German drumming and drummers By: Marc Poulin Helmut

Marco Minnemann  Marco started playing the drums at 11 years old.  He gained popularity when he joined the band “The Weirdoz” in  After The Weirdoz ended in 1997, Marco played over 200 gigs with various bands and did workshops and solo performances.  This gave him much popularity as an up and coming drummer.  He likes all kinds of music and is influenced by Jazz and Funk as well as modern music.  He wrote an educational book and even has his own DVD entitled, “Extreme Drumming” as well as being in countless magazines and playing on many records.

Ludwig  The Ludwig company dates back to 1910, when it was started by brothers William and Theo.  The company started off well but then took a set back when the great depression hit.  Because of this, the Ludwig company merged with the C.G. Conn company.  In 1955 William Jr. won the bid to get the portion of the company that merged back. He renamed the company what it is know by today: Ludwig Drum Company.  The 1960’s was an important time for the Ludwig company. The British invasion hit, and Ringo Starr of The Beatles was using Ludwig drums.  The company continued to grow into what it is today with the introduction of the Vistalite series in the 70’s played by John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, and the introduction of hardware and percussion to the line-up in the 80’s.

Ludwig continued Above: Ringo Starr has used Ludwig drums since the 1960’s and still uses them to this day! Right: John Bonham used a vistalite kit similar to this one in the 1970’s Right: Tre Cool of Green Day in a Ludwig ad. Below: A modern intermediate kit.

Sonor  Sonor drums was founded by Johannes Link in Wei(s)enfels an der Saale in East Germany.  Started out as a workshop for military drums and drum heads.  In 1907 Sonor was trademarked.  Around 1925 Sonor had over 145 employees, making it one of the largest businesses of its kind.  After WWII, the East German government took over the company from the Link family and it became state owned.  But in 1946 Otto Link, (Johannes’s son) established a new company in West Germany.  Today Sonor is one of the leading manufactures in drum kits.

Sonor continued  Below: an entry level Sonor kit costing around $600 Below: A high end Sonor kit with many cymbals Right: Founder of Sonor drums, Johannes Link Above: Sonor official logo

Meinl Cymbals  Meinl cymbals was founded in 1951 by Roland Meinl.  The company is based in Neustadt, Germany.  Meinl cymbals are part of the “big 4” (Zildjian, Paiste, Sabian)  The company’s unique cymbal technology has made them a front- runner in the business with the use of their “European sound” which derives from Turkish, compared to Chinese cymbal making.  The European sound has more consistency, focus, and penetration, compared to the more blended and individual sounds of other cymbals.  Meinl also stands out with the materials they use. The alloy from their top line cymbals, are mostly malleable bronze (B8, 8%tin) as opposed to bell bronze. Although they do have a top bell bronze range of cymbals called Byzance.

Meinl Cymbals and artists  Aaron Gillespie, Underoath, U.S.A Meinl cymbals on display at a trade show. Right: Christoph Schneider, Rammstein, Germany

Kraftwerk  Kraftwerk is German for “power station”  The band helped to develop the popularity of experimental and electronic music.  There music combined electronic percussion and bass with synthesized harmony and melody.  This all took place in the 1970’s and set the table for today’s budding electronically influenced bands all over the world.  Their breakthrough album in 1974 entitled “Autobahn” had a 22 minute title track which had a steady beat and lots of synthesizers and electronics.  Kraftwerk were not particularly know for their lyrics but they wrote songs about traveling by cars, trains, and using home computers. Their lyrics dealt with urban life and technology.  Between 1970 and 2005, Kraftwerk came out with 13 studio albums, and helped to establish electronics as a major part of music for the future. So you see another group, like Tangerine Dream, although [it is] German, [it has] an English[-language] name, so [it creates] on-stage an Anglo–American identity, which we completely deny. We want the whole world to know that we are from Germany, because the German mentality—which is more advanced—will always be part of our behavior. We create out of the German language, the mother language, which is very mechanical; we use it as the basic structure of our music.’ Tangerine DreamTangerine Dream Ralf Hütter[7] Ralf Hütter[7]

Electronic drums  Above: A Roland drum pad.  Below: a Yamaha electronic drum kit. -Electronic drums have been around since the 1970’s. -An electronic drum works by striking the pad. When this is done, a voltage change is triggered and then translated into digital waveforms. -These drums are not cheap. Although you can get an entry level kit for around $600, they can cost anywhere from $600-$ Electronic drums have some good qualities. For example, they do not take up a lot of space. They can add a unique dynamic to your music, as you can achieve many different sounds from the same drum. -Some artists who use and have used electronic drums are: Travis Barker, Plus 44, Neil Peart, Rush, and Rick Allen, Def Leppard.

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