller size drums and cymbals, for very young drummers.
[edit] Four-piece
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A four-piece kit extends the three-piece by one tom, either a second hanging tom mounted on the bass drum and displacing the cymbal, or a floor tom. Normally another cymbal is added as well, so there are separate ride and crash cymbals, either on two stands, or the ride on the bass drum to the player's right and the crash on a stand.
The standard cymbal sizes are 16" crash and 18"-20" ride, with the 20" ride most common.
A floor tom if used is most often 14" for jazz, and 16" otherwise. Many historic bands and early rock music recordings used this configuration, and it remains popular particularly for jazz.
Alternatively, a second hanging tom is used, 10" diameter and 8" deep for fusion, or 13" diameter and one inch deeper than the 12" diameter tom otherwise, or very occasionally a 14" diameter hanging tom is added to the 12", both being 8" deep. In any case, both toms are mounted on the bass drum with the smaller of the two next to the hi-hats, on the left for a right-handed drummer. These kits are particularly useful for smaller venues where space is limited.
[edit] Five-piece
The five-piece kit is the full entry level kit and the most common configuration. It adds a third tom, making three in all.
A fusion kit will normally add a 14" tom, either a floor tom or a hanging tom on a stand to the right of the bass drum, in either case making the tom lineup 10", 12" and 14".
Other kits will normally have 12" and 13" hanging toms plus either a 14" hanging tom, a 14" floor tom, or a 16" floor tom. For depths, see Tom-tom drum#Modern tom toms.
The bass drum is most commonly 20" in diameter, but rock kits may use 22", jazz 18"[7], and big bands up to 26".
A second crash cymbal is common, typically an inch or two larger or smaller than the 16", with the larger of the two to the right for a right-handed drummer, but a big band may use crashes up to 27" and ride up to 24". A rock kit may also substitute a larger ride cymbal and/or larger hi-hats, typically 22" for the ride and 15" for the hats.
[edit] Small kits
In trad jazz or rockabilly, the toms may be omitted completely, or the bass drum replaced by a pedal-operated beater on the bottom skin of a floor tom and the hanging toms omitted, in either case resulting in a two-piece kit.
Some rockabilly kits and beginners kits for very young players omit the hi-hat stand. In rockabilly, this allows the drummer to play standing rather than seated.
[edit] Extended kits
Some common extensions beyond these standard configurations are:
- Effects cymbals, particularly splash cymbals and china cymbals.
- Double bass drums.
- Extra hanging toms.
- Extra crash cymbals.
- A crash/ride cymbal in addition to the main ride.
- A second, larger floor tom.
- Octobans.
- A second pair of hi-hats mounted as cable hats or X-hats.
- Cymbal stacks.
- Individual tiger, wind or chau gongs.
- Multiple ride cymbals. A sizzle cymbal thinner and larger than the main ride was once common as a second ride or crash/ride even in a four-piece kit but is now less so. Jazz drummers however may still have two or more ride cymbals even in a small kit.
See also other acoustic instruments above. Another versatile extension becoming increasingly common is the use of some electronic drums in a mainly conventional kit.
Less common extensions, found particularly in very large kits, include:
- Gong drums.
- Multiple bass drums beyond the double bass drum setup.
- Sets of gongs, tuned or untuned.
- Multiple snare drums.
- Instruments "borrowed" from orchestral percussion, such as tympani.
- Instruments "borrowed" from marching band percussion, such as the tuned bass drums used in the drumline.
[edit] Accessories
[edit] Cases
Drummers who perform in concert venues often have a variety of equipment cases to transport the drums, cymbals and hardware. Performers who play local gigs may only have relatively inexpensive padded cloth bags or thin plastic cases. Professional touring drummers who have to ship their drums will typically have heavy-duty road cases that will securely hold and protect the equipment during transport.
[edit] Microphones
Professional drummers may also carry their own drum microphones with them to shows, to avoid situations where a venue has only substandard equipment. Dynamic microphones, which can handle high sound pressure levels are usually used to close-mic drums while condenser microphones are used for overheads and room mics.[8] Some drummers who have their own mics have a set of drum-mounted mics, an approach which eliminates the need for mic stands and reduces set-up time. In some styles of music, drummers may also use electronic effects on drums. In some situations, drummers use noise gates that mute microphones below a threshold volume. This allows the sound engineer to use a higher overall volume for the drum kit, because it reduces the number of "active" mics which could feed back.
[edit] Drum booths, risers, carpets
In some styles or settings, such as country music clubs or churches, the drummer may use a plexiglass screen to dampen the onstage volume of the drums. Many drummers who play in different venues carry carpeting or mats to prevent the bass drum from slipping on a wooden floor. Some drummers use an insulation-style filling or foam in the bass drum to lessen the "ringing" sound.
[edit] Practice equipment
Drummers often use a variety of accessories when they are practicing. Metronomes and beat counters are used to develop a steady rhythm. Drum muffling pads may be used to lessen the volume of drums during practicing.
A practice pad, either held on the lap or mounted on a stand, is used for silent practice with drumsticks. A set of practice pads mounted to simulate an entire drum kit is known as a practice kit; These have largely been superseded by electronic drums and kits with non-sounding mesh heads.
[edit] Playing
[edit] Grooves
play (help·info)
Kit drumming, whether playing accompaniment of voices and other instruments or solo, consists of two elements:
- A groove which sets the feel and provides a framework.
- Drum fills and other ornaments and variations which provide variety and substance.
[edit] Fills
[edit] Grips
Most drummers hold the drumsticks in one of two types of grip:
- The traditional grip, originally developed for playing the military side drum, most commonly with an overhand grip for the right hand and an underhand grip for the left.
- The matched grip, in which the sticks are held in similar (but mirror image) fashion.
Within these two types, there is still considerable variation, and even disagreements as to exactly how the stick is held in a particular method. For example, Jim Chapin, an early and influential exponent of the Moeller method, asserts that the technique does not rely on rebound, while Dave Weckl asserts that it does rely on rebound.
[edit] Sticks
[edit] Notation
[edit] Audio samples
| Audio samples | ||
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| Component | Content | Audio (Vorbis: click the arrow to play) |
| Snare | Unmuffled snare drum |
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| Muffled snare drum |
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| Rim click on a snare |
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| Bass drum | Muffled bass drum |
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| Toms | 8-inch (20 cm) rack tom |
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| 12-inch (30 cm) rack tom |
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| Floor tom |
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| Hi-hat | Closed hi-hat |
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| Open hi-hat |
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| Hi-hat being opened and closed by its foot pedal (chick) |
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| Crash | Crash cymbal |
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| Ride | Hit on the bow |
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| Hit on the bell of the cymbal |
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| Hit on the edge |
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| Beat | A typical rock beat on hi-hat |
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| Typical rock beat on ride cymbal |
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| Video sample | ||
| Multiple components | Video illustrating basic drum kit actions |
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| See the Drums category at Wikipedia Commons for more | ||
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Peckman, Jonathan (2007). Picture Yourself Drumming, p.30. ISBN 1598633309.
- ^ http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textd/drumkit.html retrieved 29/01/2012
- ^ Porter/Hullman/Hazel (1993). Jazz - From its Orgins to the Present, p.18. ISBN 0-13-512195-7.
- ^ Porter/Hullman/Hazel (1993). Jazz - From its Orgins to the Present, p.44. ISBN 0-13-512195-7.
- ^ Porter/Hullman/Hazel (1993). Jazz - From its Orgins to the Present, p.44. ISBN 0-13-512195-7.
- ^ "Warren 'Baby' Dodds". The Percussive Arts Society. http://www.pas.org/experience/halloffame/DoddsWarren.aspx. Retrieved 2011-11-21. "Dodds' way of playing press rolls ultimately evolved into the standard jazz ride-cymbal pattern. Whereas many drummers would play very short press rolls on the backbeats, Dodds would start his rolls on the backbeats but extend each one to the following beat, providing a smoother time flow."
- ^ a b Peckman (2007), p.31.
- ^ Drum Lessons - Drumbook.org
[edit] External links
