Drums

A drum kit (or drum set or trap set - the latter an old-fashioned term) is mostly a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments arranged for convenient playing by a drummer, usually for jazz, rock, or other types of contemporary music. more...

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History

Early drum kits were known as trap kits (short for contraption) and are one of the most contemporary members of the membranophone family. They usually consisted of a bass drum, a snare drum on a stand, a small cymbal and other small percussion instruments mounted on the bass drum or a small table, all played with drum sticks or brushes except for the bass drum. The bass drum was sometimes kicked to produce a sound, and is occasionally still called a kick drum, though bass drums are now nearly always pedal-operated, and sometimes even played with two pedals to allow for greater speed. Trap set survives in the term trap case still given to a case used to transport stands, pedals, sticks, and miscellaneous percussion instruments.

The hi-hat started out life in Dixieland drumming and was called a "snowshoe cymbal beater", and was operated in a similar way as it is today. At the same time another drum company was developing a similar product called a "low boy", at a lower position compared with a modern hihat. This then developed into the hihat as we know it today, with the introduction of many different branded products from companies (such as Drum Workshop and Pacific Drums and Percussion).

Modern kits

The exact collection of components to a drum kit varies greatly according to musical style, personal preference, financial and transportation resources of the drummer. At a minimum a kit usually contains a bass drum sitting on the floor and played with a pedal, a snare drum on a stand, two or three tom-toms, some of which are mounted on top of the bass drum (or sometimes positioned on a snare stand) and the largest typically free-standing alongside it (on the floor - hence the word "floor tom"), a hi-hat (sometimes known as a 'sock' cymbal) comprising two small cymbals played by means of pedal with almost always the left foot, a ride cymbal and a crash cymbal arrangement. The most basic modern kits comprise of five pieces more commonly known as five piece kits.

Kit additions and variations

Some drummers may add a second bass drum (played by the left foot), double bass pedals (played with both feet), additional toms, more cymbals, tambourines, woodblocks, cowbells, electronic pads that trigger sampled sounds, or any of a whole galaxy of accessory instruments. Some drummers, such as Billy Cobham, Dave Lombardo, Virgil Donati, Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio, Keith Moon and Mike Portnoy have gone to extreme lengths and built massive kits including features such as ranges of tuned tom-toms, allowing them to contribute melodically as well as rhythmically. These huge kits reached their zenith in the arena rock of the 1980s, and the trend since then has been towards a smaller instrument such as John Bonham's five-piece set. Most of the massive kits were custom made by companies like Drum Workshop and Premier.

Read more at Wikipedia.org