The play of the drummer constructs himself on the African rhythm and the technique of the drum of which the first codification dates back to the 15th century and was developped during the Napoleonic period.
The used paterns took thus the name of the employed techniques of this era : Flam, Ratamacue, Paradiddle...
Thus appeared the first drums, composed from a bass drum (the bass drum pedal has been invented only about 1910), a snare drum, a tom (varying Chinese drum) and a Chinese cymbal.
Depending on the influences and the drummer's taste, other elements were added such as the woodblocks (small percussions out of wood) and the cowbells.
The role of the drummer is then to keep the tempo and his musicality is not recognized ; it is even frequent to say that a quintet counts four musicians and a drummer...
These
places, of bad repute, left only few place to the musicians.
This inconvenience, added to the
fact that a musician always costs less that two or three, obliged the percussionnists
to play several instruments at once and to invent the technique of the "Double
drumming" that consist in to play the bass drum with the top of the stick
then the snare drum with the olive.
1890
1925