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76-481: In rudimental drumming , a form of percussion music , a drum rudiment is one of a number of relatively small patterns which form the foundation for more extended and complex drumming patterns. The term "drum rudiment" is most closely associated with various forms of field drumming , where the snare drum plays a prominent role. In this context "rudiment" means not only "basic", but also fundamental . This tradition of drumming originates in military drumming and it
152-405: A drum kit or a set of drums (with some cymbals , or in the case of harder rock music genres, many cymbals), and " drummer " to the person who plays them. Drums acquired even divine status in places such as Burundi, where the karyenda was a symbol of the power of the king. The shell almost always has a circular opening over which the drumhead is stretched, but the shape of the remainder of
228-500: A drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a percussion mallet , to produce sound. There is usually a resonant head on the underside of the drum. Other techniques have been used to cause drums to make sound, such as the thumb roll . Drums are the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years. Drums may be played individually, with
304-531: A beat were known as a Ruff (or Rough) llR if played closed and a Half Drag llR when played open. Ruff can also refer to a single stroked set of grace notes preceding a regular note. In American playing the 3 Stroke Ruff has 2 single stroked grace notes before the primary or full note rlR and a 4 Stroke Ruff has 3 singles before the primary note lrlR . Other rudimental systems have differing sticking methods and names for similar notation figures. Though still used and taught by drummers and drum teachers in practice,
380-409: A downbeat. A double stop consists of two single strokes played simultaneously, one on each hand. It differs from a flam or charge stroke in that there is no space between the notes and both hands fall exactly at the same time. This is not considered an American rudiment on any common list, but is a staple of several European systems. Alternative names include Flat Flam, Unison, or Both and the technique
456-509: A drum rudiment as an excerpt from a military call with a definite rhythm, definite sticking, definite dynamic structure (accents), and a defined nomenclature. Encyclopedia Rudimentia defines a rudiment as a short pattern of strokes, using John Pratt's logic that "the rudiments of drumming are strokes," in reference to the four basic drum strokes . The origin of snare drum rudiments can be traced back to Swiss mercenaries armed with long polearms . The use of pikes in close formation required
532-477: A few civilian groups. There are currently only about 14 Dutch rudiments. Russian drumming was originally brought in from abroad specifically to emulate the drumming of other nations. Dutch drumming was used verbatim in the 17th century. This gave way to a more distinct Russian style in the 18th century under Peter I. Imperial Russian military units stopped using drummers around 1909 but the USSR reintroduced drumming to
608-474: A great deal of coordination. The sound of the tabor was used to set the tempo and communicate commands with distinct drumming patterns. These drumming patterns became the basis of the snare drum rudiments. The earliest instance of rudimental fife and drum is often cited as the Swiss military at the battle of Sempach in 1386. There is evidence, however, that the Swiss were already using drums in battle in 1315 at
684-399: A list in his 1925 book, which is one of the few books here intended for civilian drummers. The Moeller method advocated for a return to the "ancient" traditions of military drumming technique and rudiments. The National Association of Rudimental Drummers , an organization established to promote rudimental drumming that included George Lawrence Stone and William F. Ludwig, Sr. , organized
760-643: A list of 13 essential rudiments and second set of 13 additional rudiments to form the Standard NARD 26 in 1933. This was largely based on Strube's 25 rudiments from 1870, with a single addition, the single stroke roll. During World War II, the War Department used a manual from 1940, TM 20–250 Field Music Technical Manual , that clearly echoes Smith and Safranek. The Marine Corps had a competing manual, essentially mirroring Sousa but updated in 1942, Manual for Drummers, Trumpeters, and Fifers . Later in
836-408: A louder primary stroke on the opposite hand. The two notes are played almost simultaneously, and are intended to sound like a single, broader note. The temporal distance between the grace note and the primary note can vary depending on the style and context of the piece being played. In the past, or in some European systems, open flams and closed flams were listed as separate rudiments. A charge stroke
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#1732794306140912-400: A metal barrel. Drums with two heads can also have a set of wires, called snares, held across the bottom head, top head, or both heads, hence the name snare drum . On some drums with two heads, a hole or bass reflex port may be cut or installed onto one head, as with some 2010s era bass drums in rock music. On modern band and orchestral drums, the drumhead is placed over the opening of
988-820: A noted instrument maker, would later publish an updated drum manual called Authorised Sergeant Drummers' Manual. In 1887, the War Office published Drum and Flute Duty for the Infantry Branch of the Army which is one of only a few pre-20th century publications to feature the 17 stroke roll. In modern times, every infantry battalion in the British military has a rudimental Corps of Drums except for Irish, Scottish, and Rifle Battalions which feature Pipe Bands and their associated style of Scottish drumming. Scottish drum and fife signals (those differing significantly from
1064-438: A purposeful expression of emotion for entertainment, spiritualism and communication. Many cultures practice drumming as a spiritual or religious passage and interpret drummed rhythm similarly to spoken language or prayer. Drumming has developed over millennia to be a powerful art form. Drumming is commonly viewed as the root of music and is sometimes performed as a kinesthetic dance. As a discipline, drumming concentrates on training
1140-520: A simple hybrid combining the traditional PAS rudiments #20 Flam and #31 Drag. A hybrid can also be created by adding a prefix before a rudiment or a suffix at the end of the rudiment in the form of extra notes or a rudimental pattern. Drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments . In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone . Drums consist of at least one membrane , called
1216-473: A single paradiddle is often used to switch the "lead hand" in drumming music. A mill stroke is essentially a reversed paradiddle with the sticking RRLR or LLRL with an accent on the first note. The single flammed mill is the most common mill stroke variant in American playing. A drag is a double stroke played at twice the speed of the context in which it is placed. For example, if a sixteenth-note passage
1292-543: A skin stretched over an enclosed space, or over one of the ends of a hollow vessel. Drums with two heads covering both ends of a cylindrical shell often have a small hole somewhat halfway between the two heads; the shell forms a resonating chamber for the resulting sound. Exceptions include the African slit drum , also known as a log drum as it is made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, and the Caribbean steel drum , made from
1368-481: A small scale in their home countries. There is also a distinct historic Spanish military rudimental culture, though this system is no longer widely used, as well as a similarly defunct Sicilian system. Recently, the International Association of Traditional Drummers (IATD) has been working to once again promote the 26 NARD rudiments of 1933 (1870 Strube list of 25 plus 1). One of the chief issues
1444-455: A standard list of American snare drum rudiments have been made. The first publication to formally organize American drumming was by Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben at Valley Forge. He included camp duty signals in his general manual on military practices for George Washington’s troops, the “blue book” written in 1778–79, though the drum parts were listed in prose. The first America rudimental manual to have prescribed rudimental exercises in notation
1520-541: A term for a meeting of drum corps and a signal from the standard camp duty, derives from the Dutch "Taptoe" Tamboers. Manuals go back at least as far as 1809 with the publication of Over Het Tromslaan – Met Marschen En Andere Muziekstukken Voor Den Trom which indicates some basic rolls and a few military signals. Marsen en Signalen voor de Koninklijke Nederlandsche Armee by Jacob Rauscher was published in 1815 and shows about nine basic rudiments. Several manuals are known from
1596-417: A white, textured coating on them muffle the overtones of the drum head slightly, producing a less diverse pitch . Drum heads with central silver or black dots tend to muffle the overtones even more, while drum heads with perimeter sound rings mostly eliminate overtones. Some jazz drummers avoid using thick drum heads, preferring single ply drum heads or drum heads with no muffling. Rock drummers often prefer
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#17327943061401672-458: Is a central component of martial music . Rudimental drumming has something of a flexible definition, even within drumming societies devoted to that form of drumming. RudimentalDrumming.com defines it as "the study of coordination." The Percussive Arts Society defines it as a particular method for learning the drums—beginning with rudiments, and gradually building up speed and complexity through practicing those rudiments. Camp Duty Update defines
1748-415: Is a double stroke played at the current prevailing speed of the piece. For example, if a sixteenth-note passage is being played, then any diddles in that passage would consist of sixteenth notes. A paradiddle consists of two single strokes followed by a double stroke, i.e., RLRR or LRLL . When multiple paradiddles are played in succession, the first note always alternates between right and left. Therefore,
1824-443: Is a special variation on an open flam in which one or both of the notes are accented to provide a driving feel that can create the illusion that the downbeat has moved earlier in time. The two major types are French Lr or Rl and Swiss LR or RL with the first note preceding the downbeat, which falls on the second note, in both types. Charge strokes can be combined with flams or drags to create complex grace note figures preceding
1900-458: Is being played then any drags in that passage would consist of thirty-second notes. Drags can also be notated as grace notes , in which case the spacing between the notes can be interpreted by the player. On timpani , drags are often played with alternating sticking ( lrL or rlR ). In Scottish pipe band snare drumming, a drag consists of a flam where the grace note is played as a "deadstick" (staccato note). Historically, 2 grace notes preceding
1976-645: Is roughly translated as huehuetl . The Rig Veda , one of the oldest religious scriptures in the world, contains several references to the use of the Dundhubi (war drum). Arya tribes charged into battle to the beating of the war drum and chanting of a hymn that appears in Book VI of the Rig Veda and also the Atharva Veda. The dundhuhi was considered sacred and to capture one in battle would signal defeat of
2052-438: Is tuned by hammering a disc held in place around the drum by ropes stretching from the top to bottom head. Orchestral timpani can be quickly tuned to precise pitches by using a foot pedal. Several factors determine the sound a drum produces, including the type, shape and construction of the drum shell, the type of drum heads it has, and the tension of these drumheads. Different drum sounds have different uses in music. For example,
2128-612: Is used in modern corps style snare drumming as well as drum kit and classical percussion applications. Drum rolls are various techniques employed to produce a sustained, continuous sound. Rudiments according to the Percussive Arts Society . There are more than 850 rudiments worldwide, but these 40 are the current American standards, referred to as “international” because they mix rudiments traditionally used in Anglo-American drumming with several drawn from
2204-592: The American Civil War , including those by Elias Howe (1861), Keach, Burditt, and Cassidy (1861), Bruce and Emmett (1862), H.C. Hart (1862), Simpson and Canterbury (1862), William Nevins (1864). Adjutant-General Samuel Cooper 's general military manual of 1861 also contained a small section on rudimental drumming, but in a very simplified form, as did Brigadier General Silas Casey ’s tactics manual of 1862. Gardiner A. Strube published his influential distillation of Civil War practices in 1870. Between
2280-899: The Battle of Morgarten . Initially, Swiss rudiments were very influential to the French system, which in turn was the basis for many other rudimental systems. Switzerland produced two distinct rudimental cultures, the wider Swiss Ordonnanz Trommel practiced in Zurich , Valais , and Geneva , and the Basel version or Basler Trommeln . The Basler Trommeln rudiments, in contrast to the Swiss Ordonnanz Trommel, are much more widely known and practiced outside of Switzerland due to Fritz Berger 's publications, Das Basler Trommeln, Werden und Wesen and Instructor for Basle Drumming , and travels to
2356-557: The United States in the 1930s. His student Alfons Grieder continued to promote Basel style drumming in North America for many years. The two Swiss systems differ in several ways, including that Basel drumming rudiments draw heavily from the French system while Swiss rudiments are indigenous, and that Basel drumming was notated in a set of symbols until the 20th century (Berger devised his own notation system for export that
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2432-464: The 17th century and works up through the variations to his contemporary mid-19th century usage, showing that the complexity of French drumming increased significantly over time. At least 5 French military manuals appeared between 1870 and 1900, beginning with Félix Carnaud's École du Tambour from 1870 and N. Pita's Methode de Tambour from 1885, followed closely and expanded upon by H. Broutin (1889), Théophile Dureau (1895), and E. Reveillé (1897). In
2508-455: The 1930s or 1940s (though many others were formed as late as the mid-1960s). From the outset, the drummers steadily expanded the rudimental vocabulary from the traditional American military and NARD repertoire to include Swiss rudiments as well as Hybrid rudiments that combined elements of multiple unrelated rudiments into new, more complex patterns. In 1984, a Percussive Arts Society committee led by Jay Wanamaker reorganized, and reinterpreted,
2584-461: The 20th century there were several notable variations and extensions of rudimental drumming from teachers like Charles Wilcoxon , author of All-American Drummer and Modern Rudimental Swing Solos , and Alan Dawson , whose "Rudimental Ritual" was popular at Berklee College of Music in the 1970s. Drum Corps International was founded in 1971 bringing together drum corps from around North America to compete, some of which had been in existence since
2660-434: The 20th century, Henri Kling published his Méthode de Tambour in 1901. Robert Tourte's Méthode de Tambour et Caisse Claire d'Orchestre was published in 1946 and combined a selection of 34 rudiments and the classic French military calls with studies of common orchestral excerpts such as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 's Scheherezade and Maurice Ravel 's Bolero. The French system is complex and expansive, rivaled in scope only by
2736-528: The 20th century. After the 1960s the drum parts in standard military music became simplified compared to their earlier incarnations. The military tradition of the Netherlands has a distinct rudimental system. Drummers are known to have participated in military functions from possibly as far back as 1570. Military units paid the drummers from their own commanders' budget until 1688 when the military began paying musicians directly. The rudimental term "Tattoo,"
2812-537: The 21st century there are four principal rudimental drumming cultures: Swiss Basler Trommeln, Scottish pipe drumming , Anglo-American ancient drumming , and American modern drumming (or DCI hybrid drumming). Other organized rudimental systems include the French, Dutch, German (Prussian), Swedish , Trommeslått , Bavarian, Austro-Hungarian, Italian, Belgian , Mexican , Russian , Swiss Ordonnanz Trommel (non-Basel, poorly understood outside of Switzerland), and Bajoaragonés systems, which are still studied and performed on
2888-450: The 3 Stroke Ruff and 4 Stroke Ruff are not officially listed on the NARD or PAS rudiment sheets and the term Drag has eclipsed Ruff (or Rough) for the double stroked rudiments, in both open or closed execution, according to the current PAS standard terminology. A flam consists of two single strokes played by alternating hands ( rL or lR ). The first stroke is a quieter grace note followed by
2964-595: The Atlantic. The British system was further refined for the 19th century by Samuel Potter in 1817 with his book The Art of Beating the Drum . In the 18th century, drummers uniforms were reverse color from the rest of their military unit, but after the War of 1812, and coincidentally during Samuel Potter's service, their uniforms were switched to the standard color scheme so as not to stand out in battle. Samuel's son, Henry Potter,
3040-668: The Civil War and the 20th century, Fifes and Drums were phased out in favor of bugles for official signals, though military music continued to be taught and practiced for ceremonial purposes. John Philip Sousa produced a manual in 1886 that would later be revised several times by the U.S. Army. Walter Smith also produced a manual in 1897 for the Army and Navy, though he was a bandleader in the Marines . In 1912, just 42 years after Strube's Lessons, Harry Bower, in his book The Harry A. Bower System for Drums Bells Xylophone and Tympani, calls
3116-548: The English) date back to at least the 17th century, when the English referred to them as the "Scots Duty." The old Scottish calls used similar rudimental patterns and drumming idioms to the English, but featured slightly different drum arrangements and fife tunes, rather than the distinctively snappy dot-cut triplet shuffle sound that pipe band drumming would use later. The Scotch Reveille that would normally accompany The Mother and
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3192-403: The French and Basel systems with some of the modern American rudiments into a single Rudimental Codex of 42 rudiments. The Rudimental Codex has been submitted to UNESCO as an intangible World Heritage Site. A stroke performs a single percussive note . There are four basic single strokes . A double stroke consists of two single strokes played by the same hand (either RR or LL ). A diddle
3268-667: The IATD has with the PAS 40 is the "Swiss influence," though only eight of the extra 14 rudiments (that do not appear in the Standard 26) are foreign or not found in American military manuals prior to Strube. Only two of those eight non-traditional rudiments can be traced to a Swiss origin. There is a movement in the German-speaking areas of Europe, led by Claus Hessler and Percussion Creativ , to revise rudimental practices and combine
3344-612: The NARD 26 and added another 14 to form the current 40 International Snare Drum Rudiments. Beginning in the early 1990s, rudimental instruction began to focus heavily on hybrid rudiments. Edward Freytag's 1993 Rudimental Cookbook and Dennis Delucia's 1995 Percussion Discussion both feature significant hybrid rudiment instruction. This trend continued into the 21st century with John Wooton 's 2010 Rudimental Remedies , Bill Bachman 's 2010 Rudimental Logic , and Ryan Bloom's 2019 Encyclopedia Rudimentia significantly focusing on hybrid corps-style rudiments as well as older standards. In
3420-609: The Soldiers Practice which shows at least 4 ruff-based rudiments. A more thorough manual appeared in 1760, Spencer's The Drummer's Instructor . British military drumming had already been exported to the American Colonies by the time of the American Revolution in the 1770s. The anonymously authored Young Drummers Assistant was published around 1780 and was an influential book on both sides of
3496-790: The Swiss Basel drumming tradition. They were compiled by a committee led by Jay Wanamaker in 1984 that also happened to include William F. Ludwig Jr., son of the founder of NARD in 1933. In contrast, there are 26 rudiments between the NARD 13 Essential and 13 Rudiments to Complete sheets, 46 rudiments on the Scottish Drumming Rudiments sheet, and 42 rudiments on the French/Swiss Rudimental Codex sheet. The single-stroke roll consists of alternating sticking (i.e., RLRL , etc.) of indeterminate speed and length. There are 10 official variants of
3572-426: The Swiss and then later contributed back to the specific Basel culture in a two-way exchange. Thoinot Arbeau 's Orchesographie of 1588 is commonly cited as one of the first "rudimental" texts, though its actual use of notation is limited. French professional drummers became part of the king's honor guard in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1754 Joseph-Henri de Bombelles published Instruction pour les Tambours, which
3648-457: The Swiss, American, and Scottish systems. Between 30 and 34 rudiments have normally been taught from the mid-20th century onward, from a historical catalog of over 70 rudiment variations. Spain used its own rudimental system, documented as far back as 1761, with Manuel de Espinosa publication of Toques de Guerra . Composed mostly of single strokes, the system is extremely simple with only around eight to ten named patterns. The Italian peninsula
3724-684: The Three Camps was adapted from, or at least inspired by, the Scotch Reveilly [sic] from this pre-pipe band era. Scottish pipe bands, in their modern form, were created by the British Army around 1830. British regiments made up of Scottish clansmen married rudimental drumming with the Highland bagpipes and kilts in order to regain their independent culture. The drum rudiments were modified from British and European sources to fit with
3800-479: The body to punctuate, convey and interpret musical rhythmic intention to an audience and to the performer. Chinese troops used tàigǔ drums to motivate troops, to help set a marching pace, and to call out orders or announcements. For example, during a war between Qi and Lu in 684 BC, the effect of drum on soldiers' morale is employed to change the result of a major battle. Fife-and-drum corps of Swiss mercenary foot soldiers also used drums. They used an early version of
3876-475: The double-stroke roll. (NARD Standard 26 American Drum Rudiments of 1933) In 1984, the Percussive Arts Society added 14 more rudiments to extend the list to the current 40 International Snare Drum Rudiments. The ordering was completely changed during this last re-organization. A hybrid drum rudiment is when two rudiments are combined into one rudiment. For example, the PAS #30 Flam Drag is
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#17327943061403952-740: The druckruf and doppelwirbel. The Prussian drumming style was distinct from the regional rudimental practices of Bavaria, despite Bavaria being a part of modern Germany. It also did not apply in Hannover – which was effectively part of the British Empire for a significant period and thus used British drumming idioms. Sweden had drummers on military payrolls as early as 1528. The Swedish rudimental style has some unique features and rhythmic interpretations, however it draws significant influence from both French and Prussian sources. The first written manual dates from 1836 with little variation in style until
4028-570: The drum, which in turn is held onto the shell by a "counterhoop" (or "rim"), which is then held by means of a number of tuning screws called "tension rods" that screw into lugs placed evenly around the circumference. The head's tension can be adjusted by loosening or tightening the rods. Many such drums have six to ten tension rods. The sound of a drum depends on many variables—including shape, shell size and thickness, shell materials, counterhoop material, drumhead material, drumhead tension, drum position, location, and striking velocity and angle. Prior to
4104-485: The end. In jazz, some drummers use brushes for a smoother, quieter sound. In many traditional cultures, drums have a symbolic function and are used in religious ceremonies. Drums are often used in music therapy , especially hand drums, because of their tactile nature and easy use by a wide variety of people. In the 2000s, drums have also been used as a way to engage in aerobic exercise and is called cardio drumming . In popular music and jazz , "drums" usually refers to
4180-468: The enemy. Le Rigodon The rigaudon ( French: [ʁiɡodɔ̃, ʁiɡɔdɔ̃] , Occitan: [riɣawˈðu] ), anglicized as rigadon or rigadoon , is a French baroque dance with a lively duple metre . The music is similar to that of a bourrée , but the rigaudon is rhythmically simpler with regular phrases (eight measure phrases are most common). It originated as a sprightly 17th-century French folk dance for couples. Traditionally,
4256-417: The folkdance was associated with the provinces of Vivarais , Languedoc , Dauphiné , and Provence in southern France, and it became popular as a court dance during the reign of Louis XIV . Its hopping steps were adopted by the skillful dancers of the French and English courts, where it remained fashionable through the 18th century. By the close of the 18th century, however, it had given way in popularity as
4332-409: The ground. Drums are used not only for their musical qualities, but also as a means of communication over great distances. The talking drums of Africa are used to imitate the tone patterns of spoken language. Throughout Sri Lankan history drums have been used for communication between the state and the community, and Sri Lankan drums have a history stretching back over 2500 years. Drumming may be
4408-451: The invention of tension rods, drum skins were attached and tuned by rope systems—as on the Djembe —or pegs and ropes such as on Ewe drums . These methods are rarely used today, though sometimes appear on regimental marching band snare drums. The head of a talking drum, for example, can be temporarily tightened by squeezing the ropes that connect the top and bottom heads. Similarly, the tabla
4484-482: The late 1800s and early 1900s, such as Voorschrift voor den seargent of korporaaltamboer of 1893, Tamboers- and Hoornblazersschool of 1896, and Tamboers- and Hoornblazersschool from 1901. The system was simplified and many embellishments removed in the 1930s. The system was again refined following WWII in 1945 and 1946. Now, only the Dutch Marines continue the official military tradition actively, along with
4560-448: The military in the 1920s. Russia actually has no names or specific sticking for rudimental patterns but a selection of rolls and ruffs of various lengths are present in military music. Youth Pioneer groups use simplified military signals, though the rudiments taught in these groups use American terms. British rudimental manuals with decipherable rudiments date back as far as 1634 with the publication of Thomas Fisher's Warlike Directions or
4636-433: The military rudiments "ancient," "old fashioned," and "old style beats, rolls, and flourishes," to be played only when emulating a military sound. The Bower book offers several competing versions of many rudiments taken from multiple competing 19th century manuals. During World War I, V.F. Safranek published a manual in 1916 (based on Smith's 1897 work), while Carl E. Gardner released another in 1918. Sanford Moeller put
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#17327943061404712-453: The modern Tom-tom drum . A jazz drummer may want drums that are high pitched, resonant and quiet whereas a rock drummer may prefer drums that are loud, dry and low-pitched. The drum head has the most effect on how a drum sounds. Each type of drum head serves its own musical purpose and has its own unique sound. Double-ply drumheads dampen high frequency harmonics because they are heavier and they are suited to heavy playing. Drum heads with
4788-627: The piping idioms that had been in place for several hundred years prior. Pipe bands, and their stylistically unique drummers, saw their first widespread use during the Crimean War . They continued to be an active part of battle until World War I , after which they assumed a ceremonial role. There are currently around 60–75 Scottish rudiments played in pipe bands around the commonwealth countries and former British colonies, taking influence from Swiss, French, and American Hybrid drumming as well as traditional Scottish rhythms. Many attempts at formalizing
4864-540: The player using a single drum, and some drums such as the djembe are almost always played in this way. Others are normally played in a set of two or more, all played by one player, such as bongo drums and timpani . A number of different drums together with cymbals form the basic modern drum kit . Drums are usually played by striking with the hand, a beater attached to a pedal, or with one or two sticks with or without padding. A wide variety of sticks are used, including wooden sticks and sticks with soft beaters of felt on
4940-518: The same speed. When choosing a set of shells, a jazz drummer may want smaller maple shells, while a rock drummer may want larger birch shells. Drums made with alligator skins have been found in Neolithic cultures located in China, dating to a period of 5500–2350 BC. In literary records, drums manifested shamanistic characteristics and were often used in ritual ceremonies. The bronze Dong Son drum
5016-568: The shell varies widely. In the Western musical tradition, the most usual shape is a cylinder , although timpani , for example, use bowl -shaped shells. Other shapes include a frame design ( tar , Bodhrán ), truncated cones ( bongo drums , Ashiko ), goblet shaped ( djembe ), and joined truncated cones ( talking drum ). A drum contains cylindrical shells can be open at one end (as is the case with timbales ), or can have two drum heads, one head on each end. Single-headed drums typically consist of
5092-489: The shoulder of the drummer and typically played with two drum sticks. Different regiments and companies would have distinctive and unique drum beats only they recognized. In the mid-19th century, the Scottish military started incorporating pipe bands into their Highland regiments. During pre-Columbian warfare, Aztec nations were known to have used drums to send signals to the battling warriors. The Nahuatl word for drum
5168-472: The snare drum carried over the player's right shoulder, suspended by a strap (typically played with one hand using traditional grip ). It is to this instrument that the English word "drum" was first used. Similarly, during the English Civil War rope-tension drums would be carried by junior officers as a means to relay commands from senior officers over the noise of battle. These were also hung over
5244-460: The sound of a drum. Because the vibrations resonate in the shell of the drum, the shell can be used to increase the volume and to manipulate the type of sound produced. The larger the diameter of the shell, the lower the pitch. The larger the depth of the drum, the louder the volume. Shell thickness also determines the volume of drums. Thicker shells produce louder drums. Mahogany raises the frequency of low pitches and keeps higher frequencies at about
5320-438: The thicker or coated drum heads. The second biggest factor that affects drum sound is head tension against the shell. When the hoop is placed around the drum head and shell and tightened down with tension rods, the tension of the head can be adjusted. When the tension is increased, the amplitude of the sound is reduced and the frequency is increased, making the pitch higher and the volume lower. The type of shell also affects
5396-749: Was A Revolutionary War Drummers Book , also from 1778, which displayed 20 exercises that can be taken as rudiments as well as "drum beatings" such as the piece Valley Forg [sic]. This was followed by Ben Clark's manual on military drumming in 1797 and David Hazeltine's book Instructor in Martial Music in 1810. Charles Stewart Ashworth was the first person to actually label short drum exercises as "Rudiments" in 1812. Several more manuals of note were printed between 1812 and 1860, including those by Charles Robbins (1812), Rumrille and Holton (1817), Alvan Robinson (1818), Levi Lovering (1819), and George Klinehanse (1853). A number of manuals next appeared during
5472-476: Was adopted over the Austrian or Sicilian as the official pan-Italian rudimental system. German speaking regions of Europe, often referred to historically as Prussian, had developed their own unique rudimental system by the late 18th century, as evidenced by Wittwe's 1777 publication Kurze Anweisung zum Trommel-Spiel The system was dominated by the right hand and featured only about 14 standard rudiments, such as
5548-610: Was fabricated by the Bronze Age Dong Son culture of northern Vietnam. They include the ornate Ngoc Lu drum . Macaque monkeys drum objects in a rhythmic way to show social dominance and this has been shown to be processed in a similar way in their brains to vocalizations, suggesting an evolutionary origin to drumming as part of social communication. Other primates including gorillas make drumming sounds by chest beating or hand clapping, and rodents such as kangaroo rats also make similar sounds using their paws on
5624-711: Was home to fife and drum traditions as far back as the 1400s. During the 19th century, at least 3 distinct styles of drumming were practiced: Austrian style drumming in the northern regions adjacent to the Austrian Empire, a central Italian style in Sardinia, Piedmont, and the Papal States, and a southern style in Naples and Sicily. With the unification of the Kingdom of Italy in the 1870s, the central Italian style
5700-507: Was much more legible) while Swiss rudiments were written in standard notation centuries earlier. Swiss Ordonnanz rudiments are nearly unknown outside of Switzerland, while Basel rudiments are featured (after the 1930s) in other systems around the world, such as the Scottish, American, and Hybrid. The Top Secret Drum Corps is a prominent organization from Basel Switzerland that utilizes traditional Basel rudimental drumming along with other rudimental influences. French rudiments were influenced by
5776-408: Was one of the earliest military drum manuals to codify a specific national duty in legible drum notation. The craft was improved during the reign of Napoleon I . The French dance known as Le Rigodon is one of the cornerstones of modern rudimental drumming. Kastner 's Manuel Général de Musique Militaire a L’Usage des Armées Françaises from 1848 details the rudimental signals starting as far back as
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