The History of the Drumming Techniques

Although percussion instruments have existed for 6000 years, we had to wait until the end of the 19th century to see them combined together in a real drumset. Until then, in fact, each element was played separately from the musicians in the marching bands.

Towards the end of the 19th century, however, there was a growing need for a percussionist who could play several instruments at the same time. This was due both to space requirements for the places where the performances took place and to the budgets that forced the band leaders to have fewer musicians involved.

Double Drumming

The first experiment is done with a bass drum and snare drum, the typical instruments of marching bands. It is called double drumming and it is a technique that allows playing the two instruments together only with the drumsticks since the pedal and the support for the snare drum were not yet there.

Cymbals and toms

Also around the end of the 1800s, many foreigners immigrated to the United States from all over the world, bringing not only their traditional tools but also their manufacturing technologies. For example, first courses come from Turkey and the East, cowbells from Africa, and jam blocks from China and Korea.

Also, the toms came from China and were ceremonial instruments that were mounted by musicians, eager to expand their sets, in a rudimentary way above the bass drum.

In the 1920's the instrument companies began to make them and to meet the specific requests of Gene Krupa, in 1936, the Slingerland company adopted the tuning system with the tie rods above and below, as we still use it today. Krupa also used a special finish, the "white marine pearl", which many jazz musicians adopted after him, including Buddy Rich. According to Simplydrum, until then the drums were finished in black or white.

These new accessories will be mounted on the drums, forming the first real sets, which are also called "trap kits".

In 1929, Aram Zildjian, together with his nephew Avedis, founded the first cymbal company on American territory, soon producing lighter cymbals than those used in marching bands, always on Krupa's advice, to better adapt to the jazz style of the time.

The bass drum pedal

In 1909 William Ludwig patented the bass drum pedal, which actually existed for about twenty years in a rudimentary form, but very difficult to use.

The pedal respected in many parts what we use today, with the spring, the attachment to the rim of the case and the horn, which was however larger, as the bass drum of that time ranged from 26" to 30".

In addition, it had a sort of metal hook on the side of the pedal swing, which made it possible to play both the skin and the cymbal at the same time, which was sometimes positioned right against the skin. The pedal could also be conveniently removed for easy transport.

The brushes

Drummers also start using the first brushes as an alternative to sticks. The brushes were born simply for the need to make less noise during performances and not to cover the other instruments with the drums.

The original project is based on the evolution of flycatchers (it's really true...), made with metallic and retractable material.

From a simple need comes a new stylistic form that in the years to come will become a real art thanks to names like Papa Jo Jones, Max Roach, Shelly Mann, or Ed Thigpen.

The charleston

William Ludwig, observing the way of playing of the great jazz musician Baby Dodds, notes that he continuously beats his foot free from the use of the bass drum pedal. Thus he developed an early form of pedal charleston that originally stood just above floor height (the original name was in fact low-boy).

Only in the following years, a higher pole is made to allow the drummer to play the cymbals also with the sticks, as well as with the pedal, thus creating new rhythmic patterns.

The name "hi-hat" is used simply because the cymbals were higher than "low-boy".

The double bass drum

Starting in 1946, drummer Louie Bellson introduced the double bass drum into his set for the first time, here in a photo during the recording of "Skin Deep".

The synthetic skins

The paternity of synthetic skin is still unclear, both giants of today, Remo and Evans claim it.

In any case, it is known that since 1956, drummers began to abandon the animal skins, subject to strong variations in timbre according to the climatic conditions, to pass to those in plastic, to be precise in mylar, more versatile and efficient.

Mylar had already experimented for some years, but it was Remo Belli himself who concretely developed the first projects and made them known thanks to the endorsements of big names like Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa.

His innovative vision and perseverance in construction techniques made him the undisputed leader in the synthetic leather market.

Modern chopsticks

The first wooden rods date back to 1300, but it is from 1700 that their production evolved, being produced with different types of wood. In the days of the marching bands, the preferred wood was ebony and the sticks were of considerable size and weight.

Over the years production improved and evolved, but the turning point came in 1958, when Joe Calato (now a Regal Tip brand) invented the nylon-tipped drumsticks, to meet the frustration of those drummers who consumed the classic wooden tips very quickly. Mel Lewis, for example, was an admirer of the nylon tip.

At the same time, Herb Brochstein founded Pro-Mark and developed, together with legendary drummer and teacher Billy Gladstone, a drumstick with wood from Japan, the white oak.

Since 1963 Vic Firth, a tympanist of the Boston Symphony, not satisfied with the sticks than on the market, developed and produced revolutionary new models, soon becoming the main protagonist on the market.

The matched setting

In '64 comes the "British Invasion", in particular with the Beatles that appear at the Ed Sullivan Show in front of 73 million viewers. Thanks to Ringo Starr the "matched grip" became immediately famous and became the most popular grip in the following years.

This grip uses the same symmetrical system for both hands, unlike the "traditional", commonly used until then and born as a need to facilitate the movements of the military during parades.