MLT Club Member Jürgen
MLT Club MemberForum Replies Created
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Tina Ambrose was 17 when she started her career:
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Female drummers in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s always had an exotic touch and were often seen as a nice gimmick. As James Brown sang in 1964: “This is a man’s world. But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl”. It’s a shame that this has to be emphasized again and again. Why actually? That Mona is sitting on the drums today is wonderful and natural. Many dedicated women before her made it possible.
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A little history of the drum
In musicology, a drum is a musical instrument in which the sound is generated by a stretched vibrating membrane, the so-called skin. So far so good, but who invented the drum in the first place? One thing is certain: The history of the drum is generally as old as mankind itself. It doesn’t take much imagination to realize that the first Stone Age people probably had the idea of knocking on hollow objects with sticks or bones (and if it was just their own head…) . The sounds were most likely used as hunting aids or for signaling purposes rather than to produce music, but who knows, ancient Neanderthals might have made music as well. Perhaps the first drums also served as a ritual accompaniment in religious ceremonies to communicate with the gods. However. The oldest bone finds of a human-like being that have been found so far have the sonorous name “Ardi”, named after the place where it was found in the Afar desert in Ethiopia. So we assume that Ardi was the inventor of drumming and therefore also the first drummer. This is valid until someone finds an older skeleton
The drum can be found on every continent, in every culture, in one of the countless designs and different ways of playing. Some of the first drums documented archaeologically date from the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. This was a rectangular frame drum, called a „tof“, which has been dated to around 2700 BC. Some of the oldest known wooden drums come from China. The drums covered with crocodile skins from the 3rd millennium BC. were discovered in the Neolithic site of Taosi. In Central Europe, on the other hand, hourglass-shaped clay drums were popular. And perhaps the oldest drum find is the „Zorbau drum“ (around 3400 – 3100 BC), although experts are not yet sure whether this really is an early form of the drum or a ritual vessel (perhaps it was also the first mobile toilet 😀).
While the drum was still a very popular instrument in Europe during the Middle Ages (and it was also played mostly by women), this was soon to change. For a very long time, the drum had no fixed place in our culture – with the exception of military or marching music and a minor role in classical music (timpani). This was only to change again at the beginning of the 20th century, when jazz developed into an independent and popular genre of music. Very nice that the drum has returned to us in its old diversity.
A little musical tour with the drum around the world:
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Admirable and remarkable: Evelyn Glennie, who has been deaf since the age of 10. She often goes barefoot on stage to better feel the vibrations of her percussion instruments. Glennie is considered one of the best drummers in contemporary music and enjoys performing with jazz musician Fred Frith, whom she accompanies on the grand piano or drums. Here for a change on the vibraphone:
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Thanks Len for the information about the song”I burn for you”. I wasn’t aware that this was an excerpt from the movie “Bring on the night”. As you have already mentioned: there are usually only snippets of it to be found. “I burn for you” reminds me a lot of “Englishman in New York”, although this track was released on the LP “Nothing like the sun” two years later. I am very impressed how you can recognize the individual musicians and instruments. Do you have a classical music education or does that just come from your great interest in jazz?
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Yeah Jung, pressing records is indeed reminiscent of making waffles. The LP’s only sound better 😁. I assume that this pressing process was automated even more later. It’s a pity that many pressing plants were shut down with the appearance of the CD in the 80s and 90s. I’m not an LP fan anymore, since I got rid of my Technis record player many years ago, but I often hear and read that today’s LP’s sometimes have a bad pressing and sound quality. But I don’t want to start a discussion about what sounds better now, LP or CD. This discussion always leads only bad mood. The beautiful, often artistically designed LP cover I miss but in any case.
PS: Maybe a nice independent topic can be created from this: My/Your “favorite record cover”. Is there interest here in the forum? I am in.
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Hi Jung,
we had an exchange about “Nannerl” before. I remember. Among other things, the topic at that time was about female classical composers. She was already playing sonatas and concertos on the piano at the age of 11. Yes, perhaps she was the true child prodigy. Fun Fact: By the way, the full name of “Nannerl” was: Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart (more of a short story than a name). After she got married her name was Maria Anna Freifrau von Berchtold zu Sonnenburg.
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Thanks Dave, “Rivers in our Venes” is a really interesting attempt to combine archaic music elements like tap dancing and clapping with modern jazz music. Really successful. Maybe it would be a nice idea to let these elements run like a red thread through the whole piece. Do you visit these live events regularly?
There is a regular jazz festival in my hometown. This event is popular with jazz lovers from all over Germany. The following song was also performed there a few years ago. What I find interesting about this piece of music is that the guitar musicians give the drummer plenty of leeway to develop his playing.
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Cindy Blackman Santana musically united with her husband Carlos:
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Hi Jung,
a nice solo by Dennis Wilson, thanks. It’s always great to hear when individual instruments within a band start to tell a „little story“ of their own. George Harrison, for example, always found a wonderful way to weave a little melody into the songs without messing up the overall structure. That makes songs more interesting and complex. Some songs from today lack such creative ideas. You listen to a piece briefly and automatically know how it will continue and end. Completely different in this song:
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Hi Daryl,
very nice that you’re „tuning in“. You’re right: if a singer doesn’t hit the right note or a guitar grip doesn’t sit right, it’s not fine. But if the drummer gets out of rhythm, it’s immediately noticeable.
It’s also bad if the drummer is overly motivated…
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108 years, what a proud age David. With some people I wonder what the secret of their long life is. Eating a lot of fruit and exercising in the fresh air will probably not have been the only things. I like listening to the stories of mature people. It’s always an exciting journey back in time.
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Hi David,
I was actually just looking for a nice music clip by Viola Smith. Frances Carroll & her Coquettes were also largely unknown to me and I was just as surprised as you that there were already all-female big bands in 1939. I have no idea what instrument is featured at 1:10. Isn’t that used to conjure up snakes in India? 😄
The Carpenters were a term for me, but the true meaning of Karen Carpenter actually only became clear to me through your text article, thanks.
PS: and because it is so nice, here are only „The Coquettes“
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Here is the entertaining approach of an Egyptian music group to make the body sound:
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Hi David,
thank you for posting the Steve Reich presentation. The minimalist approach is an interesting alternative for me to emphasize certain sound elements, like here the different percussion instruments. However, it is also a hard break with our listening habits (at least with mine). The classic features of a traditional composition, such as the precise definition of pitches, tone durations and the resulting rhythm is missing. A continuous melody is not recognizable either. It’s more like drifting in a complex tapestry of sound. I wondered whether such approaches also existed in modern rock music. Perhaps some progressive rock tracks come closest to this approach.
You have previously reported on John Cage. Do you like minimalist and modern experimental music? Even before your post, I found the following video of this modern perusssion trio and didn’t quite know how to include it in this topic. Maybe this is the right time…🙂