drums
What is the absolute best sound in the world? Is it the crashing of waves, the sound of a V8 hemi, or the sound of a credit card being swiped and approved? For a musician, in particular a percussionist, the sound of a drum would be their favorite sound in the world. Today I am going to briefly talk about the origin of the drum, the components of the modern drum set, and the benefits of drumming. Now, a drum is a musical instrument which produces sound by the vibration of a stretched membrane (head). The very first drumming in history was a series clapping of hands and hitting the chest or knees with open hands and that can date back to the beginning of man. Various rhythms were adapted using this method and used as a form of communication as a sort of unspoken language before words had came to be. Although the rhythms were limited due to the fact that the volume one could create simply wasn’t enough, and it was painful to create the high volumes by the hands and body. As a solution, the drum was developed to fix this problem. Drums have appeared as far back as 6000 BC in Mesopotamia that were more square shaped and made from clay and further excavations unearthed drum cylinders dated 3000 BC. Caves in Peru showed wall markings of drums and the American Indians used wooden drums for special rituals and ceremonies. Drums were used for more than making Music. They had many civil uses, and messaging and religious uses are just a few to mention. Then fast forward a little and the drum was adapted by the Ancient Greeks and Romans around 800 bc and the tympanum was developed. They used tubular drums with animal skins stretched over both ends of hollow log. These drums were seen to have had ceremonial, sacred, and symbolic associations. As you can tell, drums have gone back to some of the earliest times of man, but many different drums slowly became popular over the last couple centuries. The Bass drum (large tubular drum), and the timpani, a circular shallow drum,