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A drummer in action

Live drumming

A drummer is a musician who plays the drums, particularly the drum kit, marching percussion, or hand drums or cow bell.

The term percussionist means a player on any percussion instrument, but usually refers to a person who plays classical or Latin percussion. Ideally, a studio drummer is a drummer who can play well in any musical genre (or combination of genres) asked of him or her. In the studio, a drummer will often be given a sheet of music to read with one or two words describing the style. From this basic information, an accomplished drummer will understand the groove and feel of the song. Some of today's most famous studio drummers are renowned for their ability to adapt to any style of music.

A drummer in a parade.

Before motorized transport became widespread, drummers played a key role in military conflicts. The drum cadences provided set a steady marching pace, better than often accompanying wind instruments such as flutes (signal instruments such as bugles have another primary function), and kept up the troops' morale on the battlefield. Military drummers were also employed on the parade field, when troops passed in review, and in various ceremonies including ominous drum rolls accompanying disciplinary punishments. In some cases drummers had the duty of administering those punishments.

Drummers are no longer employed in battle, but their ceremonial duties continue. Typically the buglers and drummers belonging to the companies (which often have one of each) are massed under the sergeant-drummer and on the march play alternately with the band of a regiment or battalion.

Even more than in Europe (and its (ex-)colonies), military music was a well-established tradition in the Orient. When Emir Osman I was appointed commander of the Turkish army on the Byzantine border in the late 13th century, he was symbolically installed by the handover of musical instruments by the Seldjuk sultan. In the Ottoman Empire, the size of the military band reflected the rank of the commander in chief: the largest were reserved for the Sultan (viz. his Grand Vizier when taking the field). It included various percussion instruments, which also became generally adopted in European military music (as 'Janissary music' though until then it was never specifically associated with those Turkish troops) after the failed siege of Vienna which started a general Turkish fashion. The pitched bass drum is still known in some languages as the Turkish Drum. Alternatively, in old english Tabert is champion of the people, or great leader, i.e. a great drummer.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

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