-Drumming News-
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” —Peter Drucker
By David Levine, Drumming News Network
The drumming world has seen a lot of changes over the past 50-60 years. Some of these changes were predictable given the musical, technological, social and cultural changes that took place at the same time. Others were unexpected and unprecedented. Either way, it was a transformational time for drums, drummers and drumming.
I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to not only witness the changes that occurred over last half-century but to also play a part in a handful of them. My involvement was in marketing some of what I call “The Greatest Changes In Drumming”… the introduction of synthetic heads, electronic drums and the double bass drum pedal along with the growth of service organizations, education, media, world percussion and female drummers.
Looking ahead, I wonder what changes we can expect in the next 50 years and, perhaps more importantly, I wonder what we can do today in order to facilitate the health and growth we seek in the drum market tomorrow. After all, as Peter Drucker said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
• Create new drummers as well as new drums.
There is a great opportunity to grow drumming around the world as new business and population cycles and demographic shifts begin and potential players (boys and girls) become available and attracted to drumming. Drum companies must individually and collectively recognize the favorable conditions that exist and adapt their business strategies towards developing new drummers as well as new drums.
• Create catalysts for change.
We need to create catalysts for change. Due to the absence of traditional media like Modern Drummer, Drum! and other magazines, we’re no longer able to inform, influence and inspire our customers as well as we used to. Today, drummers mainly see what they “follow” in their social media silos. The drum industry must find a way to support a strong, independent, global drum media so everyone can see everything.
• Create modern drum education programs.
Private teachers, school music programs and organizations like the Percussive Arts Society must do more to embrace the future. Refreshing music education to include more contemporary and diverse musical styles and performance/production techniques will help bring growth to our community. You only have to look at programs like Melodics and School Of Rock to see how powerful this approach can be.
While support for teaching technical and musical skills continues, another suggestion for fostering progress is to put increased emphasis on young drummers’ development of rhythmic and listening skills. For example, how cool would it be for drum students to have lessons that would help them improve their timekeeping or a comprehensive, critical listening list of the definitive drumset performances from the last 100 years?
Furthermore, I’d like to see drum education programs expand to include subjects like electronic drum programming and digital music technology— especially at the high school and college levels.
• Create more local drum shows.
Recent statistics show that there is currently a 50:50 ratio for general online vs. in-store musical instrument sales. The data also shows that drum and percussion sales are 30:70 online vs. in-store. This variance can reasonably be interpreted to mean that drummers prefer to see, hear and touch the drums and accessories they’re interested in before buying.
To take advantage of this phenomenon, I am advocating for more local drum shows in the U.S. and globally. There are already a handful of strong, successful drum shows around the world but, with more and more products available and fewer and fewer retailers able to stock them, a larger network of regional drum shows would give drummers and dealers the opportunity to experience a much wider range of instruments and accessories. The presence of local pros, major artists and educational activities at these shows would encourage and inspire all attendees. Plus, unifying the marketing for multiple shows would raise their visibility and value as well as the industry’s.
In the last half-century the skill of drummers reached impossible levels and the diversity of drumming became as wide as the diversity of drums. From the Latin, Gospel/R&B, Metal, Rock, Pop and Jazz drumset genres to the Orchestral, Marching and World Percussion fields, it is difficult to imagine a more consequential era in the history of drums, drummers or drumming.
While I don’t believe there is much more that can be done to improve the basic design of acoustic drums and percussion, I do expect there will continue to be incremental improvements, such as advances in the quality and consistency of drum manufacturing methods and materials, development of new heads, sticks and accessories that enhance acoustic drum functionality and tone, and further improvements in pedal and hardware design.
The area where I anticipate we will see more substantial development going forward is the realm of electronic percussion. With e-drums currently making up over half of all drumset sales volume (source: Music Trades 2024 Music Industry Census), and with some dealers reporting that entry level electronic drumkits are outselling entry-level acoustic kits, there’s no doubt that technology will play a bigger and bigger role in the future of the drum business.
Ever since Synare, Syndrum, Simmons and others introduced the first commercially-successful electronic drums nearly 50 years ago, a number of trends have slowly but surely been emerging.
• Integration of acoustic and electronic drums.
The way I look at it, the drumset has been a transitional instrument since the day one drummer figured out how to play what it formerly took three drummers to play. Over the years, the adaptable nature of the drumset has led to an explosion of kit configurations that have allowed drummers to keep pace with new forms of music and new drumming styles. Incorporating electronic drums into acoustic drumkits is merely the latest phase in this process.
“Hybrid” drumsets that combine acoustic drums and cymbals with state-of-the-art electronic devices have become the practical and musical way integrate the two types of instruments. The reality is that some form of this “best of both worlds” approach is favored by a majority of today’s professional drummers who record digitally, expand/enhance/exchange drum and percussion sounds, play backing tracks and more.
Over time this trend will filter down to semi-pro and other players, as well, creating a more robust market for electronic drum modules, acoustic drum triggers, trigger pads, multipads, sound libraries, interface devices and, let’s not forget, educational content.
• Expansion of drumming to include Finger Drumming and Beatmaking.
During the past 50 years, drumming has evolved as much as the drumset, if not more. Today, there is a huge variety of drumming styles, techniques, genres and fusions. This growth will no doubt continue.
In the coming years, I believe mainstream drumming will also expand to include Beatmaking and Finger Drumming— two relatively new methods of rhythmic expression. Beatmaking was originally popularized through hip-hop music with beats being created on touchpad devices and DAWs. Finger Drumming, an even more recent development, is a Beatmaking technique that can also be applied in live, recording and rehearsal/practice situations. Although they are long-term trends that will develop more slowly than others, I feel that Beatmaking and Finger Drumming will eventually play a significant role in the future of drumming.
Finger Drumming and Beatmaking devices are compact and make it easy to access, program and play sounds and record loops and patterns, not to mention they’re challenging and fun for a new generation of players that comfortably exist in a digital world. Most are programmable MIDI-controllers, many include a range of other functions and some include onboard sounds. Check out the Ableton Push, Novation Launch Pad, Native Instruments Maschine, Akai MPC and the new, drummer-friendly Yamaha FGPD series of Finger Drum Pads if you’re not familiar with the latest touchpad instruments.
• Separation of the ability to produce a sound physically from the ability to use a sound musically.
Since the earliest days of drumming, producing a sound and applying it to music have been inextricably connected. Today, however, technology has broken that link.
The need to have access to a drumset, marimba, vibraphone, timpani, hand drums and other pitched and non-pitched percussion— and the need to spend hours perfecting performance techniques on them— has been virtually eliminated by a growing library of compact, inexpensive, authentic, high-quality digital sound files that are easily accessible and can be triggered from MIDI-equipped drumkits, multipads, mallet-activated keyboard instruments, touchpads and finger drumming devices, not to mention most computers, tablets and phones.
I fear that dividing the physical and musical aspects of drumming could end up dividing the drumming community, as well. Only time will tell whether separating the physical from the musical has opened a new era of creativity or a Pandora’s box. But one thing is certain: we are currently in the midst of one of the biggest changes in the history of drumming.
In conversations I’ve had with drummers they often say that electronic drums don’t feel as good or sound as good as acoustic drums. I remind them that drummers who were used to playing on calfskin heads said exactly the same thing when plastic heads first appeared 60 years ago. However, after decades of development and multiple generations of drummers have grown up never touching a calfskin head, let alone seeing one on a drum, no one says that about plastic heads anymore.
As the features, quality, availability and sales of electronic drums continue to improve, they will inevitably reach a similar level of assimilation and acceptance. You might be surprised to learn that today’s e-drum market now includes more than a dozen major brands along with a growing wave of collaborations like those between Evans and Sensory Percussion and Jobeky and Yamaha.
An unfortunate, unintended, yet unavoidable, side-effect of this trend will be the continued decrease in acoustic drum, cymbal, stick, head and accessory sales. However, high-end and custom drum builders might actually benefit as the acoustic drum market narrows. Promoting popular, non-drumset areas of the market such as hand, educational and marching percussion may help counter-balance losses in the acoustic drumset segment.
Let me also point out that, while the acceptance of the synthetic drumhead and other major changes in drumming didn’t happen overnight, they didn’t take five decades. It’s been more than 40 years since the headline in an ad for Simmons drums asked, “Music Is Changing. Are You?”. What is causing this delay and could it be related to why the market has been shrinking at the same time that the world’s population is expanding? While there is no simple answer to these questions, my theory is that it will remain a struggle to grow the drumset market as long as we remain tied to old tech.
To make the transition to new technology faster and smoother, I encourage the drum industry to take a more forward-looking, leadership position with the goal of expanding the market through electronic drums and percussion. We can electrify drumming by promoting the unique features, benefits and advantages of electronic drums as a new generation of drums for a new generation of drummers instead of marketing them like they’re just a substitute for acoustic drums.
In addition, I’d like to see the industry work together to move the community forward. The key to growing any market is raising awareness and access. Reaching these goals, what I call “The Heavy Lifting”, can be more efficiently and effectively accomplished by harnessing the resources of a group.
Of course, there is one thing I don’t ever see changing: drumming always has and always will continue to exist and evolve. Humans have an innate ability and desire to express, conquer and control rhythm and we’ve enjoyed doing it in one form or another for thousands of years.
So, whether you’re a purist, a progressive or a little of both, whatever the next, great changes in drumming will be, I can confidently predict that the next 50 years are going to be just as earth-shaking as the last 50. The future is in our hands… and at our fingertips.
David Levine:
“As a drummer and drum industry consultant, I have been involved in drumming for more than 60 years. During my career I have seen the development of the world’s greatest drummers and had the incredibly good fortune to work with many of the people and products that forever changed the art— from the introduction of the plastic head, electronic drums and double bass drum pedal to the growth of educational drum videos, world percussion and the female drumming community. It’s been an amazing journey.” @drumshopdave
