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Drum kit - of talking drums, drum bans and money-savers
22.03.2022 By Theresa Rodewald (Online Editor)
From Phil Collins' "gated reverb", which shaped the sound of the 80s like no other, to the breakbeats of hip hop - the drum kit is the rhythmic backbone of popular music. In 2022, it is also Instrument of the Year. A reason for us to embark on a rhythmic search for traces through the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. The journey takes us across the globe, because although strictly speaking the Drum kit is only 124 years old, its historical roots go much deeper and span musical traditions from all over the world.
Before we begin, there is the question of what a drum kit (Drumset) actually is. The name "Drumset" suggests that it is a collection of percussion instruments. This can be expanded or reduced almost at will. Standard drumsets now include a bass drum, which is played by a foot machine, and a snare drum. In addition, there are several small drums, also called toms, and a hi hat, which is a double cymbal that is also played with the foot. In addition, a standard drum kit has a single large cymbal, the ride cymbal.
Drums: Drumming gods, talking drums and drum telegraphy
Percussion instruments are among the oldest musical instruments of mankind. Almost all cultures have a "drumming tradition". Drumming does not necessarily require an instrument. Hands and feet, clapping and stomping are enough to create a rhythm. Early percussion instruments were often made of woods and even today tone woods are still used musically.
Some of the oldest drums known today come from China. In the Neolithic site of Taois, wooden drums covered with crocodile skins were discovered that are more than five thousand years old. Drums can also be found as grave goods among the ancient Egyptians.
However, drums are not (only) used for musical pleasure, but also accompany rituals. In Hindu and Buddhist mythology, the Damaru, an hourglass-shaped rattle drum, is given special importance. In the form of Nataraja, the Hindu god Shiva is often depicted with such a drum in his hand. The Tibetan damaru is occasionally made from skulls. These often come from eminent teachers, which is why the drum may only be played by high-ranking monks.
Drums are also used worldwide as a means of communication. On the African continent, but also in South and Central America as well as in Southeast Asia and Oceania, there are message drums in the form of so-called slotted drums. The larger the drum, the louder the sound and thus the range of the signal. Some slotted drums are therefore made of hollowed-out tree trunks and are several metres long. These drums can be used to exchange signals over long distances, for example between two villages. This is also referred to as drum telegraphy.
In West Africa, so-called speaking drums are widespread. The hourglass-shaped kalangu, for example, is used mainly in northern Nigeria. While playing, the tension of the drum membrane and thus the pitch can be adjusted. It works as follows: The two drum membranes at the top and bottom are connected by cords. The Kalangu is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyANuUwGtbAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyANuUwGtbA. This allows pressure to be applied to the strings, which in turn changes the pitch. The different pitches make it possible to imitate tonal languages such as Twi, Hausa and Dagomba, which are mainly spoken in West Africa.
These drum languages are called surrogate languages. They are not independent languages with their own grammar like sign language, for example, but neither are they a pure substitute like Morse code. Drum languages are based on precisely those elements that a Morse code cannot convey: Pitch, speech rhythm, speech melody, syllable length and speed of the source language. That is why they also vary according to the language on which they are based. Today, speaking drums are mainly used musically: from African pop music to film soundtracks.
And what does that have to do with the Drum Kit? Although the drum kit only emerged in the USA in the 19th century, it is inextricably linked to the history of the African-American population. The drum set owes much to the creativity and cultural resilience of African American musicians.
Drum bans and repression
As a result of the Atlantic slave trade, between the 16th and 19th century, millions of people were trafficked to the USA, mainly from West Africa and the Caribbean. In the colonies, later the United States of America, many of them are forced into the hardest physical labour on plantations.
In the late 18th Century, various British colonies passed laws prohibiting enslaved people from playing the drums. The reason for this is probably, on the one hand, the fear that enslaved people could communicate by drum as they did before in their African homeland and thus coordinate uprisings. Drums actually play an important role in the Stono Uprising of 1739. The drum ban, however, is likely to have been primarily an instrument of power and oppression. This is because they forbid enslaved people to continue traditions from their home countries, to express themselves and to develop a sense of community through music. Fortunately, the latter is only partially successful. On the plantations of the southern states, for example, the Juba or Hambone dance emerged in the 19th century. It combines Congolese, Caribbean and Guyanese dance forms. Instead of drums, the rhythm is created by clapping and stomping.
European marching music is also important for the development of the drum kit. Drums and wind instruments have been part of warfare since ancient times. In Europe, musical signals arose in the Middle Ages to convey military orders acoustically. With the professionalisation of European armed forces, drill and thus marching music finally gained in importance. Drums, flutes and trumpets help to keep in step. In the 19th century, a fixed line-up of military bands emerged. Large drum (bass drum) and small drum (snare drum or marching drum) are now part of the military orchestra. The central difference to the drum kit is that a drum is played by only one person. But that is soon to change on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
With the defeat of the Confederacy in the American Civil War, slavery is abolished in the United States in 1865. This also marks the end of the last drum bans. African-Americans appropriate and develop instruments from other cultures. The reason for this, apart from the drum bans, may be the continuing stigmatisation of African-American instruments.
New Orleans in particular is a musical melting pot in the second half of the 19th century. The drum kit combines European, Chinese and Turkish instruments. The bass drum and snare drum come from European marching music. The little toms have Chinese roots. The basin has its origins in the Ottoman Empire. Through the Zildjian company, founded in 1623, they spread first in Europe and then in the USA. Today, Zildjian is one of the largest manufacturers of drum basins in the world.
So we have the individual percussion instruments, but still no drum set. We owe this to crafty (or desperate?) musicians. Because if you combine drums and basins in one instrument, you have all the percussion, but only have to pay one person to play. The reason for this rationalisation may be financial difficulties of individual orchestras. Space also plays a role, because there is little room in dance halls and on excursion steamers in contrast to the orchestra pit and battlefields. Some band leaders also take the opportunity to collect the fee for a larger orchestra and end up paying only one musician.
Central to the combination of the different percussion instruments is the development of the foot pedal for the bass drum. The patent was registered in 1887 by George R. Olney. However, similar devices probably existed earlier, because drummers are constantly developing their instruments independently of each other. Patents were then often filed with a time lag by wealthy (often white) businesspeople.
The drum kit is first called the trap set in the USA. "Trap" comes from the English term "trappings", which in German "Drumherum" (drum around) describes early drumming well. Because the drums and cymbals are joined by triangles, tambourines, washboards, pipes, bird voices and much more, depending on your taste. Some drummers are not only on the road musically but also act as performers. Their trap sets even include special effects.
Over the turn of the century, drumming spread steadily across the US. The fact that several drums and cymbals are played simultaneously with the drum set also has musical effects. Under the influence of African, African-American and West Indian music, a style characterised by syncopation and improvisation emerges in New Orleans. It was soon impossible to imagine blues and jazz without the drum kit.
In 1918, the Ludwig company launches the first "complete" drum kit. Nothing stands in the way of the worldwide spread of blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll, soul, pop, hip-hop, in short: the popular music of the 20th century. At this point, the drum kit has a history behind it that is as long and varied as the histories and origins of their individual instruments. Whether electronic drums, drum machines or analogue drum sets, the drum kit lives and beats on in contemporary music.
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