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The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The heads may be made of calfskin or plastic and there is normally a means of adjusting the tension, either by threaded taps or by strings. Bass drums are built in a variety of sizes, but size does not dictate the volume produced by the drum. The pitch and the sound can vary much with different sizes,Del Mar, Norman (1981). Anatomy of the Orchestra. . but the size is also chosen based on convenience and aesthetics. Bass drums are percussion instruments that vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished.
In many forms of music, the bass drum is used to mark or keep time. The bass drum makes a low, boom sound when the mallet hits the drumhead. In marches, it is used to project tempo (marching bands historically march to the beat of the bass). A basic beat for rock and roll has the bass drum played on the first and third beats of bars in common time, with the snare drum on the second and fourth beats, called . In jazz, the bass drum can vary from almost entirely being a timekeeping medium to being a melodic voice in conjunction with the other parts of the set.
Davuls were ideal for use as military instruments because of the unique way in which they could be carried. The Ottoman janissaries, for example, hung their davuls at their breasts with thick straps. This made it easier for the soldiers to carry their instruments from battle to battle. This practice does not seem to be limited to just the Ottoman Empire, however; in Egypt, drums very similar to davuls were braced with cords, which allowed the Egyptian soldiers to carry them during military movements.
The davul, however, was also used extensively in non-military music. For example, davuls were a major aspect of Turkish folk dances.McGowan, Keith, "The Prince and the Piper: Haut, Bas and the Whole Body in Early Modern Europe. Early Music, Vol. 27, No. 2, Instruments and Instrumental Music (May 1999), pp. 211-216. In Ottoman society, davul and shawm players would perform together in groups called davul-zurnas, or drum and shawm circles.
At its peak, the Ottoman Empire stretched from Vienna down to northern Africa and most of the middle east.Sardar, Marika. "The Greater Ottoman Empire, 1600–1800". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. This long reach meant that many aspects of Ottoman culture, including the davul and other janissary instruments, were likely introduced to other parts of the world. In Africa, the indigenous population took the basic idea of the davul – that is, a two-headed cylindrical drum that produces a deep sound when struck – and both increased the size of the drum and changed the material from which it was made, leading to the development of the long drum. The long drum can be made in a variety of different ways but is most typically constructed from a hollowed-out tree trunk. This is vastly different from the davul, which is made from a thick shell.Lundstrom, Hakan and Tavan, Damrong, "Kammu Gongs and Drums (II): The Long Wooden Drum and Other Drums." Asian Folklore Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2 (1981), pp. 173-189. Long drums were typically 2 meters in length and 50 centimeters in diameter, much larger than the Turkish drums on which they were based. The indigenous population also believed that the tree from which the long drum was made had to be in perfect shape. Once an appropriate tree was selected and the basic frame for the long drum was constructed, the Africans took cow hides and soaked them in boiling hot water, in order to stretch them out. Although the long drum was an improvement on the davul, both drums were nevertheless played in a similar fashion. Two distinct sticks were used on the two distinct sides of the drum itself. A notable difference between the two is that long drums, unlike davuls, were used primarily for religious purposes.
As the use of the long drum began to spread across Europe, many composers and musicians started looking for even deeper tones that could be used in compositions. As a result of this demand, a narrow-shelled, single-headed drum called the gong drum was introduced in Britain during the 19th century. This drum, which was 70-100 centimeters in diameter and deep-shelled, was similar to the long drum in both size and construction. When struck, the gong drum produced a deep sound with a rich resonance. However, the immense size of the drum, coupled with the fact that there was not a second head to help balance the sound, meant that gong drums tended to produce a sound with a definite pitch. As a result, they fell out of favor with many composers, as it became nearly impossible to incorporate them in an orchestra in any meaningful way.
Because they were unable to be used by orchestras, music makers began to build smaller gong drums that would not carry a definite pitch. This smaller version of the gong drum is today called the orchestral bass drum, and it is the prototype with which people are most familiar today. The modern bass drum is used primarily in orchestras. The drum, similar to the davul and long drum, is double-headed, rod tensioned and measures roughly 40 inches in diameter and 20 inches in width. Most orchestral bass drums are situated within a frame, which allows them to be positioned at any angle.
Bass drums are also highly visible in modern . In 1909, William Ludwig created a workable bass drum pedal, which would strike a two-headed bass drum in much the same way as a drumstick.Nichols, Geoff (1997). The Drum Book: The History of the Rock Drum Kit. . During the 1960s, many rock ‘n’ roll drummers began incorporating more than one bass drum in their drum kit, including the Who's Keith Moon and Cream's Ginger Baker.
Apart from the standard beaters mentioned above, implements used to strike the drum may include keyboard percussion mallets, timpani mallets, and drumsticks. The hand or fingers can also be used (it. con la mano). The playing techniques possible include rolls, repetitions and unison drum stroke. Bass drums can sometimes be used for sound effects. e.g. thunder, or an earthquake.
Sometimes the front head of a kit bass drum has a hole in it to allow air to escape when the drum is struck for shorter sustain. Muffling can be installed through the hole without taking off the front head. The hole also allows microphones to be placed into the bass drum for recording and amplification. In addition to microphones, sometimes are used to amplify the sound and provide a uniform tone, especially when fast playing without a decrease in volume is desired. Professional drummers often choose to have a customized bass drum front head, with the logo or name of their band on the front.
The kit bass drum may be more heavily muffled than the classical bass drum, and it is popular for drummers to use a pillow, blanket, or professional mufflersProtection Racket bass drum muffler , for example. inside the drum, resting against the batter head, to dampen the blow from the pedal, and produce a shorter "thud".
Different beaters have different effects, and felt, wood and plastic ones are all popular. Bass drums sometimes have a Tom-tom drum mount on the top, to save having to use (and pay for) a separate stand or rack. Fastening the mount involves cutting a hole in the top of the bass drum to attach it; "virgin" bass drums do not have this hole cut in them, and so are professionally prized.
Drummers such as Thomas Lang, Virgil Donati, and Terry Bozzio are capable of performing complicated solos on top of an ostinato bass drum pattern. Thomas Lang, for example, has mastered the heel-up and heel-down (single- and double-stroke) to the extent that he is able to play dynamically with the bass drum and to perform various Drum rudiment with his feet.
In order to play "doubles" on the pedal, drummers can employ 3 main techniques: slide, swivel, or heel-toe. In the slide technique, the pedal is struck around the middle area with the ball of the foot. As the drum produces a sound, the toe is slid up the pedal. After the first stroke, the pedal will naturally bounce back, hit the toe as it slides upwards, and rebound for a second strike. In the swiveling double, the pedal is struck once in the normal manner for the first note, then the heel is immediately rotated around the ball of the foot to the side of the pedal while simultaneously playing a second stroke. This rotation can be to the inside or outside, either will work, and results in a faster second stroke than is ordinarily possible. In the heel-toe technique the foot is suspended above the foot-board of the pedal. The entire foot is brought down and the ball of the foot strikes the pedal. The foot snaps up, the heel comes off the footboard, and the toes come down for a second stroke. Once mastered either technique allows the player to play very fast double strokes on the bass drum. Noted players include Rod Morgenstein, Tim Waterson (who formerly held the world record for the fastest playing on a bass drum, using double bass), Tomas Haake, Chris Adler, Derek Roddy, Danny Carey and Hellhammer. The technique is commonly used in death metal and other extreme forms of music where triggers and double bass are typically employed. Double strokes can only properly replace single strokes for long runs of evenly spaced notes when using triggers or sample replacement as the sound is inherently uneven. Some tempos are only possible with double strokes, however.
Double bass drumming can be achieved with a number of techniques; most commonly, with simple alternating single strokes. However, in order to increase the speed, some drummers use the heel-toe technique; these are essentially double strokes where the drummer can perform two hits with one foot movement, which causes less fatigue at higher tempos.
Notable names that have a hand in raising the bar for double bass drumming, include: Terry Bozzio, Simon Philips, Virgil Donati, Derek Roddy, Gene Hoglan, George Kollias, Bobby Jarzombek and Tomas Haake. Bozzio introduced the ostinato in his "Melodic Drumming and the Ostinato" educational DVDs, playing various on the feet, while freely playing with the hands, creating . Donati is regarded as the first drummer to successfully use inverted double strokes with both feet, in addition to complex, syncopated ostinato patterns. Roddy, Hoglan and Kollias are acknowledged as the leaders of extreme metal drumming with their use of single strokes at 250+ beats per minute, while, Jarzombek and Haake's double bass drumming influenced the djent genre.
The history and development of double bass (as well as notated playing instruction) can be traced in the books Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming written by Bobby Rondinelli and Michael LaurenRondinelli, Bobby and Lauren, Miachel. Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming. New Jersey: Modern Drummer, 2000. and The Complete Double Bass Drumming Explained written by Ryan Alexander Bloom.Bloom, Ryan Alexander. The Complete Double Bass Drumming Explained. New York: Hudson Music, 2017. In addition to these books, Double Bass Drumming written by Joey Franco and Double Bass Drum Freedom written by Virgil Donati are also commonly used resources for double bass instruction.
The drums are typically between 16" and 32" in diameter, but some groups have used bass drums as small as 14" and larger than 36". The drums in a bass line are tuned such that the largest will always play the lowest note with the pitch increasing as the size of the drum decreases. Individually, the drums are usually tuned higher than other bass drums (drum set kick drums or orchestral bass drums) of the same size, so that complex rhythmic passages can be heard clearly and articulated.
Unlike the other drums in a drumline, the bass drums are generally mounted sideways, with the drumhead facing horizontally, rather than vertically. This results in several things. First of all, to ensure that a vibrating membrane is facing the audience, bass drummers must face perpendicular to the rest of the band and so are the only section in most groups whose bodies do not face the audience while playing. Consequently, bass drummers usually point their drums at the back of the bass drummer in front of them, so that the drum heads will all be lined up, from the audience's point of view, next to one another in order to produce optimal sound output.
The motion of the basic stroke is either similar to the motion of turning a doorknob, that is, an absolute forearm rotation, or similar to that of a snare drummer, where the wrist is the primary actor, or more commonly, a hybrid of these two strokes. Bass drum technique sees huge variation between different groups both in the ratio of forearm rotation to wrist turn and the differing views on how the hand works while playing. Some techniques also call for the use of fingers supporting the motion of the mallet by opening or closing, but no matter whether it is open or closed the thumb needs to be close to the rest of the fingers.
However, the basic stroke on a drum produces just one of the many sounds a bass line can produce. Along with the solo drum, the "unison" is one of the most common sounds used. It is produced when all of the bass drums play a note at the same time and with a balanced sound; this option has a very full, powerful sound. The rim click, which is when the shaft (near the mallet head) is struck against the rim of the drum, either solo or in unison. are rare on a bass drum and usually only happen on the top drums.
The different positions of the typical five person bass line each require different skills, though not necessarily different levels of skills. Contrary to the popular belief that "higher is better," each drum has its own critical role to play. Bottom, or fifth bass, is the largest, heaviest, and lowest drum in the drumline. Consequently, it is used frequently to help maintain pulse in an ensemble and is thus sometimes referred to as the "heartbeat" of the group (the bottom bass was also often referred to as the "thud" bass in days gone by, indicating that many of their notes were the last one at the end of a phrase). Although this player does not always play as many notes as fast as other bass drummers (the depth of pitch renders most complex passages indistinguishable from a drumroll), his or her role is essential not only to the sound of the bass line or the drum line, but to the ensemble as a whole, especially in the case of parade bands.
The fourth bass is slightly smaller than the bottom drum (generally smaller in diameter) and can function tonally similar to its lower counterpart, but usually plays slightly more rapid parts and is much more likely to play "off the beat" - in the middle rather than at the beginning or end of a passage. The third bass is the middle drum, both in terms of position and tone. Its function is usually that of the archetypical bass drum. This player plays an integral role in the actual rendering of complex linear passages. The second bass is known for having a job in the drumline. This player's parts are very likely to be directly adjacent to the beginning or end of a phrase and less likely to be on a beat, which is highly counter-intuitive, especially to a new player. Sometimes this drum can function about the same as the top drum, but usually the second and top drummer function as a unit, playing rudimentarily difficult passages split between them.
Top, or first, bass is the highest pitched drum in the bass line and usually starts or ends phrases. The high tension drum heads allow this player to play notes that are just as taxing as those of the snare line, and often the top bass will play a part in unison with the snare line to add some depth to their sound. Some bass lines have more than five bass drums, with the largest being the largest number (bass 7 on a 7 bass line), and the smallest being referred to as first bass.
With large bass drums, more strength and control is required to turn quickly. Achieving a clean turn requires the player to use large core muscles to stop momentum of the drum at the correct time and direction.
In some marching bands, the bass drum is used to give orders to the band. For example,
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