Behind the Music, Behind the Beat essays

Behind the Music, Behind the Beat essays Many wont realize that the art of drumming and its history are richer and more colorful than any painting of a flower garden ever painted. Unique drums can be found in all cultures of the world. They are and have been used for many different purposes, such as accompanying music and dance, communicating with neighboring communities, and facilitating ceremonies and rituals. Theyve been around for eons and eons. The drum set was created here in the United States., much in the same way the United States was created. Unique sounding drums from various cultures around the world were combined into creating one new instrument. This instrument, thats considered loud and annoying just by itself by many, can actually be the only instrument that symbolizes peace, how ironic is that. A basic drum set is consisted of 5 drums: There is the Kick Bass drum which is the lowest pitched and the biggest drum, the Snare drum which is a much higher pitched drum and it makes a sound like an artist makes when tapping his big hairy brush on the canvas. There are the three different toms that are tuned from high to low. Then there are the Hi-Hat cymbals and the accessory cymbals. Thats the most basic formation. The invention of the drum set evolved a totally new concept of drumming and an art thats common nowadays. Suddenly the standards, purposes, and expectancy of drummers were raised to a much higher level. Ever since then, drumming has been structured on three principals: Technique, Coordination, and Independence. These principals are required in order for a drummer to master the art. It is much the same as understanding grammar, spelling and vocabulary as the principals of writing sentences. The more you master the principals the less limited you are with your abilities. Coordination is the first key factor in the concept. It is very important because beats are formed on the coordination o...