Percussion & Drums For Dummies
Apr 24th, 2008 by PFBlog
Everyone likes some percussion or drums . They have this quality that is pure and , in a way primal , that just makes you wanna move your body .
Drums are instruments that you build using a membrane that is stretched across some sort of opening in a vessel . The pitch of a drum is the most distinct and common property among the various types of drums .
Drums are probably the most ancient instruments known to man due to the simplicity one can make a percussion instrument and also due to their deep , tribal and at times almost primitive sound.
All you need is vibration that results from striking the stretched membrane (normally called the head ) with your hands or other objects built for the effect . Among the most common material used as heads of the drums are the skin of cows , sheep , pigs and nowadays synthetic materials as well .
The purposes of drums and the different types of drums varies tremendously , from ritual to entertainment , from communication to war .
The vast majority of drums belong to these categories :cylindrical, barrel, conga, waisted, goblet, or bowl.
A Tabla for instance would be a barrel and a Djembe a goblet . As you can see instruments are named for their shapes so you can easily know which instruments belong to which categories .
A different way to categorize drums is according to the type of head . Congas or Tablas have one head but frame drums have two heads .
Many drums have an adjustable pitch which is done by stretching the head and varies according to head size or body shape .
When you think of rock drums and the classic drum set you see drums whose pitch cannot be altered , like is the case with a bass or snare drum . This means they can fit any harmony and have a wide key range compatibility .
Today there is a new type of drums and percussion that is gaining a lot of popularity : the electronic drums which in many genres are widely replacing real drums .
Sample libraries such as “Future Percussion” are now offering percussion loops as well . This is a percussion samples that one can use to program over 60 types of instruments into a track as loops. If you prefer you can also use the percussion samples as drum hits and compose your own grooves .
For more info about percussion samples and loops try visiting www.futureloops.com . You will find other sample libraries as well in many different genres such as dance , drums or electronica .
