Q: When does a rock and roll drummer wear a suit and tie?
A: When the judge says, “The defendant will rise.”
I grew up playing drums. I even attended Ringo’s wedding, but I’ll save that for later.
The fact that Mr. Hanson, our grade school band instructor, saw no future for me with the clarinet prompted my path to percussion. I played snare, bass and timpani (the Lawrence of Arabia theme was particularly fun), and transitioned to our American Legion post’s drum and bugle corps. In the latter capacity I won two state championships: first and a third in tenor and a first in rudimental bass. In that era there were 26 percussion rudimentary patterns, apparently now there are 40.
Quick primer for non-drummers: snares have wires across the bottom for a sharp, crisp sound. Tenors do not; they’re tuned by tension on the head for a muted sound. Same with bass drums, which of course are larger and carried vertically. Timpanis (aka kettle drums) often have a pedal that adjusts the head tension.
Turns out there are four ways to hold drumsticks--the wooden, not the avian variety. American, German, French grips. Who knew? All for the right hand, adaptable to the left, plus traditional for the left. Rather than holding both sticks palm down—a “matched” grip--the traditional begins with the left (or non-dominant) hand palm up, stick between thumb and index finger with other fingers supporting.
The traditional grip has an historic advantage. It avoids banging the left hand on the drum’s rim, especially while marching rather than playing with both hands palm down.
There are examples of drumming in history. In my father’s line, George Washington’s aide de camp was Lieutenant Colonel Tench Tilghman who took the news of the Yorktown victory to Congress in Philadelphia in 1781. He was present when Lord Cornwallis’ minions began the process leading to surrender.
A fellow Pennsylvanian related to Tench the solitary British drummer who had appeared on Cornwallis’ principal strongpoint. The drummer communicating a desire to parley played a recognized European cadence. The officer told Tench, “Had we not seen him in his red coat when he first mounted the parapet, he might have beat away till doomsday” because the firing drowned the sound of a single drum.
The drummer’s 45-second passage with rests among energetic single- and double-sticking was known in three armies: British, American, and French.
Tench’s source continued, “A British officer then came out in front of the defenses with a white hand kerchief so firing had ceased. One of our men ran forward, bandaged the eyes of the man with ‘the flag’ and sent the drummer back to the horn work. Then he led the fellow to a house behind our lines.”
As far as Tench could tell, nobody recorded the name of the British officer, let alone the courageous percussionist standing exposed to allied bombardment.
Both those players on history’s stage exited into anonymity.
In the Civil War 11-year-old Willie Johnston joined his father in a Vermont regiment as a drummer boy and served most of the war. He received the Medal of Honor for his gallantry at age 12 when he brought his drum off the battle field while soldiers threw away their weapons and equipment to flee the rebels.
Kettle drums—first cousins of timpanis—featured in mounted bands of the 18thcentury and later. Drum horses were bred for size and strength, with a cultivated disposition around loud noises.
Many readers of my vintage recall the percussion dirge in President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 funeral procession. Beat, beat, beat, roll; beat, beat, beat, roll; beat, beat, beat, roll; beat, beat, beat-beat. I suspect the last pair were flams (quick doubles) rather than single beats.
From a longtime friend, a red-hot rockin’ drummer: “We will never know the name of the first drummer to accent the backbeat instead of the downbeat, but I speculate he was left-handed.
“Or the first drummer to syncopate, and hit the accent just before the downbeat.
“Between them, those two guys invented jazz.”
The drumeo.com website gave top drummer honors to Buddy Rich with Gene Krupa of Benny Goodman fame at sixteenth. The site lauded Krupa as “the very first drum set soloist” complete with stick flips.
Buddy Rich defined big band percussion, famous for stints with half a dozen bands including Tommy Dorsey and Harry James. With boundless energy and awesome speed, he became one of the most influential drummers ever.
Rolling Stone rated Gene Krupa seventh on its all-time list. The RS compilation paid tribute to Buddy Rich as influencing other drummers but omitted him from the rankings.
Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham was ranked first (third in Drumeo), and I admit I’d never heard of him because I avoid hard rock. More like electronic noise than music to my tin ears.
However, I have to mention Wipe Out, the Surfaris’ 1963 smash instrumental featuring a driving, seemingly exhausting percussion by Ron Wilson.
Nowthen: about Ringo.
In April 1981 I visited shirt-tail relatives in the RAF and spent some days venturing through London Town, trying to avoid gaping at the historic sights as if I’d just fallen off the turnip truck. (Alright, we never raised turnips, just wheat and peas but the comparison applies.)
Down at the end of a side street was a large official-looking building with a big-to-huge crowd in front. Wondering what was the occasion, I edged my way through the throng where I could see the cathedral-like doors and steps.
Then it was as if the clouds parted, and They emerged.
Ringo Starr Himself with Barbara Bach Herself. She was glorious, radiant, stunning in a white dress offset by her Bond Girl tan and gleaming smile. They’d married in a civil ceremony at the 60-year-old Marylebone Town Hall about a mile north of Buckingham Palace.
Wow.
Equally wow: that was forty-four years ago. And they’re still married!
As for today, I hear of electronic drums—a disgusting permutation that I refuse to consider.
The past was better—we did things differently there.