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 come up with an answer that could possibly explain the loss of my income/hobby and more importantly what it would mean for music. It’s hard to imagine life without the rhythm we hear in our popular music. There is no rock and roll, blues, funk, disco, reggae, jazz as we know it, as they are all based on rhythm. It is almost unthinkable what the world itself would be like if drums disappeared…

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 historywrote:

“With the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Empire, percussion music was banned for being mischievous and licentious; drums and cymbals were particularly singled out as evidence of the devil’s pomposity“.

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

The whole world would be quite different, I think. No drum bands at football games, no marching bands at the parade, and certainly no pencil drummers at the school desk! I’m not sure, but I think rock and roll wouldn’t be the same or exist without the drums to inspire the guitar, bass, piano, and vocals. Would the Beatles have conquered the world without Ringo dancing? I really doubt it. Would “Wipe Out” have been as spectacular with just guitars? No. Or would In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida have been a hit without the drums? Oh! The Muppets without Animal – 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 they were the beginnings of Rock as we know it.

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

For me personally, it would be a complete change of my life. My first memory of interest in drums was in elementary school. I was probably in grade 3 or 4 and during an assembly the drummer of the school band (she name was Rhonda) did a typical fill-in “around the kit” and I was hooked. In sixth grade, when band class was offered, I wanted to play drums, but they were full of drummers, so I chose baritone trumpet. It wasn’t until after I graduated that I had the chance to try out a friend’s drum kit and eventually buy it from him. Within 2 years I was lucky enough to start playing in bands and never looked back. I have played country, reggae, rock and many original projects on drums both on stage and in the recording studio. About 10 years into my career, I bought a set of congas after seeing a Toto concert with Lenny Castro on percussion. I was blown away hearing and seeing the power of a drummer/percussionist combo, not to mention the tremendous 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” which sent me on my own journey in search of the other side of drumming. I befriended a Senegalese drum master who taught me how to play, build, and teach the djembe drum, which led me to many other styles and types of percussion instruments from many cultures.

For a while I was a very busy studio drummer in the Okanagan, as well as playing with some of the best bands in the area at the time. I’ve been through the trials of the road traversing BC and Alberta and definitely learned the “pay what is owed” part of the business; There’s a whole book to write just about that! When my wife and I moved to a smaller town, there weren’t many openings for drummers. The few bands that were there already had someone playing the drums. So I switched gears and played mostly auxiliary percussion (congas, bongos, timbales, 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.

I now have a perfect balance between playing in a weekend rock band, teaching both private drums and hand drumming in groups. I also build and repair just about anything that has to do with drums and percussion, and I plan to continue marketing some of the percussion accessories I’ve developed over the 40-year career.

But what about life without drums? I can’t really answer that since drumming is such a big 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 dancing people. It is my meditation, my therapy. I may very well have been locked up in a sanitarium at a young age for touching and banging on anything near me and making strange percussive noises with whatever 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 with.

drum in…