Hi-Hats

Around the 1920's, the pupose of the left foot in the modern drum kit is given its purpose with the invention of the "snowshoe" pedal, which copied the mechanics of hand sock cymbals. Now, by pressing down on a foot board with the left foot, two small cymbals hovering near the ground connected. This mechanism was completely crude and offered little control over the sustain or movement since the snowshoe was connected to the foot by a strap-- hence the name. Accordingly, the "low boy" was invented, standing some 10 inches off the ground, with a spring-loaded direct pull mechanism that caused the top cymbal to independently rise. Though "Mr. Hi-hat," Papa Joe Jones of the Count Basie orchestra, declares himself the inventor, no one is quite sure of how the hi-hat "grew" out of the low boy. While the drum company Leedy offered the low boy and hi-hat models in its 1924 catalog, it was not until the 1930's that hi-hats became the standard. Now drummers could play cymbals with either by hand or foot. This invention incorporated syncopation in all limbs. Now the drummer could play three instruments at a time.

A site that gives a great overview on the history of the hi-hats is wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-hat

Bass Drum Pedal


The first invention leading to this development incorporated the use of the right foot to activate sound from the bass drum, which was called the Turkish drum until the nineteenth century. In the 1890's, the bass drum pedal enabled one drummer to play two instruments. These early pedals were suspended from the bass drum's rim and tied to the musician's foot and later a footboard was added. William and Theobald Ludwig created the first modern bass pedal in 1909 when they created a spring pedal that allowed the beater to return from the drum on its own. This design, a spring attached to the beater's axis on an uplifted mound that is connected to the pedal, is used on today's bass pedals. These pedals also had a small device that would follow the movement of the pedal and strike a small cymbal attached to the lower right side of the bass drum. This cymbal was called a "clanger" and whenever the pedal was used the clanger and the bass drum would sound. The monotonous noise produced by the bass drum and clanger soon annoyed many percussionists. So the clanger was dropped but the urge to play a cymbal with the foot was not.

A fun site with a general overview is http://www.playmusic.org/percussion/index.html

The Need

Until the late nineteenth century, the role of percussion was literally in the hands of a number of musicians, each assigned to a specific instrument, be it either snare drum, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, etc., and each musician had to be proficient in all to be considered a qualified musician. These early percussionists were directed by a conductor to accompany the orchestra at scattered moments within the piece. They were used sparingly and were not the tempo keepers. In an already crowded pit this system required at least three percussion players, meaning at least three extra salaries. At the turn of the century, silent movies needed the percussionist to create a multitude of sounds. However, they could not pay three musicians. Thus, the invention of the modern drum kit began with need to syncopate all four limbs.

For more on drum history, especially ancient it seems, check out this site: www.drumtopia.com/topics/History_of_Drum.html

It has everything about drumming, alphabetically organized, from the origins of African Drumming to the modern japaneese company Yamaha Drums.