| After working from sun-up to sundown, African slaves
in Hispanic-America were allowed to sing and play hand-drums derived
from African traditions, or otherwise pursue spiritual or personal
things of every day life. The sounds of drums and singing reached
the ears of the slave owners who were ready to tolerate them as
a well-needed form of relieving tension and a way of staying in touch with
their own cultural roots.
In Anglo-America this behavior was regarded with suspicion and/or
fear. The nature of many southern plantations dictated that there
be many more slaves than landowners at any given agricultural property.
The drumming and singing were seen as a potential threat and a potential
means of empowerment for the slaves. To a people of a puritan descent,
the drumming and seemingly discordant singing sounded barbaric and
dissolute.
This, more than anything else, was the reason why Afro-American
music in the US - as expressed through jazz - uses only western instruments
(the drum set being a compilation of military marching band percussion
instruments) and western harmony and melodies.
To find out about the drum set visit: http://www.drummerworld.com/drummersound.html
To find out about other traditional instruments associated with
jazz visit: http://ecr.lausd.k12.ca.us/clubs/Jazz/Foreground.htm
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Answer the following questions:
1. Is there more than one player playing drums at the same time?
2. Do they mostly use their hands or do they use drumsticks instead?
3. How well trained does a musician who plays the drum set have
to be? Is the drum set an instrument you can build with your own
hands?
4. What do you call the individual parts in a drum set? What materials
do you think they are made of?
5. Are traditional jazz instruments (saxophones, trumpets, etc.)
complex in their construction: the product of an industrial society,
or could they be built by untrained music enthusiasts?
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