Did You Know?

Drumming is most likely the oldest musical activity. One of the earliest discovered drum was from 5500 BC, making drums the first instrument that humans ever created. During that time it was the alligator drum that was found in China. It had a clay base and an alligator skin top, and is thought to have been used during Neolithic rituals. (Note—some say the flute was the first instrument created).

Drums played a major role in medieval and Renaissance Europe. They were used extensively by warring nations to lead troops into battle. Moreover, the snare drum and its relatives were used in the infantry to even send coded messages.

People in Africa and India used drums for long range communication between villages. In a sense it was the original telephone!

The modern shape of the drum kit was formed in the 1930s. Brushes have been used since the 1920s.

In the 1930s steel drums were created in Trinidad and Tobago. The djembe drum is said to have been invented in the 12th century in what is now Mali, in West Africa. The bongo drums were invented in Cuba in the late 19th century. The smaller bongo drum is called the macho (male) and the larger drum is the hombra (female). It’s interesting to note that some instruments are classified by gender—the drum is male.

It may be hard to believe, but I’ve read that drumming burns more calories in a half hour session than cycling, weight lifting or hiking. (At this point I’m too old to experiment and check if it’s true). Drumming was found to reduce anxiety-- it also lowers blood pressure, sometimes significantly.

A newer study suggests that drummers have fewer but thicker fibres in the main connecting track between the two halves of the brain. And it seems the motor areas of the brain are organized more efficiently.

Playing four-way coordination at the drum set requires the use of both sides of the brain simultaneously. It’s thought this type of activity improves IQ levels. It also improves memory, focus, and hand-eye coordination.

Unsurprisingly, drummers experience more hearing loss than any other musician. The two most frequently reported drumming-related injuries are tinnitus and carpal tunnel syndrome, not to mention back and neck problems.

Global revenue in the percussion industry amounted to $1.62 billion in 2022.
China created the most revenue in the industry, with $346.30 million in 2022.

The most expensive drum set sold at auction was Ringo Starr’s Ludwig drum set, which sold for $2,100,000 in 2015. (Guinness World Records)

The world’s largest drum set is comprised of hundreds of pieces, owned by Dr. Mark Temperato. It takes four people over 15 hours to set it all up.

The world record for the most drum beats in one minute goes to Siddharth Nagarajan with a colossal 2,109 beats. Siddharth is a professional drummer from India and used an alternate single-strokes with multiple stick bounces on each stroke to achieve the world record. That is an impressive 35 beats per second! He earned his records some years ago on Valentine’s Day in 2017.

Viola Smith was one of the first ever professional female drummers working in orchestras and swing bands starting in the 1920s. In 2019, at the age of 107, Viola was still drumming in a band. She died in 2020, but was a legend.

Kunto Hartono of Indonesia played drums from December 27th, 2011 to January1st, 2012, making him the record holder for the longest played continuous drum session—over 122 hours of straight drumming.

The largest drum in the world can be found in Simcheon-Meon, South Korea. It has a diameter of over 18ft, and a total weight of 7 tons. Established in 2011, visitors can go and strike the drum for themselves with a massive drumstick.

The macaque species of monkey is known to drum objects in a rhythmic way in order to show social dominance. Drumming also developed as a form of social communication for macaques just as it has for humans.

For drums made of maple wood the sound is softer and more resonant. Those made of birch and oak have a louder and less reverb sound.

The loudest drumbeat ever recorded was struck by Col Hatchman of the band The Dirty Shanks, with a measurement of 137.2 decibels. A noise of 140 decibels is considered the human pain threshold!

NOTE—the above facts and many more can be found simply by asking Mr. Know-It-All Google.