In my last blog post I discussed that my ICR lion dance instructor, Kwan, bought a drum to create background music for our dance. I noticed that this drum is far different than normal drum sets used in American bands. A standard modern kit contains a snare drum, (typically mounted on a stand and placed between the player’s knees). Also, there is a bass drum, played by a pedal operated by the right foot, which moves a a drum beater to create noise. In addition the set includes toms, a hi-hat (two cymbals mounted on a stand), and cymbals. These drums are played with two long, wooden sticks.
In contrast, the drum that Kwan brought was singular and very heavy. The dense drum has a thick wooden base and thicker layer on top. Listening to this drum over a normal drum set is quite different. A rock band drum set has much crisper of a noise, banging the different drum parts. A Chinese drum has much more base, creating a heavier noise. Overall I found this differentiation between the two drums interesting as it shows music preference between cultures.