Most drum for Joey

Joey Jordison talks new “heavier and darker” Murderdolls album

From the pain of losing Slipknot bandmate Paul gray to the joys of reuniting with Murderdolls, backing for Rob Zombie and being voted the best drummer of the last 25 years in Rhythm's massive 25th anniversary poll, it really has been quite a 2010 for Joey Jordison.

The latest issue of Rhythm boasts an exclusive interview with Joey about the influential drummer's year. Plus, here's a sneak preview on that new Murderdolls album, Woman And Children Last…

"It's such a personal project that it came together real quick in the studio," Joey Jordison on Murderdolls' Woman And Children Last

"Well it kind of feels like a new beginning for us. Me and Wednesday [13, Murderdolls frontman] did the first record, Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls back in 2002, so it was a long time ago. And obviously in the interim I had to go back to Slipknot, so coming back to Murderdolls now gave us a chance to really start over."

"This album is heavier and a bit darker I guess and where the first was recorded almost like a demo, for fun, this time we had more of an idea of where we wanted to go with it."

Anyone aware of Joey Jordison's work will know the man's talent knows no boundaries. Both drummer and guitarist, Joey jumped at the chance to play both on the album…

"I did, and it was a blast. We had Mick Mars [Mötley crüe] play guitar on Drug Me To Hell and Blood Stained Valentine, otherwise all the guitars are me or Wednesday and I played drums. It's such a personal project that it came together real quick in the studio. Homicide Drive was the first song we sat down and wrote - literally the first time me and Wednesday got together after six years. And the drum track on the record is the very first take of that song, start to finish. It was real spontaneous."

You can read the full interview with exclusive pictures of Joey's current Pearl Reference Series kit plus the usual array of gear reviews, tips and buyers' guides, in the latest issue of Rhythm magazine, available now. Or subscribe to Rhythm and save up to 35% on the cover price.

ho to set drumkit

Setting Up A Drumset to You

Play Your Drums....Don't Let Them Play You

I’ve seen too many young players with their drums set up only to look cool. A drum or cymbal may look cool set very high.....but what good is a piece of equipment if you can’t reach it or use it to it’s full potential.

As a drummer, if a part of my set has been moved by another drummer, even an eighth on an inch, it feels like it was moved a mile. When students come in I see how they play and where they have to reach to produce certain things on the drums. I think the first thing done wrong in setting up a drumset, is having the drum kiit in front of you.

It Starts With The Throne

You don’t need your drum kit to get the right setup. What you do need is your stool or throne. Place your throne in the center of an empty room with nothing around you. Now sit on the throne with a pair of drumsticks.

Now check the height of your throne. You should feel balanced with your feet planted firmly on the floor. Look at where your feet are. You will find when your feet are apart the width as your shoulders then you have a strong base. Where you have your feet on the floor is where your pedals should be placed for the bass drum and hi hat. OK that’s done.

Air Drummin'

Ready.....AIR DRUM!! That’s right airdrum. With out the drums in front of you, your body will find the most natural way to move. The body knows the most natural way to move, that is why when we walk, we don’t lift our knees up to waist like a marching band. Rather when we walk our legs and ankles and feet move in a smooth forward motion with little effort. Now that you are AIR DRUMMING, watch where your hands go, they will find the height and angle that is comfortable. This should be the height and angle of your drums IN FRONT OF YOU.

That’s right your drums should be in front of you. If you were asked to pick something up and put it down several time in a row, you wouldn’t reach sideways......you would face the item and lift it up and down while it was in front of you. You will exhaust your energy by placing parts of your dumset far out to he side and reaching for them.

Add the Basic Four

Now that your body had found where it is comfortable, start bringing some drums in. Start with your bass drum and hi hat. Put the pedals under your feet where they were when you were air drumming. Now that the bass and hi hat are there do some more air drumming this time using the bass and hi hat. Do your movements still feel natural? Good. Add your snare and ride cymbal. I ask that you start with these parts because they are the most used. I’ve played entire nights with these four pieces of a drum kit.

Now play on. Play all the things you normally do and when you have to do a fill, airdrum the toms. When you add the toms it may help to have someone with you hold the angle and height before you lock the drum in place.

Music Type?

Other things to consider. What type of music are you playing. If your playing more rock, keep your hi hat in the best natural place, if your going to play jazz and blues keep the ride cymbal in te most natural place.

If I know I’ll be playing a lot of swing (blues and jazz) , I will remove my second tom and place the ride cymbal in its’ place where I can work it with ease. Consider also if you need to mic your drums. If your cymbals are too close to the toms there may not be room for microphones to be placed on the drum kit.

Within Reach

A final thought. When you feel you have set your drums up in the best natural position for yourself, do this: put the sticks down and you should be able to touch every piece on the set with your hand. If this is the case, when you pick up the sticks any movement to any part of the drumset should come from your elbows. You won’t need to make any huge movements to get around the drums. Have fun and watch your drumming begin to grow with your new set up!

---

Article Credit:

Ian Phillips has been playing for almost thirty years and teaching for over fifteen in the New England area. As a club drummer Ian began gigging at age seventeen and soon earned a reputation as a hired gun for bands from Bangor to Boston. After teaching for local music stores Ian opened his own practice in the White Mountain area of New Hampshire, where students are offered many different ways to find their unique voice on the drums. Ian's website is: www.drumway.com

chinese cymbal

China cymbal

In western music, china type cymbals are cymbals manufactured to produce a dark, crisp, trashy, and explosive tone. It is for this reason that they have been nicknamed "trash cymbals." Their origins can be traced back to the gong in both sound and shape, and thus they are given their name "china".

Meinl china type: Conventional bell, upturned rim. Here mounted bell up.

China type cymbals typically have a bell that is cylindrical or shaped like a truncated cone with its base the top of the bell, an outer rim that is turned up in the reverse direction to the main bow of the cymbal, little or no taper (change in thickness) from bell to rim, and an area including the inside of the bell that is unpolished. However some china type cymbals have only some or in some cases none of these distinguishing characteristics. The distinguishing feature of a china type cymbal is the one that is hardest to define: its sound. China cymbals are those whose sounds are derived from the Chinese, rather than the Turkish, tradition of cymbal making.

There are two or three tonal families of cymbals: Turkish, Chinese, and some would say European, although others would include the European family of tones as a development of the Turkish sounds. The best Turkish (and European) cymbals have a rich, swelling tone that some describe as "sweet". To western ears, the best china types have an abrasive, cutting sound that is described by western drummers as "trashy".

Detail of a conical bell

The families do to some extent overlap. Notably, pang and swish cymbals have some characteristics of china types, and some characteristics of traditional Turkish cymbals. On the other hand, the Sabian rocktagon cymbals and some Ufip models are considered china types while having none of the physical characteristics of the normal china type, while the Paiste crystal crash is considered a European cymbal despite its squarish bell.

Cymbal making in China is claimed to predate the development of the art anywhere else in the world. The most universally acclaimed cymbal alloy, bell bronze, appears to have been independently developed in China. Today in China a wide range of cymbals are manufactured of both traditional and imported patterns. Traditional Chinese types with distinctive names and sounds include chung, jing and water cymbals and many other types. In Western music these are all referred to as china type cymbals.

China clash cymbals

China type cymbals are available in a wide range of sizes from 27" down to 4", most types singly but some in pairs. Those of 12" or smaller are normally referred to in Western music as china splash cymbals. When used in a drum kit, they are regarded as effects cymbals and are used to give colour and variety.

In a drum kit, china type cymbals are sometimes mounted bell up, similarly to other cymbals, but more often bell down. When mounted bell down, the upturned rim becomes a downturned rim, allowing a normal stick technique to be used for both ride and crash patterns. This assumes that the bell is formed in the typical direction; Some china type cymbals (e.q. the Paiste 2002 Novo china) have an inverted bell and an upturned rim, and so must be mounted bell up to achieve this downwards rim orientation.

16 inch Stagg SH China Cymbal with bell down.

Types

This section requires expansion.

Traditional

Conical (termed "square") bell rough finished on the inside; reversed edge.

Nova

Conventional rounded bell, reversed edge. The bell may be or may not be reversed.

Pang and swish

Main article: swish cymbal

The swish and pang are specific sounds within the enormous range of china cymbals, developed as exotic ride cymbals but also used as crashes at higher volumes.

China splash

Main article: china splash

12" or smaller. Sabian refer to both their 12" and 14" nova chinese models as mini chinese.

Rocktagon

A Sabian exclusive, an octagonal cymbal with a sound midway between a crash and a china. The cymbal is manufactured as round and cut to shape after all-over lathing. Available in 16", 18", and as the 10" Rocktagon splash.

Sticking Techniques

There are numerous methods of playing a china Cymbal, which can vary depending on the genre of music played. For example, in modern metal music, players generally tend to play using the shoulder of the stick rather than the tip for a more "trashy" sound. In other genres such as jazz (which may use less hammered cymbals for a lighter and less distorted effect) the drummer may play with the tip for more of a "sizzle" sound.

Ride cymbal

The ride cymbal is a standard cymbal in most drum kits. It maintains a steady rhythmic pattern,^[1] sometimes called a ride pattern, rather than the accent of a crash. It is normally placed on the extreme right (or dominant hand) of a drum kit, above the floor tom.^[2]

The ride can fulfill any function or rhythm the hi-hat does, with the exclusion of an open and closed sound.^[2]

Terminology

A Zildjian 19" Armand Ride Cymbal

The term ride means to ride with the music, describing the cymbal's sustain after it is struck. The term may depict either the function or characteristic of the instrument. Most cymbal makers manufacture specific cymbals for the purpose.

Some drummers use a china cymbal, a sizzle cymbal or a specialised tone such as a swish or pang cymbal as a ride cymbal. When playing extremely softly, when using brushes, and when recording, even a paperthin crash may serve well as a ride cymbal.

On the other extreme, when playing extremely loudly a cymbal designed as a ride may serve well as a very loud, long crash.

[edit] The Crash/Ride Cymbal

Cymbals designated crash/ride or more rarely ride/crash serve as either a large slow crash or secondary ride.

[edit] The Flat Ride Cymbal

Bell-less ride cymbals, known as flat rides, have a dry crash and clear stick definition. Quieter, they are popular in jazz drumming. Developed by Paiste in the 1960s, flat rides are used by notable drummers Roy Haynes, Jack DeJohnette, Paul Wertico, Carter Beauford and Charlie Watts.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Pattern

The most basic ride pattern in rock and other styles is^[3]:

	Eighth-note ride pattern File:Eighth-note ride pattern.mid Eighth-note ride pattern (above) [3]
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

[edit] Sound

When struck, a ride cymbal makes a sustained, shimmering sound rather than the shorter, decaying sound of a crash cymbal. The most common diameter for a ride cymbal is about 20 inches (51 cm), but anything from 18 inches (46 cm) to 22 inches (56 cm) is standard. Smaller and thinner cymbals tend to be darker with more shimmer, while larger and thicker cymbals tend to respond better in louder volume situations, and conversely. Rides of up to 26 inches (66 cm) and down to 16 inches (41 cm) are readily available, and down to 8 inches (20 cm) are currently manufactured. The very thickest and loudest tend to be about 22 inches, with larger rides restricted to medium and medium thin thicknesses.

Audio samples
Component	Content	Audio (Ogg Vorbis)
Ride	Hit on the bow	61 KB (help·info)
	Hit on the bell of the cymbal	71 KB (help·info)
	Hit on the rim	67 KB (help·info)
See the Drums page at Wikimedia Commons for more

In rock or jazz, the ride cymbal is most often struck regularly in a rhythmic pattern as part of the accompaniment to the song. Often the drummer will vary between the same pattern either on the hi-hat cymbal or the ride cymbal, playing for example the hi-hat in the verses and the ride in the instrumentals and/or choruses.

The sound of a ride cymbal also varies depending on what kind of mallet is used to hit it. In rock and metal, wood and nylon-tipped drum sticks are common; wood creates a smoother, quieter sound, whereas nylon tips create more of a "ping." it creates a low vibration to keep a steady beat, but a low sound volume. The bell, the bulge in the center of the cymbal, creates a brighter, less sustained sound. Unique to the ride cymbal, the bell creates such a brilliant tone compared to the subtle sound of the bow that it is often used as somewhat of another cymbal. Some ride cymbals, seen more often in various forms of metal and harder sub-genres of rock, have an unusually large bell. This lessens the accuracy required to repeatedly hit the bell in fast patterns, and produces a louder, brighter tone than in most ride-cymbal bells.

Crash cymbal

A crash cymbal is a type of cymbal that produces a loud, sharp "crash" and is used mainly for occasional accents, as opposed to in ostinato. The term "crash" may have been first used by Zildjian in 1928. They can be mounted on a stand and played with a drum stick, or by hand in pairs. One or two crash cymbals are a standard part of a drum kit. Suspended crash cymbals are also used in bands and orchestras, either played with a drumstick or rolled with a pair of mallets to produce a slower, swelling crash. Sometimes a drummer may hit two different crash cymbals in a kit at the same time to produce a very loud accent, usually in rock music.

Although crash cymbals range in thickness from paper-thin to very heavy, all crash cymbals have a fairly thin edge. They are typically 14 to 18 inches (36 to 46 cm) in diameter, but sizes down to 8 inches (20 cm) and up to 24 inches (61 cm) are manufactured. Custom crash cymbals up to 28 inches (71 cm) in diameter have been used by big bands. Different thicknesses are used for different kinds of music, and the alloy for each manufacturer's models varies. A thick cymbal is likely to be used by a metal or rock band, while thinner cymbals are generally used in lighter rock.

The sound of a crash is changed by its luster. A cleaner cymbal creates a more crisp sound, whereas a cymbal showing signs of oxidation [usually called a 'raw' cymbal, when used on purpose] will have duller sound.

Position

Crash cymbals were traditionally placed on the left side of the drum set (for a right-handed drummer), since the normally larger ride cymbal is usually on the right, however some drummers set up their crash on the right. Often a drummer will have multiple crashes, and so may set them up with one or two on each side, or less commonly, with one mounted very closely above another, usually larger crash or ride.

A 16" Zildjian A Custom Projection Crash.

An 18" Sabian AAX X-plosion Crash.

Cracking

Crashes are often the first cymbal in a setup to warp and ultimately crack due to repeated striking of the edge. Cymbal cracking is generally in the form of a fracture along the edge, or across the bow, often originating from the edge. Cracks in cymbals are caused by poor technique or excessive play, or more rarely, the result of a defect originating from manufacture, or damage to the cymbal not caused by playing, for example dropping. If a crack is left untreated, it will begin to follow the lathe grooves around the cymbal, and could potentially spread all the way around the cymbal and back to the point where the crack started, causing the outer portion to simply drop off.

Often, lower quality sheet cymbals are more likely to crack, due to stress caused in some areas by pressing sheet metal. Thicker cymbals are also more likely to crack due to their brittleness, and less freedom to vibrate.

Some suggest that wear on the cymbal can be reduced by playing with glancing blows, angled to the side and slightly away from the vertical, about a quarter of the way between the edge and the center and allowing the drum stick to bounce off naturally, rather than forcing the stick down at the cymbal head-on. This allows the cymbal to vibrate freely and for little stress to be caused on the edge or at the center hole, thus reducing the chance of a crack.

Cracked cymbals are often fixed either temporarily or permanently by drilling a hole at either end of the crack (often the crack will spread further than it appears to the naked eye, so this method is often not as effective), or removing the cracked portion completely, or cutting the cymbal's edge down, although this method can drastically alter a cymbal's sound. Both of these methods are often ineffective at stopping cracks, but usually slow the spread of a crack down.

Orchestral clash cymbals

A pair of identical crash cymbals held in either hand by leather thongs passing through holes in their bells are called clash cymbals, and are a standard part of an orchestral percussion section. Two tones are normally used by major orchestras, known as Germanic or Wagnerian (heavier) and Viennese (lighter); a third, rarer tone is known as French (lighter still). Clash cymbals are also used in stage, concert, marching and military bands.

hi-hat cymbal

Hi-hat

Operation

10 inch Mini-hats with (1) Hi-hat rod and clutch (2) Tom and cowbell holder (3) HiHat legs and pedal

The hi-hat consists of two cymbals that are mounted on a stand, one on top of the other, and clashed together using a pedal on the stand. A narrow metal shaft or rod runs through both cymbals into a hollow tube and connects to the pedal. The top cymbal is connected to the rod with a clutch, while the bottom cymbal remains stationary resting on the hollow tube. The height of the top-cymbal (open position) is adjustable.

When the foot plate of the pedal is pressed, the top cymbal crashes onto the bottom cymbal (closed hi-hat). When released, the top cymbal returns to its original position above the bottom cymbal (open hi-hat). A tension unit controls the amount of pressure required to lower the top cymbal, and how fast it returns to its open position.^[2]

History of development

Initial versions of the hi-hat were called clangers, which were small cymbals mounted onto a bass drum rim and struck with an arm on the bass drum pedal. Then came shoes, which were two hinged boards with cymbals on the ends that were clashed together. Next was the low-boy or low-hat, similar to a modern hi-hat stand, only with cymbals close to the ground. Hi-hats that were raised and could be played by hand as well as foot may have been developed around 1926 by Barney Walberg of the drum accessory company Walberg and Auge.^[1]

Hi-Hat Pedal & Legs

Up until the late 1960s, the standard hi-hats were 14 inches (36 cm), with 13 inches (33 cm) available as a less-common alternative in professional cymbal ranges and smaller sizes down to 12 inches (30 cm) restricted to children's kits. In the early 1970s, hard rock drummers (including Led Zeppelin's John Bonham) began to use 15-inch hi-hats. In the late 1980s, Zildjian released its revolutionary 12 inch Special Recording hats, which were small, heavy hi-hat cymbals intended for close micing either live or recording, and other manufacturers quickly followed suit. However, in the early to mid-1990s, Paiste offered 8 inches (20 cm) mini hi-hats as part of its Visions series; these were among the world's smallest hi-hats. Starting in the 1980s, a number of manufacturers also experimented with rivets in the lower cymbal. But by the end of the 1990s, the standard size was again 14 inches, with 13 inches a less-common alternative, and smaller hats mainly used for special sounds. Rivets in hi-hats failed to catch on.

Modern hi-hat cymbals are much heavier than modern crash cymbals, reflecting the trend to lighter and thinner crash cymbals as well as to heavier hi-hats. The other change has been that a pair of hi-hat cymbals is no longer necessarily similar. More typically the bottom is now heavier than the top (but in some cases like the K Zildjian Steve Gadd Session Hats the pattern is reversed for a cleaner chick and cleaner sticking), and may also be vented, this being one innovation to have caught on. Some examples are Sabian's Fusion Hats with holes in the bottom of the hi-hat, and the Sabian X-cellerator, Zildjian Master Sound and Zildjian Quick Beats, Paiste Sound Edge, and Meinl Soundwave. Some drummers even use completely mismatched hi-hats from different cymbal ranges (Zildjian's K/Z hats), of different manufacturers, and even of different sizes (similar to the K Custom Session Hats where the top hat is a sixteenth of an inch smaller than the bottom). Max Roach was particularly known for using a 14 inch top with a 15 inch bottom.

Other recent developments include the X-hat (fixed, closed, or half-open hi-hats) and cable-controlled or remote hi-hats.^[2] Sabian introduced the Triple Hi-Hat, designed by Peter Kuppers. In this variation of the hi-hat, the top cymbal moves down and the bottom cymbal moves up simultaneously while the middle cymbal remains stationary.

Drop-clutches are also used to lock and release hi-hats while both feet are in use playing double bass drums. The drop clutch was invented by ragtime drummer Graig Cortelyou. Drop clutches are commercially available from DW Drums, Gibraltar Hardware, The Coady Clutch from Billdidit, and Tama.

Playing techniques

Audio samples
Component	Content	Audio (Ogg Vorbis)
Hi-hat	Closed hi-hat	41 KB (help·info)
	Open hi-hat	58 KB (help·info)
	Hi-hat being opened and closed by its foot pedal	48 KB (help·info)
See the Drums page at Wikipedia Commons for more

When struck closed or played with the pedal, the hi-hat gives a short, crisp, muted percussive sound, sounding like and referred to as a "chick". Adjusting the gap between the cymbals can alter the sound of the open hi-hat from a shimmering, sustained tone to something similar to a ride cymbal. When struck with a drumstick, the cymbals make either a short, snappy sound or a longer sustaining sandy sound depending on the position of the pedal.

It can also be played just by lifting and lowering the foot to clash the cymbals together, a style commonly used to accent beats 2 and 4 in jazz music. In rock music, the hi-hats are commonly struck every beat or on beats 1 and 3, while the cymbals are held together. The drummer can control the sound by foot pressure. Less pressure allows the cymbals to rub together more freely, giving both greater sustain and greater volume for accent or crescendo. In shuffle time, a rhythm known as "cooking" is often employed. To produce this the cymbals are struck twice in rapid succession, being held closed on the first stroke and allowed to open just before the second, then allowed to ring before being closed with a chick to complete the pattern (the cymbals may or may not be struck on the chick). A right-handed drummer will normally play the hi-hat pedal with his left foot, and may use one or both drumsticks. The traditional hi-hat rhythms of rock and jazz were produced by crossing the hands over, so the right stick would play the hi-hat while the left played the snare drum below it, but this is not universal. Some top modern drummers like Billy Cobham, Carter Beauford, and Simon Phillips do not cross their hands over at all, playing the hi-hat mounted on the left with the left stick rather than the right. This is called open handed playing. Some trap sets may also include an extra hi-hat on the right for right-handed players, where it would be awkward to play crossed over. This is shown when drums or cymbals in the middle of the set are played with the hi-hat rhythm. The technique is common with metal genres, such as Lars Ulrich of Metallica and Mike Portnoy formerly of Dream Theater. In both rock and jazz, often the drummer will move the same stick pattern between the hi-hat cymbal and the ride cymbal, for example using the hi-hat in the verses and the ride in the chorus of a song, or using the ride to accompany a lead break or other instrumental solo.

Roger Taylor, drummer for the band Queen, plays with many unique hi-hat techniques, including involuntary opening of the hi-hat on every backbeat for a rhythm emphasis and leaving the hi-hat slightly open when hitting the snare. His trademark hi-hat beat is opening the hi-hat on first and third before hitting the snare.

Phil Rudd of AC/DC also uses distinct hi-hat techniques, which include very heavily accentuating the hi-hat hit on each beat and softer in between.

Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones uses a technique in which he does not play the hi-hat in unison with the snare drum at all. If playing a standard 8th note pattern, he will play the hi-hat on 1 and 3 and not playing it on 2 and 4 where the snare drum is played. This technique is also used by Levon Helm and Jim Keltner but not as often as Watts employs it.

Those playing double bass drums have also developed special techniques for using the hi-hat.

In much hip-hop, the hi-hat is hit with drumsticks in a simple eighth-note pattern, although this playing is usually done by a drum machine or from an old recording from which the sound of a hi-hat is recorded and loaded into a sampler or similar recording-enabled equipment from which it is triggered. Pioneer Kurtis Mantronik was one of the first to program hi-hat patterns that employed thirty-second notes.

Hi-hat "crescendo" from closed to open leading to the ride cymbal.^[3]

floor tom drum

Floor tom

A floor tom is a double-headed tom-tom drum which usually stands on the floor on three legs. However, they can also be attached to a cymbal stand with a drum clamp.

The floor toms are the lowest tuned drums in the regular 5 piece drum set. A common size for a floor tom is 16 by 16 inches (41 × 41 cm); that is, 16 inches (41 cm) in both depth and diameter. Other common sizes are 14 by 14 inches (36 × 36 cm) (e.g. for jazz kits) and 18 by 16 inches (46 × 41 cm).

Floor toms can be of one of two designs. Quite simply, floor toms with legs and 'floating' floor toms; usually attached to either a drum rack or a cymbal stand by means of a clamp. It is uncommon to see a floor tom at 16 × 16 using the "floating" system, however, and is more commonly seen on "fusion" or jazz setups whereby the floor tom is of a 14 inches diameter.

The floor tom was popularised by Gene Krupa in the 1950s, using a 16 × 16. At first he placed it between his two bass drums, on the far side of his snare drum, but quickly moved it to its now traditional position to the right of his right leg. A second 16 × 18 floor tom, to the right of the 16 × 16, appeared in the late 1960s and was popularised as part of the extended kits used by progressive rock bands in the 1970s. In kits used by rock and metal drummers, it is very common to find more than one floor tom. Roger Taylor of Queen uses two floor toms that are 16 × 16 and 16 × 18 while Lars Ulrich of Metallica uses two floor toms that are 16 × 14 and 16 × 16.

The floor tom is also used as a small bass drum by some (mostly jazz) drummers. In that case it is mounted horizontally on a specially designed rack system. More recently, companies such as Pearl have come out with "floor tom to bass drum conversion sets". These commonly consist of strategically shaped rods that one can put in place of the floor tom legs in order to stand it up horizontally. Under this method, it is fairly common that a drummer get appropriately sized bass drum hoops to complete the conversion process.

Tom-tom drum

A tom-tom drum (not to be confused with a tam-tam) is a cylindrical drum with no snare.

Although "tom-tom" is the British term for a child's toy drum, the name came originally from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala;^[1] the tom-tom itself comes from Asian or Native American cultures. The tom-tom drum is also a traditional means of communication. The tom-tom drum was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century.

Design history

The first drum kit tom-toms had no rims; the heads were tacked to the shell.

As major drum manufacturers began to offer tunable tom-toms with hoops and tuning lugs, a 12 in (30 cm) drum 18 inches (46 cm) deep became standard, mounted on the left side of the bass drum. Later a 16 in (41 cm) drum (16 inches deep) mounted on three legs (a floor tom) was added. Finally, a second drum was mounted on the right of the bass drum, a 13 in (33 cm) diameter drum 9 inches (23 cm) deep. Together with a 14 in (36 cm) snare drum and a bass drum of varying size, these three made up the standard kit of five drums for most of the second half of the 20th century.

Later, the mounted tom-toms, known as hanging toms or rack toms, were deepened by one inch each, these sizes being called power toms. Extra-deep hanging toms, known as cannon depth, never achieved popularity. All these were double-headed.

12 × 8 in (30 × 20 cm) rack tom mounted to a stand

Modern tom toms

Tom-toms mounted on a bass drum

A wide variety of configurations are commonly available and in use at all levels from advanced student kits upwards. Most toms range in size between 6 and 20 inches (15 and 51 cm), though floor toms can go as large as 24 inches (61 cm). Two "power" depth tom-toms of 12×10 (12 in (30 cm) diameter by 10 in (25 cm) depth) and 13 × 10 in (33 × 25 cm) is a common hanging tom configuration. Also popular is the "fusion" configuration of 10 × 8 in (25 × 20 cm) and either 12 × 8 in (30 × 20 cm) or 12 × 9 in (30 × 23 cm), and the again popular "classic" configuration of 12×8 and 13×9, which is still used by some jazz drummers. A third hanging tom is often used instead of a floor tom.

Single-headed tom-toms

Single-headed tom-toms (also known as concert toms) have also been used in drum kits, though their use has fallen off in popularity since the 1970s. Concert toms have a single head and a shell slightly shallower than the corresponding double-headed tom. Phil Collins still uses 4 singled headed rack mount toms and 2 floor toms (Gretsch) in his setup. He claims he tunes his toms to "bark" like a seal.

Rototoms

Rototoms have no shell at all, just a single head and a steel frame. Unlike most other drums, they have a variable definite pitch and some composers write for them as a tuned instrument, demanding specific notes. They can be tuned quickly by rotating the head. Since the head rotates on a thread, this raises or lowers the head relative to the rim of the drum and so increases or decreases the tension in the head.

Gong bass drum

A gong bass drum (also known as "gong drum"), is a large, single-headed tom often sized at 20 in (51 cm) or 22 in (56 cm), with the drumhead being 2 in (5.1 cm) larger than the shell. The sound produced is similar to a bass drum, though it is more open and has longer sustain. They can be mounted with standard floor tom legs, though many drummers mount them at an angle next to the floor tom(s). Notable users include Neil Peart, Stewart Copeland, Bill Bruford, Simon Phillips, Jason Bittner, Mike Portnoy and Dom Howard.

Construction and manufacture

Typically a tom consists of a shell, chromed or plated metal hardware and head.

Shell depth standards vary according to the era of manufacture and the drum style. Tom toms are typically made in diameters of: 6 in (15 cm), 8 in (20 cm), 10 in (25 cm), 12 in (30 cm), 13 in (33 cm), 14 in (36 cm), 15 in (38 cm), 16 in (41 cm) and 18 in (46 cm), with heads to fit.

Tom-Toms can be fitted with an adjustable mounting for a floor stand, or attachment to a bass drum or marching rig. They can be single or double-headed.

Shell

A crucial factor in achieving superior tone quality and ensuring durability, especially with wood, is the creation of perfectly round shells and much research and development effort has been put into this manufacturing technology.

Shells are often constructed of 6–8 wood plies (often using different woods e.g. mahogany and falkata — birch or maple are commonly used for single-wood plies), solid wood (turned) or man-made materials (e.g. fiberglass, pressed steel, acrylic glass, resin-composite). Wood or composite shells can be finished by laminating in plastic in a large variety of colors and effects (e.g. sparkle or polychromatic); natural wood may be stained or left natural and painted with clear lacquer. Steel is usually chromed, fiberglass self-colored and acrylic glass tinted or clear.

Audio samples

Component	Content	Audio (Ogg Vorbis)
Toms	8-inch rack tom	59 KB (help·info)
	12-inch rack tom	41 KB (help·info)
	Floor tom	39 KB (help·info)
See the Drums page at Wikipedia Commons for more

Hardware

One or two cast or pressed metal rims attach by threaded tension rods or lugs to nut boxes bolted onto the shell holds the heads onto the bearing edges of the shell. The tension rod assembly needs to be precision machined, cast and fitted to enable predictable and secure tuning without inhibiting resonance or introducing extra vibration. All components will be placed under great tension and experience added stresses from playing.

A shell-mounted clamp attached to ball-head floor stand.

Mounting systems vary greatly, from a simple cast block on the shell which accepts and clamps to a rod attached to a clamp or holder to much more sophisticated arrangements where there is no attachment to the shell, instead a frame clamps to the tuning lugs.

Another sort of rod clamp system allows attachment of the drum to the tom holder without the need of a hole in the drum shell for the rod to pass through. The clamp is attached to the shell at the nodal point with two bolts so as to allow the shell to vibrate freely without degrading the shell's dynamic range and sustain. The nodal point is the location on a shell with the least amount of vibration allowing for the mount to have minimal effect on the resonance of the shell.

Some drummers use a snare stand to hold a tom, thus making it easier to position the tom.

Snare drum

The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom (internal) side of the top (batter) head to make a "brighter" sound. Different types can be found, like Piccolo snares, that have a smaller depth for a higher pitch, rope-tuned snares (Maracatoo snare) and the Brazilian "Tarol", that commonly has snares on the top of the upper drumhead. The snare drum is considered one of the most important drums of the drum kit.

Historically, snare drums have been used in military and parading contexts to produce drum cadences. Today in popular music, especially with rock drum kits, the snare drum is typically used to play a backbeat pattern^[1] such as quarter notes on the backbeat or:

Popular backbeat pattern on snare drum^[1] play (help·info)

Operation

Snares on a drum

Snare Strainer

The drum can be played by striking it with a drum stick or any other form of beater, including brushes and rutes, which produce a softer-sounding vibration from the wires. When using a stick, the drummer may strike either the head of the drum, the rim, or the shell. When the top head is struck the snares vibrate against the bottom head producing a cracking sound. The snares can often be thrown off with a lever on the strainer so that the drum only produces a sound reminiscent of a tom-tom.^[2] Rim shots are a technique associated with snare drums in which the head and rim are struck simultaneously with one stick (or in concert playing, a stick placed on the head and rim struck by the opposite stick), and rudiments are sets of basic patterns often played on a snare drum.^[3]

In contemporary and/or pop and rock music, where the snare drum is used as a apart of a drum set, most of the backbeats and accented notes on the snare drum are played as rim shots, due to the ever increasing demand for the typical sharp and high volume sound. The so called "ghost notes" are very light "filler notes" played in between the backbeats in genres like funk and rhythm and blues. The famous drum roll is produced by alternatively pressing the sticks on the drum head striving for a controlled rebound. A similar effect can be obtained by playing alternated double strokes on the drum, creating a double stroke roll, or very fast single strokes, creating a single stroke roll. The snares are a fundamental ingredient to the drum roll as they help blend together distinct strokes that are therefore perceived as a single sustained sound.

Construction

Snare drums may be made from various wood, metal, or acrylic materials. A typical diameter for snare drums is 14 inches (36 cm). Marching snare drums are deeper in size than snare drums normally used for orchestral or drum kit purposes, often measuring in at a foot long. Orchestral and drum set snare drum shells are about 6 inches (15 cm) deep. Piccolo snare drums are even more shallow at about 3 inches (7.6 cm) deep. Soprano, popcorn, and firecracker snare drums have diameters as small as 8 inches (20 cm) and are often used for higher-pitched special effects.^[2]

Most snare drums are constructed in plies that are heat- and compression-moulded into a cylinder. Steam-bent shells consist of one ply of wood that is gradually rounded into a cylinder and glued at one seam. Reinforcement hoops are generally needed on the inside surface of the drum to keep it perfectly round. Segment shells are made of multiple stacks of segmented wood rings. The segments are glued together and rounded out by a lathe. Similarly, stave shells are constructed of vertically glued pieces of wood into a cylinder (much like a barrel) that is also rounded out by a lathe. Solid shells are constructed of one solid piece of hollowed wood.

History

A Blue Drum Set Snare Drum.

The snare drum seems to have descended from a medieval drum called the Tabor, which was a drum with a single gut snare strung across the bottom. It is a bit bigger than a medium tom and was first used in war, often played with a fife or pipe; the player would play both the fife and drum (see also Pipe and Tabor).^[4][5] Tabors were not always double headed^[6] and not all may have had snares. By the 15th century, the size of the snare drum increased and had a cylindrical shape. This simple drum with a simple snare became popular with the Swiss mercenary troops who used the fife and drum around the 15th-16th century, due to influence from the Ottoman Turk's use of the drum in their armies. The drum was made deeper and carried along the side. Further developments appeared in the 17th century, with the use of screws to hold down the snares, giving a brighter sound than the rattle of a loose snare. During the 18th century, the snare drum underwent changes that would improve its characteristic sound. Metal snares appeared in the 20th century. In 2006 a patent was filed for the first snare drum shell made from 100% crystal and in 2009 the subsequent patent was filed for the HMS mounting system needed to hold the crystal. This innovation is designed to keep the resonance at its maximum. Both patents were filed by the Nolan Page Drum Co. Today the snare drum is used in pop music and modern orchestral music.^[7]

Much of the development of the snare drum and the drum rudiments is closely tied with the use of the snare drum in the military. In his book, The Art of Snare drumming, Sanford A. Moeller (of the "Moeller Method" of drumming) states that "To acquire a knowledge of the true nature of the [snare] drum, it is absolutely necessary to study military drumming, for it is essentially a military instrument and its true character cannot be brought out with an incorrect method. When a composer wants a martial effect, he instinctively turns to the drums".

Before the advent of radio and electronic communications, the snare drum was often used to communicate orders to the soldiers. American troops were woken up by drum and fife, playing about 5 minutes of music, including the well known Three Camps.^[8] Troops were also called for meals by certain drum pieces such as "Peas on a Trencher", or "Roast Beef". A piece called the "Tattoo" was used to signal that all soldiers should be in their tent, and "The Fatigue" was used to police the quarters or drum unruly women out of the camp.^[9]

Many of these military pieces required a thorough grounding in rudiment drumming; indeed Moeller states that: "They [the rudimental drummers] were the only ones who could do it [play the military camp duty pieces]".^[10] Moeller furthermore states that "No matter how well a drummer can read, if he does not know the rudimental system of drumming, it is impossible for him to play the THE THREE CAMPS, BREAKFAST CALL, or in fact any of the Duty except the simple beats such as THE TROOP".^[11]

Heads originally were of calf skin. The invention of the plastic (mylar) drum head is credited to Marion "Chick" Evans^[12] who (apparently) made the first plastic drum head in 1956.

The development of drum rudiments seem to have developed with the snare drum; the Swiss fife and drum groups are sometimes credited with their invention.^[13] The first written rudiment was in Basel, Switzerland in 1610.^[14] Rudiments with familiar names are listed in Charles Ashworth's book in 1812 such as the (single) paradiddle, flam, drag, ratamacue, the roll (a double stroke roll, also called the "ma-ma da-da" roll), among others.

Definitions

• Military, or field drum: a snare drum, 14 to 16 inches in diameter, 9 to 16 inches deep, with a wood or metal shell and the two heads stretched by tensioning screws. It has a snare release lever to activate (deactivate) a minimum of 8 metal, gut, or plastic snares. The term came into use in 1837 with the invention of the tensioning-screw mechanism. It is frequently placed on a stand.^[15]
• Side drum: Common British and Scottish Highland term for a snare drum.^[16]

Types

There are lots of types of snare drums, including:

• Marching Snare (High Tension)
• Drum kit snare
• Piccolo snare
• Maracaoo snare (rope-tuned)
• Tarol