the drumkit we know today started out as
a collection of different instruments
normally played by several people over
time several key inventions change this
an enabled one person to play this
collection of drums and cymbals whilst
seated in this video I'm going to be
showing you a typical modern drum kit
and we'll be learning about its
components and how to position it all
ready for playing here is what we call a
5 piece drum kit it's referred to as a 5
piece kit because it has five drums
these days drums can be made of many
different materials including exotic
woods and plastics but most drums are
made of maple or birch and is very
common to have a metal snare drum made
of either steel aluminium or copper
drums come in lots of different sizes
for example the drum sizes we have here
start at 10 inches in diameter and go up
to 22 inches for our biggest drum as a
general rule the bigger the drum the
lower the pitch so small drums produce
high notes and big drums produce low
notes let's have a closer look at the
drum kit one item at a time as we will
see some components are common to all
drums other things are specific to one
item here is the snare drum it has a
shell with two membranes stretched over
the top and bottom of it years ago these
membranes would have been made of
calfskin and referred to as drum skins
modern drum skins are made of plastic
and we call them drum heads the top head
is called the batter head and the bottom
head is called the resonant head
the drum heads are held in place with
one top and one bottom rim or counter
hoop and are secured by tension bolts
which are threaded through the hoops and
secured into a fixing on the shell
called a lug we can use a special drum
key to change the amount of tension we
place on the hoop
therefore pulling the hoop in a downward
motion which in turn will cause the head
to have more tension when we increase
this tension we eventually get a note
out of the drum head although it's worth
noting that when we tune the drum it's
not necessarily to an exact pitch like a
guitar but more for a personal tuning
for example in order to get the drums in
tune with one another or even to achieve
more or less stick response the snare
drum gets its name for the fact that it
has a set of metal wires or snares
stretched across the bottom head these
snares vibrate in sympathy when the top
head is struck given us a tight crisp
marching drum type sound the snares are
fixed in place at one side of the drum
and at the opposite end we find a lever
or snare strainer which allows us to
lower and raise the snare wires so that
they either come into contact with the
bottom head snares on or hang below
without contact snares off the sound of
the snare when the snares are in the off
position is one similar to a bongo drum
or small TomTom the snare is mounted at
the kit on its own stand it sits in a
cradle and can be adjusted to be at
different heights and angles if we look
straight in front of the snare drum
we find the first of the three tom-toms
this is the high Tom and we can see it's
mounted on the bass drum next to a
similar but slightly larger sized drum
called the middle Tom both of these
wooden drums are the same in
construction as the snare drum but have
no metal wires on the bottom so they
produce a very round open tone we adjust
the tuning of the tension bowls on both
drums top on bottom heads so that the
high Tom produces a higher note than the
middle Tom moving on from the middle Tom
round to the right we have the low Tom
or floor Tom as it is sometimes known
this particular low Tom is mounted on
the cymbal stand but many of these drums
have legs on them and sit on the floor
its construction is like that of the
high in middle Tom's and the low Tom as
its name suggests is tuned so it
produces a lower note than that of the
middle Tom the biggest and lowest drum
we have is called the bass drum it sits
on the floor with two Spurs sticking out
the front to stop it from moving forward
when being struck its components are
similar to the Tom's in that it has a
big shell lugs and hoops etcetera but it
may also have arms on which we suspend
the tom toms the biggest difference of
all is in the playing of the bass drum
and that requires us to attach a bass
drum pedal to the counter hoop on the
batter head side of the drum the pedal
has a beater a foot plate and a spring
which all work together so when we push
the foot plate down the beater strikes
the head and then the spring
helps return the betta to the start
position again we'll take a little
closer look at this technique later on
bass drums vary quite a bit and we can
do many things to alter the sound that
the drum produces we can adjust the
tuning of the drum by turning the
tension bolts we can alter the sustain
of the drum by putting a soft blanket
inside the drum or you may find a hole
in the front of the bass drum head for
putting a microphone inside okay we've
had a good look at the drums and now
we'll move on to the cymbals cymbals
also come in all sorts of shapes and
sizes the most essential of which our
hi-hat cymbals the ride cymbal and the
crash cymbal they are made from
different types of metal alloys
essentially bronze or brass with a
mixture of copper tin silver gold and
phosphorus which is usually either cast
or pressed into a disc form before being
hammered or left and polished most
cymbals have common components so let's
explore that first each symbol usually
has three main parts to it the bell is
the domed bit in the middle the bow is
the curved profile of the cymbal and the
edge each part of each symbol will
produce a different sound depending on
where it is being played so we use each
part of the cymbals differently
depending on the sound we wish to use
the hi-hat cymbals sit on a stand with a
pedal footplate attached to it the
bottom hi-hat symbol is placed upside
down on the stand and the top hi-hat
symbol is placed in a device called a
clutch the
and the top hi-hat are then slaughtered
onto a rod which moves up and down when
the footplate is depressed therefore
allowing us to bring the two cymbals
together
there is a spring built into the stand
which means if you release the footplate
the cymbals will part again this can be
really useful in making lots of
different sounds from closed and open
foot sounds - sounds played with a stick
such as closed open and half open the
ride cymbal is the biggest symbol we
have here today and it's mounted on a
stand and angled to make it easier to
get to the bow and bail areas it's
usually the thickest symbol we use on
often 20 inches in diameter it's playing
area is mainly the bow area of the
cymbal halfway between the Bell and the
edge although we can use all three parts
of the symbol for great effect as we
will see later the last of the three
symbols we're going to look at is the
crash cymbal which is often 16 or 18
inches in diameter it's worth noting
that the crash cymbal is not only
smaller in diameter than the ride but is
also a thinner and therefore will
vibrate more freely when struck the
playing area for a crash cymbal is
generally the edge if you want a fast
crush sound a low playing on the top of
the crush on the bow area provides an
interesting softer crush and can be used
for quieter parts of the music
lastly let's have a look at the hardware
and adjusting the kit so that we're sat
comfortably and ready to play there's no
doubt that having all the parts of the
drum kit in the right place will not
only make things easier for you to play
it will mean that you can also produce
the right sounds and achieve the correct
response from the drums or cymbals that
you are playing set your stool height so
that when both your feet are on the
hi-hat and bass drum pedals your thighs
are approximately parallel to the ground
and at 90 degrees or more to your calf's
move the hi-hat stand or stool to
achieve the correct positioning so your
legs and feet can move freely move your
toms and snare drum so you can easily
reach the middle of each drum without
stretching too much
also note the angle of the drums if the
angle is too steep the stick will not
rebound properly try keeping the angle
of attack so the stick is almost
parallel to the playing surface with
cymbals just be careful they're not set
too high you'll get to them quicker if
they're lower and also set them close
enough so you can at least play the bell
of each symbol comfortably the most
common setups are usually slightly off
horizontal for a crush and 45 degrees or
so for a ride cymbal but this will
depend on your drum setup and at the end
of the day your personal preference
experiment with small movements of your
equipment until you find out what's
right for your musical situation as far
as drum kit setup goes we've looked
today at a regular five piece kit set up
for
800 player remember if you're
left-handed you'll most likely choose to
play the kit in a mirror image or
opposite version of this kit or it's
possible you may want to play a
right-handed kit
open-handed the choice is yours I hope
you've enjoyed this overview of the drum
kit and have enjoyed learning about how
to set up your drum kit next time we'll
talk about how to hold the drumsticks
and some basic stroke technique bye for
now
