Rant... or not

[Jim Nevermann]

"Crank snares to the top" goes the theorem.

"The hardware won't 'pop' so don't fear them."

But hands and wrists blight from 'Formica-hard' tight,

And only a bat's ears can hear 'em!

"They're 'tenors'" we say of our quads.

To call them that, though, is at odds.

To designate right, their multi-heads tight,

Say "Four toneless bongos"... ye gods!

"Traditionally" (said to our faces)

"The big drums are what were called 'basses.'"

They're now cranked terrific, way up stratospheric.

Too high! Throw 'em back in their cases.

Now don't anyone get defensive

But, speaking of sections expensive,

"We MUST have more noise! More tymps, bells and 'toys'!"

The Pit swallows money... extensive!

-me, 2004

[drumno5]

Your humorously presented points are certainly well taken. As far back as the early 80's, people were starting to tune their "tenors" higher than their snares. Of course that was pre-kevlar; nowadays both snare and tenor tunings are stratospheric. And not to take issue with contemporary writing or instrumentation, but a 16" bass drum" is pretty much a bass drum in name only.

For better or worse, that's progress (or evolution if you prefer), I guess.

peace,

Fred O.

[drumkid]

Pretty funny. I liked it.

However: I'll take the clarity of a modern snare line over the chuzz of mylar anytime.

Quads are generally tuned a m3 apart and the pitches are quite evident... and, relative to the rest of the batterie, would still have to be considered the middle voice.

As for basses (save the bottom: that's "MISTER Man" to you and me) you are still getting readable relative pitches; and DC's have all but abandoned the 16".

Both bass/quad heads are "reefed" to the point where the drum is articulate enough to demonstrate the performers' virtuosity, which was not as evident with Ye Olde Tuning (IMO). Also (and I need to ask around a bit before I state this with any certainty), it seems that the bass/quad drummers of olden times were snare castaways, whereas now you see a lot more "quad-specific" or "bass-specific" players than were availble in the not-so-long-ago.

And last but not least: there has been no singular section that has seen improvement like the front ensemble. Light years.

Ka-chow.

The "beef" of old is now in the subtleties.

There was little subtle about 4 measures of single stroke sixtuplets. It was really effin cool though...

Thanks for sharing, Jim!

cheers

[Kyle]

Thanks for the laugh. :)