Drummer
From Free net encyclopedia
Current revision
A drummer is a musician who plays the drums, particularly the drum kit, marching percussion, or hand drums. The term percussionist usually refers to a person who plays classical or Latin percussion.
Contents |
Musical significance
While drummers are the butt of many drummer jokes (not unlike alto viola players) suggesting they wouldn't be real musicians, in reality good drummers are musicians with an ear for rhythm and musical form, who act as the rhythmic driving force for an entire ensemble. A drummer's main contributions are timing changes and, often overlooked by amateur drummers, dynamic range. This makes adrummer analogous to an orchestra's timpanist, providing rhythmic and melodic drama.
Percussion (along with song) is perhaps the most ancient form of music. In fact, some cultures have drum music, music that is performed by drums alone. The non-vocal sounds and rhythms of life, the most obvious being walking, are a kind of pre-music which elaborate and organize themselves through human intelligence and play into music.
Pocket Drummer
In the most general sense, a pocket drummer plays within the bounds (pocket connoting a defined boundary) of the music. The most important elements of staying in the pocket are keeping solid time, playing the appropriate groove, and putting fills where they are supposed to be without over or underplaying. Successfully playing in the pocket demonstrates not only technical proficiency, but also discipline and respect for preserving the fidelity of the particular music being played.
Studio Drummer
Ideally, a studio drummer is a virtuoso drummer who can play any musical genre (or combination of genres) asked of them. In the studio setting, a drummer will often be given a sheet of music to read with one or two words describing the style. From this basic information, an accomplished drummer will understand the groove and feel of the song. Some of today's most famous drummers, such as Steve Gadd, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl, Dennis Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, Gary Chester, and David Garibaldi, have spent extensive time as professional studio drummers.
Military use
Drummers have played a key role in the military in past conflicts, such as the American Revolution, and the American Civil War, before motorized transport became widespread. Drums provided a steady beat to set the marching pace, even more then often accompanying wind instruments suchs as flutes (signal instruments such as bugles have another primary function), and kept morale up through music. Naturally they were employed in various ceremonies, including ominous drum rolls accompanying formal floggings on board ships or in penal colonies. Typically the buglers and drummers belonging to the companies (which often have one of each) are generally massed under the sergeant-drummer and on the march play alternately with the band of a regiment or batallion.
A curious Army tradition in the British Empire was to have corporal punishments administered by drummers (e.g. [1]), even by drummer boys (who commonly occur in other countries, requiring neither military training nor physical manhood), by flogging naked adult soldiers (illustration from Canada circa 1820 [2] apparently showing a cat o' nine tails but probably aiming at the buttocks), under threat, if not hitting hard enough, to be lashed themselves by the drum major (their own senior), who was also charged with branding deserters and 'bad characters'.
Sources and References
(incomplete)
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition{{#if:{{{article|}}}| article {{#if:{{{url|}}}|[{{{url|}}}}} "{{{article}}}"{{#if:{{{url|}}}|]}}{{#if:{{{author|}}}| by {{{author}}}}}}}, a publication now in the public domain.
- CorPun
See also
es:Baterista it:Batterista nl:Drummer ja:ドラマー no:Trommeslager pt:Baterista ru:Барабанщик simple:Drummer sv:Trumslagare