North Drums

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North Drums are funnel-shaped drums that are bent at 90 degrees and were designed by Roger W. North in the 1970s to better project the sound and tones of the drums towards the audience.

history

North Drums were invented by Roger W. North, a professional drummer from Portland, Oregon . He was a graduate of Swarthmore College and earned a Master of Science in Structural Engineering ( Structural Engineering ) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . After working as an engineer in Boston for several years, he joined the rock group Quill in 1968 and played with Odetta for one year and with the Holy Modal Rounders and the Clamtones for five years .

With the modification of the drum shape, North did not strive for a higher volume, but wanted to preserve the subtleties of the frequencies and the sound as well as the clear distinguishability of the individual drums from each other, which would normally be lost due to the distance to the audience. For five years he experimented with different shapes and materials until the drums got their characteristic horn shape, as North shaped the drums so that the floor was facing the audience. Due to their sound properties, they also turned out to be well suited for recording in the recording studio. North developed the drums for his own use around 1968. So he played her in 1968 as the drummer for the group Quill at the Woodstock Festival . In 1970 he patented them, but it wasn't until 1972 that he opened a company through which he sold the drums in small numbers. The original drums were handcrafted from fiberglass-reinforced plastic and were available in six basic colors. In 1976, North asked Music Technology Incorporated (MTI) in New York to manufacture and sell the drums to meet growing demand. Under MTI management, the drums were now manufactured from polystyrene by injection molding . In addition to white and black, red, yellow, or multi-colored drums with diameters between six and sixteen inches were also available. Production stopped in the early 1980s.

Alan White with North Drums at the Yes concert, Indianapolis, 1977

North Drums were mainly known in America. They achieved their popularity primarily through their popularity with well-known rock and jazz musicians. Sun played Chad Channing of Nirvana North-drums, as Billy Cobham , the session drummer Russ Kunkel and Credence Clearwater Revival -Schlagzeuger Doug Clifford . Lucky Teacher from the Circle Jerks used North Tomtoms , which are on permanent display at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Alan White of Yes played North drums at times, as did Gerry Brown and Richie Albright of The Waylors . The Drum Corps Blue Devils played North Drums regularly.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mike Evans, Paul Kingsbury: Woodstock: Three Days that Rocked the World . Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2009, ISBN 978-1-4027-6623-7 , pp. 116 ( books.google.de ).
  2. ↑ Pete Fornatale: Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock . Simon and Schuster, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4165-9677-6 ( books.google.de ).
  3. ↑ DRUM. (PDF) In: freepatentsonline.com. Retrieved July 16, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Matt Dean: The Drum: A History . Scarecrow Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-8108-8170-9 , pp. 224, 225 ( books.google.de ).
  5. ↑ a b Mike Dolbear DRUMS | Vintage Views - North and Staccato. In: mikedolbear.com. Retrieved July 19, 2015 .