Science

Nearly one-fourth of the body’s bones are in our feet.  Each foot is made up of 26 bones, 30 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments, all of which work together to provide support, balance and mobility (Arthritis Foundation, EIN 58-1341679).

As drummers and percussionists, regardless of genera or style of music played, we need to understand and embrace that playing Drum and Percussion instruments is a very physical ‘athletic’ activity (Joseph, Corey and Finch, Caroline F., 2017). 

If we take one of the world’s best drummers, Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, a renowned drummer who put his whole body into his work and his famous 20-minute solos, prompted a new study that suggests Bonham might have been as fit as a highly tuned Olympic athlete.

From the Bonham study, sport scientist Steve Draper, from the University of Gloucestershire, concluded that drummers have as much stamina as elite athletes (Macy, Jennifer, 2008), supporting the theory that drummers and percussionists are at ‘risk’ for sports injuries, similarly to athletes from elite, semi-elite, or other professional sporting activities.

If we turn back the clock to the 1890s, we see that while the snare drum and cymbals could be easily managed with drumsticks; a foot-operated bass drum beater was in order. It was the quest to find a foot-operated playing device which spawned the largest and most recognizable drum dynasty of the twentieth century, the Ludwig Drum Company.

In 1909, William F. Ludwig and his brother Theobald applied for and were granted a patent for an improved version of the bass drum pedal, which included the first floor-type foot pedal with an elevated shaft and beater (Drum! Staff, 2012).