“The piano is the most important of all musical instruments: its invention was to music what the invention of printing was to poetry.”

-          George Bernard Shaw

His Majesty - Mr. Piano

The piano may be one of the hardest instruments to learn but it’s also one of the most versatile and beautiful sounding musical instrument in history. Awed by its beauty, we generally fail to realize the craftsmanship that would be required to build such a detailed and complex work of art. The Big M takes you into the intricate world of His Majesty-the Piano.

The origin of the modern day piano dates back to the 17^th century in Florence, capital city of Tuscany in central Italy, which was the birthplace of Italian Renaissance. In 1709, The ‘Pianoforte’ was first revealed as the invention of an Italian Harpsichord maker named Bartolomeo Cristofori. Since its inception, the instrument we know today as the piano has gone through many innovators who have shaped its functionality, appearance and sound. However, beautiful as it might be, the biggest challenge as always is to buy ‘the right piano’.

The East Room on the state floor of White House. This unique Steinway & Sons grand piano was designed in 1938 by Eric Gugler with inputs from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

There are two types of pianos – uprights and grands. Uprights are the tall, vertical pianos while grands are horizontal with the strings extending away from the keyboard. To make matters worse, the two types of pianos have different sizes between them. The upright family consists of the spinet, the console, the studio and the full size while the grand piano has the parlor, the baby, medium, professional and the concert grand. With change in specifics, the cost changes accordingly.

Decide on your budget and see if you have enough floor space for a piano. The piano can be a good investment but it can also be expensive, so don’t be afraid to ask questions. Ask about its durability, performance, sound, aesthetic and internal construction. Always remember the three ‘T’s while checking out a piano: Touch- action of the keys, Tone- color of the sound and Type- design and brand.

One very common question asked is, how many times should one tune the piano? Our advice would be twice a year, once every six months. If your piano hasn't been serviced or tuned for several years, your tuner-technician might also perform a pitch raise.

After the first big step is over, upon arrival to the house, it is very important that you keep the piano away from exterior walls, drafty windows and doors, fireplaces and climate-control vents. Humidity can be the worst enemy of the piano. Maintaining an optimum humidity level is important, 35-45% humidity is ideal. Dust, pollen and smoke all reach the piano’s fragile interiors easily. Keep the piano lid closed when not in use.

One very common question asked is, how many times should one tune the piano? Our advice would be twice a year, once every six months. If your piano hasn’t been serviced or tuned for several years, your tuner-technician might also perform a pitch raise.

Piano moving should be done by trained piano movers using adequate manpower and the correct equipment for any particular piano’s size and weight. Pianos are heavy yet delicate instruments. Over the years, professional piano movers have developed special techniques for transporting both grands and uprights, which prevent damage to the case and to the piano’s mechanics.

The piano is a crucial instrument in Western classical music, jazz, film, television, and most other complex musical genres. A large number of composers are proficient pianists – and since the piano keyboard offers an easy means of complex melodic and harmonic interplay, the piano is often used as a tool for composition.

Years back, to own a piano was a dream. The old pianos left behind by the British had been the savior for many good pianists for a long time. However, today you can walk into a piano boutique and get a taste of the many different brands laid out for the hungry pianists.

Thus His Majesty – Mr. Piano has made its presence from the east room on the state floor of the White House to the remotest place on earth in various forms. It only makes us wonder whether music would be the same without this mesmerizing instrument.

Did You Know?

• There are over 12,000 parts in a piano, 10,000 of which are moving.
• Each note in a grand piano has more than 35 points of adjustment; over 3,080 adjustments for the entire piano.
• The total string tension in a concert grand is close to thirty tons.
• Pianos do not require electricity to operate.

Images & Content courtesy: Furtados Music

Continuing our journey to explore traditional Indian Musical Instruments, we take a look at some more of these master pieces.

BANSURI

There are two varieties of bansuri: the transverse, and the fipple. The fipple variety is usually played in folk music and is held away from the lips like a whistle. Because of the flexibility and control it offers, the transverse variety is preferred in classical music.

The Bansuri

Pandit Pannalal Ghosh (1911–1960) elevated the Bansuri from a folk instrument into serious classical music. He improvised with the length and number of holes and eventually came up with longer bansuris with larger bores and a seventh hole placed 90 degrees around from the line of the other six holes. Longer bansuris provided better coverage in the lower octaves.

Playing style

Bansuris vary in length. They range from about 12 inches up to about 40 inches. 20-inch bansuris are common. Another common and similar Indian flute played in South India is the venu. The index, middle, and fourth fingers of both hands are usually used to play the six hole bansuri. For the seven hole bansuri, the fifth finger of the right hand is usually used.

The sound from a bansuri comes from resonance in the air column inside it. The length of this column can be varied by closing or opening the holes. At the same time, keeping a hole half-open helps in getting a flat note. The Sa (on the Indian sargam scale, or equivalent “do” on the octave) note is obtained by covering the top three holes from the mouth-hole. The higher and lower octaves are played by changing one’s embouchure. The flat portion of the fingers, and not the tips, are used to cover the holes as this gives better control and ease while playing the half-holes. While playing, the sitting posture is also important and care must be taken so that the back is not strained for long hours. Bansuris of different sizes are used to play different octaves. The longer bansuris with larger bore are usually for lower octaves and the slimmer ones for higher octaves.

Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia

In order to play diatonic scale on a bansuri, it is important to find where the notes lie. E.g. in a bansuri where Sa or the tonic, played always by closing the first three holes, is equivalent to D, one can play sheet music by creating a finger notation that corresponds to different notes. A bansuri player is able to achieve the complexities of Raga music such as microtonal inflections, ornamentation, and glissando by varying breath, fast movement while playing both half and full holes, and covering the holes gradually.

Maestros

• Hariprasad Chaurasia
• Rajendra Prasanna
• Devendra Murdeshwar

Fun fact

• In traditional Indian metaphysics, it is noted how remarkable it is the way the life force (pran, or literally ‘breath’) is converted into a musical resonance (sur).
• In Indian mythology the bansuri has a special significance as it is the chosen instrument of the Hindu god Krishna, who is often depicted playing it.
• Hariprasad Chaurasia was a trained wrestler before he moved on to play the flute, (His students dare not play a wrong note!)

The sarod is believed by some to have descended from the Afghan rubab, a similar instrument originating in Central Asia and Afghanistan. The name Sarod roughly translates to “beautiful sound” or “melody” in Persian (which is one of the many languages spoken in Afghanistan). Although the sarod has been referred to as a ‘bass rubab’ its pitch range is only slightly lower than that of the rubab. Lalmani Misra opines in his Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya that the sarod is an amalgamation of the ancient chitra veena, the medieval rubab and modern sursingar. There is also a speculation that the oud (a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in Middle Eastern music) may be the origin of the sarod. Among the many conflicting and contested histories of the sarod, there is one that attributes its invention to the ancestors of the present-day sarod maestro, Amjad Ali Khan. Amjad Ali Khan’s ancestor Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash, a musician and horse trader, came to India with the Afghan rubab in the mid-1700s and became a court musician to the Maharajah of Rewa (now in Madhya Pradesh). It was his descendants – notably his grandson Ghulam Ali Khan Bangash who became a court musician in Gwalior – who gradually transformed the rubab into the sarod we know today. A parallel theory credits descendants of Madar Khan (1701–1748) – Niyamatullah Khan in particular – with the same innovation in 1820. It is possible that Ghulam Ali Khan and Niyamatullah Khan came to the similar design propositions either independently or in unacknowledged collaboration. The sarod in its present recognizable form dates back to 1820, when it started gaining recognition as a serious instrument in Rewa, Shahjahanpur, Gwalior and Lucknow. In the twentieth century, the sarod received some finishing touches from Allauddin Khan, the performer-pedagogue from Maihar, best known as Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan’s guru.

Construction

The Sarod

The conventional sarod is a 17 to 19 – stringed lute-like instrument – four to five main strings used for playing the melody, one or two drone strings, two chikari strings and nine to eleven sympathetic strings. The design of this early model is generally credited to Niyamatullah Khan of the Lucknow Gharana as well as Ghulam Ali Khan of the Gwalior-Bangash Gharana. Among the contemporary sarod players, this basic design is kept intact by two streams of sarod playing. Amjad Ali Khan and his disciples play this model, as do the followers of Radhika Mohan Maitra. Both Amjad Ali Khan and Buddhadev Dasgupta have introduced minor changes to their respective instruments which have become the design templates for their followers. Both musicians use sarods made of teak wood, with the playing face covered with goat skin. Buddhadev Dasgupta prefers a polished stainless steel fingerboard for the ease of maintenance while Amjad Ali Khan uses the conventional chrome or nickel-plated cast steel fingerboard. Visually, the two variants are similar, with six pegs in the main pegbox, two rounded chikari pegs and 11 (Amjad) to 15 (Buddhadev) sympathetic strings. The descendants of Niyamatullah Khan (namely Irfan Khan and Ghulfam Khan) also play similar instruments. The followers of Radhika Mohan Maitra still carry the second resonator on their sarods. Amjad Ali khan and his followers have rejected the resonator altogether.

Another type is the one designed by Allauddin Khan and his brother Ayet Ali Khan. This instrument, referred by David Trasoff as the 1934 Maihar Prototype, is larger and longer than the conventional instrument, though the fingerboard is identical to the traditional sarod described above. This instrument has 25 strings in all. These include four main strings, four jod strings (tuned to Ni or Dha, R/r, G/g and Sa respectively), two chikari strings (tuned to Sa of the upper octave) and fifteen tarab strings. The main strings are tuned to Ma (“fa”), Sa (“do”), lower Pa (“so”) and lower Sa, giving the instrument a range of three octaves. The Maihar sarod lends itself extremely well to the presentation of alap with the four jod strings providing a backdrop that helps usher in the ambience of the raga. This variant is, however, not conducive to the performance of clean right-hand picking on individual strings. They tune to C.

Playing Style

The lack of frets and the tension of the strings make the sarod a very demanding instrument to play, as the strings must be pressed hard against the fingerboard.

There are two approaches to stopping the strings of the sarod. One involves using the tip of one’s fingernails to stop the strings; certain strength and stiffness of the fingernails is a prerequisite for accuracy of pitch. The other uses a combination of the nail and the fingertip to stop the strings against the fingerboard. The technique which uses the fingernails produces a ringing tone, while the fingertip technique produces a flatter tone.

Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan with sons Amaan and Ayaan

Left hand fingering technique of the sarod is not as well-defined as it should have been in order for sarod players across the board to understand each other. Fingering techniques and how they are taught depend largely on the personal preferences of musicians and are not even distinguishable on the basis of school affiliation. Radhika Mohan Maitra, for example, used the index, middle and ring finger of his left hand to stop the string, just like followers of Allauddin Kha. Maitra, however, made much more extensive use of the third fingernail for slides and hammers. Amjad Ali Khan, while a member of approximately the same stylistic school as Radhika Mohan, prefers to use just the index and middle fingers of his left hand. Amjad Ali is, however, pictured in 1960 playing with all three fingers.

Maestros

• Ali Akbar Khan
• Allauddin Khan
• Sharan Rani Backliwal
• Debojyoti Bose
• Mohammad Amir Khan

Fun Fact

A student of Ali Akbar Khan once mentioned,

“He could find out within a hundred and fifty students, which student had which string out of tune and by how many semitones off, and a sarod can have upto 25 string!”

Images & Content courtesy: Furtados Music

Kirti Tarang finds out how legal (or illegal) is the common downloading and uploading regime of Music on the Internet.

On September 5^th, 2009, The Economist Technology Quarterly carried the story of Jamie Thomas-Rasset. Rasset, a single mother from Minnesota, was accused of sharing 24 songs on Kazaa in 2005. In 2007, the jury found her guilty and awarded statutory damages of $10,000 per song to the record companies.

In June 2009, Rasset was found guilty again in the second trail for the same case and this time the damages rose to $ 80,000 per song.

One of the record labels’ lawyer admitted that even he was shocked. What’s ironical is that had Ms. Rasset stolen 24 DVDs from a music-store, she wouldn’t have faced such severe penalties.

This is not the only example. Last year saw three big court cases- two of them in the United States of America and one in Europe- where music industry lawyers wrestled with the accused of online piracy. This included the case concerned with Pirates Bay, one of the world’s largest file sharing hubs. The music industry was triumphant in all the three law-suits.

These three trails urged us to take a look at the domestic situation. As in a very melodramatic court-room scene I could see myself being prosecuted for my massive uploads and downloads, along with all my friends. I wanted to check and refute or confirm my fears.

Indian Law and Online Content Sharing

Say NO to music piracy

Loaded with questions, we got in touch with Ranjana Adhikari, Legal & Tax Counselor at Nishith Desai Associates. The conversation was an eye opener!

“A suit for infringement can be filed against a person for online piracy, when such unauthorized person does anything, the exclusive right to do which vests with the copyright owner.” These rights are granted under the Copyright Act, 1957. Adhikari elaborates, “Under the Act, the copyright owner, inter alia has the exclusive rights to reproduce and store the lyrical and musical content in any medium by any electronic means and to communicate the works to the public.”

This means if you decide to download/upload ‘Dil to Bachcha Hai ji’ on You-Tube, legally you can be sued by the right holder. Uploading, downloading and storing of such infringing content by an unauthorized person on any peer to peer network or a website shall amount to infringement of the copyright.

Jeez! Scary facts. Well, the only curtain of protection now was the law enforcement in India; the laws and the loops.

Adhikari was a bubble buster here too. “T-Series had moved the Delhi High Court against You Tube and its parent company Google India for allowing a You Tube user to post content from T-series’ repertoire on You Tube. Instead of suing the user who had uploaded the content on the site, T-series sued Google and YouTube. Major revenues of T-series come from manufacturing and selling DVDs, etc. of copyrighted music. T-Series claimed that the display and distribution of songs for free caused them financial losses. The court granted an interim injunction in favor of T-series and gave time to the parties to negotiate a settlement” she informs.

The Pirate Bay

Okay, so the tussle for now is between the giants. So does it mean that the common net-savvy music lover, who shares music for non-commercial purposes is safe from the claws of law?

“The Act does not differentiate between commercial and non-commercial copying of copyrighted material where the remedies, reliefs or penalties are concerned. Irrespective of the motive behind the illegal copying of the material, in case of infringement of copyright under Section 51 of the Act, the right holder can sue the infringer and claim for reliefs like injunctions, damages and accounts for profits,” Adhikari clarified.

Dr. Venkat Iyer, Barrister-at-law, Senoir Lecturer, University of Ulster, mentions ‘Fair Use Provisions’. According to Iyer, “Copyright Act lays down a number of exceptions to the rule against infringement.” These exceptions are:

• For research and private study.
• For criticism, comment or review.
• Use of lecture by pupils for instructional work.

However, the unauthorized use of copyrighted material should be restricted to reasonable quantities.

How fair (or unfair) is the law for non-commercial downloads and uploads?

Be safe than sorry

“I think everyone is entitled to sample music”, mentions an online content provider. “I loved how Radiohead gave away one part of ‘In Rainbows’ album for free, and people who liked it, would automatically buy it. I feel music should be offered free, and if the person likes it he would pay for it.  However there are a lot of people who abuse this, especially those Indians who love free stuff. I like the way iTunes handles this, providing cheap music to those genuine music lovers who wouldn’t mind spending a little”, he elaborates.

Lessons for the Future

As they say, “Say No to Piracy”. We suggest you buy original music, and with so many options available today, we’re sure it won’t hurt your pocket much. At the same time, downloading still remains a good option with a number of bands and music labels giving out free downloadable versions of their releases on their websites.

The amended Section 79 provides for certain safe harbor principles that should be followed by the intermediaries. Ideally, the intermediary should

• Only provide access to a communication system over which third party information is transmitted or temporarily stored; or not initiate or select the recipient or select / modify the information in the transmission.
• Observe due diligence while discharging its duties.
• Remove or disable access to any information, data or communication link controlled by it upon obtaining knowledge or upon being notified of the infringement. Since the standards of due diligence have not been defined under the applicable laws, it could be assumed that reasonable industry standards should be followed.

Thus, creating and maintaining a system where others may post pirated music content may not attract liability whereas actively participating in and encouraging the piracy generally would.

• The recent amendment to Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 has introduced immunity for ‘intermediaries’ from liability arising from any third party violation of any law subject to certain conditions.
• The essential element which needs to be proved in order to pin liability on an intermediary is control. The erstwhile Section 79 provided this immunity to ‘network service providers’ with respect to electronic messages.
• However, this has been extended to intermediaries whose definition has been widened through the amendment and now inter alia includes any person who provides any service with respect to electronic records.

• There is neither a statutory definition nor any consolidated law addressing the issue of online piracy in India.
• Some provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 broadly cover the law on online piracy in India.
• For websites where music content is stored, it can be challenged that since the infringing works are communicated and displayed to the public on the website platform, the website also independently infringes the exclusive rights of the right holder and is liable for direct infringement.
• For websites which act like central directories, it can be argued that even though the website may not actually make the music content directly available on its site, providing assistance in locating unauthorized copies of the music content, links to download sites, server space, or support for sites that do the above may ‘contributorily infringe’.

Article by Kirti Tarang
Courtesy: Gowree Gokhale (Partner, TMT & IP Practice Groups)

In a 2 part series starting this month, The Big M brings to you traditional musical instruments that form the essence of Indian Classical Music.

A number of musical instruments have come to be associated with Indian classical music. These have a rich history and literature surrounding them. The veena, a string instrument, was traditionally regarded as the most important, but few play it today and it has largely been put out of fashion by its cousins the sitar and the sarod, both of which owe their origin to Persian influences. Other plucked/struck string instruments include the surbahar, sursringar, santoor and various versions of the modern day slide guitar. Among bowed instruments, the sarangi, esraj and violin are popular. The bansuri (bamboo flute), shehnai and harmonium are important wind instruments. In the percussion ensemble, the tabla and the pakhavaj are the most popular. Various other instruments have also been used in varying degrees.

VEENA

A veena can be traced back to the lute family of the European stringed instruments.

It is by far one of the most revered of traditional instruments. A veena player is called a Vainika.

It first mention on written records dates back to 1500 BC.

Playing

The Veena

It can be plucked, bowed or struck. A Vainik plays by sitting cross-legged with the instrument held tilted slightly away from the player. The small gourd on the left rests on the player’s left thigh, the left arm passing beneath the neck with the hand curving up and around so that the fingers rest upon the frets. The palm of the right hand rests on the edge of the top plank so that the fingers (usually index and middle) can pluck the strings. The drone strings are played with the little finger. The veena’s large resonator is placed on the floor, beyond the right thigh.

Construction

About four feet in length, its design consists of a large resonator (kudam) carved and hollowed out of a log (usually of jackwood), a tapering hollow neck (dandi) topped with 24 brass or bell-metal frets set in scalloped black wax on wooden tracks, and a tuning box culminating in a downward curve and an ornamental dragon’s head (yali). A small table-like wooden bridge (kudurai)—about 2 x 2½ x 2 inches – is topped by a convex brass plate glued in place with resin. Two rosettes, formerly of ivory, now of plastic or horn, are on the top board (palakai) of the resonator. Four main playing strings tuned to the tonic and the fifth in two octaves (for example B flat, E flat below bass clef & B flat, E flat in bass clef) stretch from fine tuning connectors attached to the end of the resonator across the bridge and above the fretboard to four large-headed pegs in the tuning box. Three subsidiary drone strings tuned to the tonic, fifth, and upper tonic cross a curving side bridge leaning against the main bridge, and stretch on the player’s side of the neck to three pegs matching those of the main playing strings. All seven strings today are of steel, with the lower strings either of solid thick gauge wire or round wound.

Acoustics

The veena has a unique construction. The string terminations at both ends are curved and not sharp. Also, the frets have much more curvature than any other instrument. Unlike in guitar, the string does not have to be pushed down to the very base of the neck, so no rattling sound is generated. This design enables a continuous control over the string tension, which is important for glissandi, producing more harmonics than any other instruments.

Fun fact

The veena has a recorded history that dates back to the Vedic period (approximately 1500 B.C.). Earlier veenas ranged from one string to one hundred, and were composed of many different materials like eagle bone, bamboo, wood and coconut shells.

Maestros

• Veena Dhanammal
• Desamangalam Subramanya Iyer
• K.S. Narayanaswamy
• Rugmini Gopalakrishnan

The sitar is often said to have been developed in the thirteenth century AD by Amir Khusro, the Godfather of Hindustani Classical, from a member of the veena family of Indian musical instruments called the tritantri veena and to has been named by him after the Persian setar. The sitar is, like the setar, a member of the lute family while the north Indian veena is a zither, but it shares the veena‘s resonating gourds and sympathetic strings. Amir Khusro does not mention the sitar but he does mention the tanbur and, by the mid 18th century, Indian tanburs were referred to as sitars.

In his Bharatiya Sangeet Vadya, Dr. Lalmani Misra traces its development from the tritantri veena through the nibaddh and anibaddh tanpuras and later the jantra. Construction of the similar tanpura was described by Tansen. During the time of Moghul rule, Persian lutes were played at courts and may have provided a basis for the sitar. However, there is no physical evidence for the sitar until the time of the collapse of the Mughal Empire.

Construction

The sitar’s curved frets are movable, allowing fine tuning, and raised so that sympathetic strings (tarb, also known as ‘taarif’ or ‘tarafdaar’) can run underneath them. A sitar can have 21, 22, or 23 strings, among which are six or seven playable strings which run over the frets: the Gandhaar-pancham sitar (used by Vilayat Khan and his disciples) has six playable strings, whereas the Kharaj-pancham sitar, used in the Maihar gharana, to which Pt. Ravi Shankar belongs, has seven. Three of these (or four on a Kharaj-pancham sitar), called the chikaari, simply provide a drone; the rest are used to play the melody , though the first string (baajtaar) is most used.

The Sitar

The instrument has two bridges; the large bridge (badaa goraa) for the playing and drone strings and the small bridge (chota goraa) for the sympathetic strings. Its timbre results from the way the strings interact with the wide, sloping bridge. As a string reverberates its length changes slightly as its edge touches the bridge, causing the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called jawari. Many musicians rely on instrument makers to adjust this.

Playing

The instrument is balanced between the player’s left foot and right knee. The hands move freely without having to carry any of the instrument’s weight. The player plucks the strings using a metallic pick or plectrum called a mizraab. The thumb stays anchored on the top of the fretboard just above the main gourd. Generally only the index and middle fingers are used for fingering although a few players occasionally use the third. A specialized technique called ‘meand’ involves pulling the main melody string down over the bottom portion of the sitar’s curved frets, with which the sitarist can achieve a 7 semitone range of microtonal notes (it should be noted, however, that because of the sitar’s movable frets, sometimes a fret may be set to a microtone already, and no bending would be required).

Fun Fact:

Sitar has a cousin called the Surbahar which can count as a bass sitar, downtuned by 2 – 5 steps.

Sitar has been used in western pop music more than one can imagine. Pt. Ravi Shankar playing on The Beatle’s ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ is the most noticeable and of course The Rolling Stones using it in ‘Paint it Black’.

Niladri Kumar has also put pick-ups on his sitar! Any takers for an Electric Sitar?

Maestros:

• Ravi Shnakar
• Enayat Khan
• Krishna Bhatt
• Anoushka Shankar
• Niladri Kumar
• Vilayat Khan

Images and Content Courtesy: Furtados Music

The Big M sets sight on this irreplaceable instrument to help you find the one that suits you best..

Out of all the modern day instruments, none has a longer history than the drum. Drums are found throughout the world, in practically every culture, and are known to have existed since at least 6000 BC and have always fascinated their audiences. Almost everywhere they have strong ceremonial, sacred, or symbolic associations. Taking into account, all of the musical instruments that we see in our society today and use on a regular basis, this is one instrument that stands out in musical history.

THE EARLY DRUM KITS

Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player’s hands, or with a drumstick, to produce sound.

In the early 1930′s, musicians slowly discovered that with proper drum placement and a lot of practice, one musician could handle a set of drums, and an entire band of drum players was not required anymore. Thus, a basic kit evolved and took place. Cymbals and Tom tom drums were brought in from China and the size was adjusted to allow for ease of play when played with drumsticks.

A Standard Drum Set

The early drum kits were simple in their design and consisted of a bass drum and foot pedal, a snare drum, Tom toms, a hi hat cymbal and one or two sets of hanging cymbals.

In the 1930′s the drum set was heavily influenced by the sounds of the time, and the early forms of Rock and Roll music. The sounds had a strong basic beat backing them.

By the 1950’s when Rock music had started to develop, sounds became more complex and likewise, the drum sets became more evolved, with new additions made to them. Drummers kept adding cymbals and Tom toms to their set up. As time went by, Electronic drum kits came in as an addition. All of these additions allowed the musicians to expand their sounds and diversify their music.

Modern Drum-affair :

Mapex Saturn - Green Apple Burst

Today, drummers have the option of creating their own unique config to suit their comfort, defining the sound they hear themselves playing and also the brilliant finish to show off a little more than their talent to the world. The best drum companies in the world spend every second mastering new techniques to create even better sounding drums that can last a lifetime.

Let’s start with a basic config of a standard drum kit.

The most Common set up is a Single 22” inch Bass Drum, two suspended Tom toms, 12” inch Left and 13” inch right, one 16” inch Floor tom, one 14” inch Snare drum, a Pair of Hi-Hats, Crash Cymbal on the left and a Crash Ride on the right.

Over this standard set up, drummers grow their kits to suit their style and interests. Most common add on is a 10 inch tom to the left of the drum kit.

Factors that contribute to a brilliant drum sound

• Wood selection
• Number of ply
• Proprietary developments to ensure undisturbed flow of vibrations

Wood selection:

There are 3 commonly used wood types. Namely

Maple:

North American Maple is handpicked to meet stringent requirements for proper density, age and consistency of grain and colour. Maple offers a smooth, warm, well rounded tone, with equal amounts of hi-end attack and mid-range body, plus its excellent low-end punch. Most drum companies offer some form of 100% maple drums today as it has taken its place as the standard of the industry for hi-end drum kits.

Birch:

Birch gives a “naturally EQ’ed” tone that is the perfect alternative to the overall smoothness of the maple. Many professionals today prefer Birch to Maple as it offers a boosted hi-end cut, mellow mid-range and a deep low-end presence. The more popular Birch drum kits have found their way to recording studios where they are a favorite for both the artists and the engineer.

African Mahogany:

African Mahogany offers extremely rich low-end frequencies, with beautiful smooth mids and a slight roll-off in the higher register. Mahogany drum kits are set aside from all other kits. Few companies today offer this excellent wood, simply because its porous exterior is extremely difficult to finish and it costs more than Maple.

Number of Ply:

‘Ply’ simply means the number of Layers. A 4 Ply Maple drum shell means, there are 4 different layers of Maple shells stuck together under high pressure to form one Brilliant drum shell.

The output of the drum depends entirely on the number of ply. Here is how it affects the sound.

Thin: 4 Ply (5mm Shell)

Best “near field’ or player’s experience. Easy transfer of energy from heads to shell, causing the shell to fully vibrate.

Medium: 6 Ply (7.5mm Shell)

Thicker wood, resists some of the energy transferred from the head. Allowing the sound to be slightly thinner than the thin shell, but with greater volume and projection. Offers a warm, full bodied wood tone with great attack, loudness and presence.

Thick: 8 Ply (10mm) – 10 Ply (12.5mm)

Extremely efficient, allowing most of the player’s energy to be focused through the heads directly to the audience. Since the shell provides greater mass, less volume is lost through the shell in the form of resonance. Warm sound and great tone at a lower level, but provides ultimate volume.

Proprietary developments to ensure undisturbed flow of vibrations:

Professional drum companies like Pearl, Mapex etc invest a lot of time into figuring out the best way to keep the drum in place without affecting its sound thus allowing the drum to perform to its maximum capabilities. The Opti-mount System in Pearl and the Isolated Tom Mount System in Mapex are two such examples.

To sum it all up, a tremendous amount of time, energy and brilliance goes into making a drum so perfect for you. Drummers today actually literally have love affairs with their flawless drum kits.

Content : Furtados Music
Images Courtesy: Furtados Music, Mapex

Known as one of the world’s Best drum companies, Pearl has now decided to enter the India market and finally introduce flawless drum kits that are worth every penny.

Perarl's Reference Series

Let’s start with the hardware. Pearl is known for its incredibly sturdy hardware. With an easy design, even a layman can figure out how to set up a Pearl stand. Pearl’s ‘Advanced Hardware Systems’ introduces a line of professional grade equipment that will forever alter the way you look at hardware. Each piece is engineered to function above and beyond traditional hardware. That’s why the term ‘Advanced’.

Pearl’s Superior Shell Technology is a proprietary technique used for achieving the ultimate air chamber. It begins with select woods chosen for their unique acoustic attributes, milled to precise thickness with overlapping scarf joint seams, for a perfect air-tight fit. The wood plies are saturated with Pearl’s proprietary ‘AcoustiGlue’ that permeates every pore and dries to the exact consistency of the wood for optimum resonance. Finally, the plies are formed in high-temperature molds with 1000 PSI of hydraulic pressure to produce perfect drum shells that exhibit superior tone, optimal resonance and extreme strength.

Pearl Drum shells use scarf joints to eliminate all air gaps. Air gaps are used in studios to cut vibrations thereby sound proofing the studio. Pearl Drum shells guaranty no air gaps since the scarf joints provide 800% more surface area than the otherwise used Butt joint.

This combination of the best Hardware and drum shell is what makes Pearl one of the best drum companies in the world and probably the only one to offer a lifetime warranty on their shells.

Article by Keshav Dhanraj, Brand Manager, Pearl, Zildjian & Evans India

Mapex Falcon Pedal

Are you looking for a drum that you take on stage or into the studio with complete confidence that your style and creativity will not only be perfectly reproduced, but enhanced? With your Mapex drum set, your talents and personality will be faithfully delivered to your audience, whether you’re playing to a crowd of twenty or twenty thousand.

Mapex offers Quality beginner kits, mid- range kits and professional level kits at affordable prices, which is what makes it the best selling drum brand in India. The price ranges from Rs 19,400 to 2 lakh. Every Mapex drum, regardless of price, is built to exact specifications.

Endorsers do play a significant role in getting a company’s name out to the public. Here are some of the pros that use Mapex, Chris Adler (Lamb of God), Dom Famularo (Master Clinician), Kevin Miller (Tantric), Will Calhoun (Living colour), Tony Coleman (B.B king) and many more. There are many drummers in India too who have been endorsed by Mapex and play with the biggest bands around here.

Also don’t forget to check out the new Mapex Falcon pedals and the new Mapex replacement kits. The Voyager and the Horizon series have replaced the Q and the QR/VX series respectively.

Article by Ritesh John Dharmaraj, Brand Manager, Mapex & LP India