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Drums existed since ancient times.
Drums consist of at least one drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a drum stick, to produce sound. They are the oldest instruments and can be dated back to 5500BC!
They were originally made with alligator skin, then people
started using other animal's skins and eventually developed plastic drumheads. The shell is mostly made of wood or plastic. -
For many years there were a variety of drums made out of whatever materials the builder could find. The first modern snare drum was created in medieval Europe.
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There is little evidence of man using drum sticks from the ancient days; however, it is likely they were used. Some of the earliest known drum sticks were from the 1300's, used to beat snare drums called Tabors, and they were made from wood.
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The timpani drums are a group of drums that each have a different pitch. They were brought to Europe sometime during the 1400's, but weren't used widely until the 1600's.
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Another modern drum is the bass drum. Bigger than the snare drum, it was brought into Europe during the 1400's, and is sometimes called the Turkish drum.
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Over time, different woods were used for different drums. Beef wood was popular in the 1700's, and throughout the 1800's a popular choice for military drums was ebony.
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Drums remained mostly unchanged for many years, but new drums were found when modern people began exploring more and more of Africa and Cuba. The bongo drums are traced to these cultures, and are always a set of twin drums.
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Today a popular item is the drum set. People can now purchase sets of drum, and the first kit began selling in the early 1900's. The are made up of cymbals, snares, bass, tom toms and are played with hands and feet.
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Musicians often complained that the tips of their drum sticks wore down. A man named Joe Calato invented a drum stick with a nylon tip to help prolong the life of a drum stick, and the idea was a success.
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As individualism took hold of America and the world, drums sets became even more popular. The modern drum set emerged with more cymbals, and bass drums.
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A man named Karl Bartos invented a new type of drum—the electric drums. His invention did not produce a quality sound at the time, but it was an idea that would grow and take hold of musicians in the future.
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The electric drum has continued to evolve over the years. Major electronic brands such as Yamaha jumped on board with electric drums, and Roland introduced its now-famous TD-10 model in 1997. Today drums are used in orchestras, bands, and sometimes even choirs and are a vital part of music, independent of the genre.
