Journal of Popular Music Education - Drum Kit Studies, Jul 2021

This study explored the relationship between receiving ergonomics/injury prevention education (PrevEd) during formal drum kit training and drummers’ histories of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) and their engagement in PRMD prevention behaviours. It also explored what they were taught with respect to PrevEd. A mixed-methods analysis of a subset of previously collected survey data (N = 831) revealed that while 81 per cent of the respondents had completed formal training, only 42 per cent had received PrevEd from their instructors. Respondents who had not received PrevEd were nearly twice as likely to report both lifetime and seven-day histories of PRMD than those who had. They also engaged in warm-ups, cool-downs and exercise significantly less often. Overall, the findings suggest that including PrevEd within drum kit curricula, while reinforcing the importance of regular engagement in optimal PRMD prevention behaviours, warrants further consideration as a primary PRMD prevention strategy.

The influence of Brazilian rhythms is pervasive in modern drum kit practices. Information about them can be accessed through drumming books or online searches, with ostinatos for the feet and sticking combinations for the hands, which usually are adaptations from patterns traditionally played with hand percussion instruments. Those patterns instruct drummers on what to play; however, the discussion on how to play them to sound authentic is scarce. This article explores this topic and suggests that timing nuances and performance gestures are fundamental for its comprehension. In that sense, an exclusively analytical approach to the rhythmic nuances, in which grooves are described in terms of milliseconds, is not considered sufficient. In order to fully grasp the ‘Brazilian feel’, it is suggested that a broader spectrum of elements of expression should be observed, as dancing, religion, spoken language and other aspects of everyday life might have effects on musical outcomes.

The late nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century saw the drum kit emerge as an assemblage of musical instruments that was central to much new music of the time and especially to the rise of jazz. This article is a study of Chinese drums in the making of the drum kit. The notions of localization and exoticism are applied as conceptual tools for interpreting the place of Chinese drums in the early drum kit. Why were distinctly Chinese drums used in the early drum kit? How did the Chinese drums shape the future of the drum kit? The drum kit has been at the heart of most popular music throughout the twentieth century to the present day, and, as such, this article will be beneficial to educators, practitioners and scholars of popular music education.

This article provides a descriptive study of the FSU Rock Ensemble to demonstrate the value of providing inclusive popular music-based ensemble learning and opportunities in higher education. Beginning with an autoethnographic study of my experiences as a drummer in – and eventually director of – the non-auditioned ensemble, followed by a consideration of the attitudes articulated by several other drummers who recently participated in the ensemble, I analyse how musicians learn a traditionally non-academic music in an academic space. I conclude with a critical assessment of challenges that the group faced, with the hope that such considerations are useful for universities interested in establishing similar ensembles. Overall, the inclusive nature of the Rock Ensemble facilitated interactions that I argue are advantageous within the current climate of North American higher education, allowing students, drummers and non-drummers alike, unprecedented opportunities to perform music they love, forge new relationships and engage with the local community.