If the drums were lost

As a drum teacher, a student recently asked me, what would it be like if there were no drums? It took me a minute or two to find an answer that could possibly explain the loss of what I do for an income / hobby and more importantly what it would mean for music. It is difficult to imagine life without the rhythm that we hear in our popular music. No rock and roll, blues, funk, disco, reggae, jazz as we know it as they are all grounded in rhythm. It’s almost unthinkable what the world would be like if the drums weren’t …

First, let’s go back to a time when there was actually an absence of drums in music. James Blades, author of Percussion instruments and their history, wrote:

“With the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire, percussion music was banned as malicious and licentious; The drums and cymbals stood out particularly as evidence of the devil’s pomposity.“.

As BC turned into AD, the drums were pushed off the music scene and history itself was written for the next eighteen hundred years. Much later, the drums found a place on the battlefield as an instrument of intimidation for the enemy and to excite the spirit of the attacking army itself. Fast forward to the post-slavery era of New Orleans and the war drums become the “cheat game”, played by one person and featured in Jazz music. And the battery is born. What a serendipitous encounter that was. If these particular moments in time never happened, what would our modern music look like? If the drums never made it to the battlefield or the streets of New Orleans and stopped when they did, would we be the same society that we are?

I think the whole world would be quite different. There are no drum groups at soccer games, no marching bands at the parade, and certainly no drums to be played at the school desk with pencils. I’m not sure, but I think rock and roll wouldn’t be the same or even exist without drums to inspire guitar, bass, piano, and vocals. Would the Beatles still have taken the world by storm without Ringo? I really doubt it. “Wipe Out” would have been so spectacular with just guitars – nope. Or would In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida have been a hit without the drums? Oh! Muppets without Animals – absolutely unthinkable! And before Rock and Roll there was Jazz, Blues, Dixieland, Bebop, Swing, Country Western, to name just a few. They all had drums and it was the beginnings of Rock as we know it.

If you’re like me and pay attention to movie soundtracks, most of the time they are peppered with drums and percussion to set the mood. It can be a completely different experience watching movies without rhythm.

For me personally, it would be a complete change in my life. My earliest memory of being interested in drums was in elementary school. He was probably in the third or fourth grade and during an assembly the drummer of the school band (her name was Rhonda) I did a typical “around the kit” fill and was hooked. In sixth grade, when I was offered band class, I wanted to play drums, but they were full of drummers, so I chose the baritone horn. It wasn’t until after graduation that I got a chance to test a friend’s battery and finally buy it. In 2 years I was lucky to start playing in bands and I never looked back. I have played country, reggae, rock, and many original projects with drums both on stage and in the recording studio. About 10 years into my career, I bought a conga set after seeing a Toto concert with Lenny Castro on percussion. I was amazed to hear and see the power of a drummer / percussionist combination, much less the enormous talent of the rest of the band. I had to get into this part of the rhythm and find out more. I read Mickey Hart’s books “Drumming At The Edge Of Magic” and “Planet Drum”, sending me on my own journey in search of the other side of drums. I became friends with a Senegalese percussion teacher who taught me how to play, build and teach the djembe, which led me to many other styles and types of percussion instruments from many cultures.

For a time I was a very busy studio drummer in Okanagan, as well as playing with some of the best bands in the area at the time. I went through the road tests going through BC and Alberta and definitely learned the “paying off your debts” part of the business; There is a whole book to write about just that! When my wife and I moved to a smaller city, there weren’t many openings for drummers. In the few bands there were, someone was already playing drums. So I changed the subject and played mostly auxiliary percussion (congas, bongos, timpani, etc.) in bands. I was also drawn to some local theater productions, which, by the way, was a great way to hone my reading skills.

Now I have a perfect balance of playing in a weekend rock band, teaching drums in private and hand drums in groups. I also build and repair just about anything that has to do with drums and percussion and I plan to dedicate myself to marketing some percussion accessories that I have developed over the 40 years of my career.

But life without the battery? I can’t really answer that as drums are such an important part of my personal life. Music has such a powerful effect on me when I play it with other musicians and it is enjoyed by a crowd of people who dance. It is my meditation, my therapy. It is quite possible that I was locked up in a sanitarium at a young age for hitting and beating anything near me and making strange percussive noises with what I was holding. At least he wouldn’t be alone there. There would be a million other tappers and thumpers like Ringo’s, Keith’s, and Animals to keep up.

Drum on …