Why is the pit called the pit?

[GGarrett]

OK so it seems that we've answered the question about why the pit is called the pit. Maybe now we should ask why the marching percussion section is called the BATTERY?

...LOL... well, because we keep the whole freakin' thing pulsating and moving forward, just like the Energizer Bunny!!

[BanditKir]

OK so it seems that we've answered the question about why the pit is called the pit. Maybe now we should ask why the marching percussion section is called the BATTERY? [/size]

I heard it has something to do with when someone broke the rank of a certain finalist corps' drumline back in the late 70's and the entire line had to spend finals night down at the local precinct. Originally the mallet section was known as the 'Assault' section but once they got grounded this name was forgotten

[CrunchyTenor]

OK so it seems that we've answered the question about why the pit is called the pit. Maybe now we should ask why the marching percussion section is called the BATTERY?

I know when I tell a Spanish speaker that I'm a drummer, I use the word "Baterista".

Or perhaps it's because we batter the drums? Just like if you bake in a bakery, you batter in a battery.

Rearding non-musicians in the battery, I know a lot of brass and woodwind players that know how to play the instrument, but I don't think you could call them musicians, either. It's like the debate over the terms "drummer" vs "percussionist". Personally, I don't care what people call what I do, as long as I'm having fun doing it and the audience likes it, too.

And we can retire that old rumor about people without a sense of pitch become drummers. Last I checked, I still had the highest aural perception final score ever at Orange Coast College.

Garry in Vegas

[Roark1]

I know when I tell a Spanish speaker that I'm a drummer, I use the word "Baterista".

Or perhaps it's because we batter the drums? Just like if you bake in a bakery, you batter in a battery.

Rearding non-musicians in the battery, I know a lot of brass and woodwind players that know how to play the instrument, but I don't think you could call them musicians, either. It's like the debate over the terms "drummer" vs "percussionist". Personally, I don't care what people call what I do, as long as I'm having fun doing it and the audience likes it, too.

And we can retire that old rumor about people without a sense of pitch become drummers. Last I checked, I still had the highest aural perception final score ever at Orange Coast College.

Garry in Vegas

Yeah, that musician type stuff he said, about music and stuff.

[OdeToArsenal47]

I lost 275 pounds.

I have NO tan lines.

I had ten girlfriends, all from Boston.

My parents agreed to four years at Julliard and Berklee.

I clocked 6115 bpm on the drum machine.

Staff wont let me come to audintions because they don't want me playing all of the parts at once.

I had my own bus and food truck with a 7-star quality cook staff.

I lost 2 Metric Tons.

I actually have what's known as a bizarro tan, where I'm so tan I'm pale.

I've dated every woman in the state of Massachusetts.

My parents agreed to 4 years deep in the Amazon Rain Forest to learn from a rare native tribe that invented the drum.

I broke the drum machine. They didn't record bpms this fast.

Nobody's ever seen me drum before. Their heads usually explode when I play a paradiddle.

I have my own drum corps circuit, where each corps is devoted to getting as skilled as me.

Edited November 4, 2009 by OdeToArsenal47

[GGarrett]

Yeah, that musician type stuff he said, about music and stuff.

[lindap]

Or perhaps it's because we batter the drums? Just like if you bake in a bakery, you batter in a battery.

Garry in Vegas

betty botter bought some better butter for her bitter batter

in a

battery

badabing :-)

edit: on occasion i post here, whimsically and then i'll google; google 'aint always thinking the same way as me

Edited November 5, 2009 by lindap

[Perc_Instructor]

A drum has a batter head and resonant head. You play the military commands on the batter head of a drum to send the corps into battle formation. Hence, the Battery.

[Piper]

A drum has a batter head and resonant head. You play the military commands on the batter head of a drum to send the corps into battle formation. Hence, the Battery.

I believe that is correct. The term "Battery" is of military origin. I don't think that pits would have been very practical during the American Revolution or the Civil War. They would have been interesting though.

[kerickson]

The term "battery" comes from the French term "batterie," which is used to describe the percussion section in an orchestra. Obviously the term stuck with percussion sections of military bands. At some point in time, this would have included the bell lyra which evolved into marching bells, etc. yada, yada, yada...

When the keyboards, timpani, etc. evolved into the grounded pit as we now know it, the term "battery" or "batterie" (as many still use the French version) stuck with the "field" percussion.