I'm 15 years old and I have been playing for 5 years, well, almost 6 years, 3 of which were with a church praise team and with a youth group praise team. I learned early on (actually I never really had the idea) that drums were only for doing big solos. They are made to keep the beat, and if you can make some cool rhythms and stay on beat at the same time (of course, you have to put them in at the right time), then more power to you!
Well, my first post, signing out!
-David
The drums/drumset were not created to keep the "beat". That is a total falsehood. The drums were created to communicate through rhythm (do your research). The drumset is a polyrhythmic multi-percussion kit. It was created to allow one person to play multiple percussion pieces to play 2 or more rhythms simultaneously (polyrhythms) created by African (American) slaves applying European drum construction ti African drum ensembles in what is termed "jazz" music. At no point was it meant to "keep the beat".
In musical terms, the "beat" is the notational pulse of the music. If you are playing in 4 (C) common time the "beat" is the is the quarter note. If you are playing in 8 time the 8th note gets the beat. If you are playing in 16 (like Virgil Donati, Thomas Lang, Marco Minneman etc) the 16th note gets the beat and so on.
When playing muisc we are playing various subdivisions of note values (space/time) that create a rhythm. We are not playing beats. That is a now all too often perverted slang that in misunderstood by so-called/would-be musicians whom most times cannot
rightly divide a quarter note. The drumset/trap set (contraption set)/drum kit/multi-percussion set (termed by Max Roach)/drum choir (termed by Elvin Jones) is and always was created to be a polyrhythmic/multi limbed coordinated independence that communicated through rhythm and relatively pitch voices in a consistant manner. Since the creationof the sock cymbal (now called the hi-hat) it has required all for limbed. The drum set incorparate dance technique (as a vast number of the erly drumset players were tap dancers - ie. heel-toe etc) and military precision from European march influence and uniformity/oneness of sound in mind, body and spirit from it's African heritage.
The purpose of the drumset in music is to rhythmically support and communicate the melodic message in song. It is not to keep a beat. It is however required to be consistent in its presentation.
