How playing an instrument benefits your brain

When you listen to music, multiple areas of your brain become engaged and active. But when you actually play an instrument, that activity becomes more like a full-body brain workout. What's going on? Anita Collins explains the fireworks that go off in musicians' brains when they play, and examines some of the long-term positive effects of this mental workout

Common Drumming Terminology & Drum set Glossary

Ride, Kick, Hi Hat, Resonant head....ah confused ?? Well these are common drum terms drum kids(and their parents) should probably know..

So here is a quick reference guide of the most commonly used terms in the world of drums and drumming,

Bass drum » Large drum played with a footpedal. Sometimes referred to as the "kick drum" or "kick." The bass drum is used to anchor the bottom of the music mix and interacts with the bass to build the music's foundation.

Bass drum pedal » The pedal that you step on to play the bass drum. Uses a lever and tensioning springs.

Bass drum beater » The metal shaft that fits into the bass drum pedal, with a head that is made of felt, wood, or other material.

Bass pedal spring » The spring that pulls the pedal back after the pedal is depressed.

Bass drum spurs » Short metal legs that attach to the bass drum to prevent it from moving.

Batter head » A drum head that you hit, on the top side of the drum.

Bearing edge » The edge of the drum shell where it contacts the drum head.

Bell » The round, raised part in the center of the cymbal. Used for creating accents and variations in cymbal sound.

China cymbal » Special-effect cymbal of Chinese origin. Usually mounted in an inverted position on the stand. Has a trashy, dark, white noise sound.

Claw hooks » The hooks that hold the bass drum hoop, or rim, in place.

Crash cymbal » Cymbal with strong attack and fast decay used to create accents and crescendos.

Cymbal sleeve » A plastic or rubber sleeve that prevents the cymbal from contacting the metal rod at the top of the cymbal stand. Prevents cymbal damage and undesirable metal-on-metal sound.

Cymbal stand (straight and/or boom type) » Holds the cymbals. Boom stands have a movable arm, or boom, that extends from the stand at an angle, allowing you greater flexibility in placing your cymbals.

Double Bass Pedal » Bass drum pedal with two beaters and two footboards. Used in modern rock and fusion styles. Allows the drummer to play a single bass drum with two beaters for a double bass drum effect.

Drum key » Tool used for tuning drum heads by adjusting the tension rods. Sometimes used to adjust tom arms and other hardware.

Drum module » An electronic controller used to generate sampled and synthesized drum sounds.

Drum rack » Used in some modern drum sets to mount multiple tom drums and cymbals as opposed to individual stands.

Drum throne » A padded, height-adjustable, armless seat for drummers.

Drum triggers » Small sensors attached to drum heads or rims used to trigger drum and other sounds from an electronic drum module.

Drum head » The head that fits over a drum's shell. Originally made of calfskin, most modern heads are made of Mylar. The batter head goes on top of the drum and is the head you hit, while the resonant head goes on the bottom and enhances the drum's sustain and resonance.

Dry sound » Drum sound that has little or no ambience or effects.

Floor tom » The largest tom in a drum set, usually 14" to 18" in diameter. They usually have detachable metal legs for free-standing use or can be suspended from a tom or cymbal stand.

Footboard » The part of the bass pedal or hi-hat pedal that is pressed with the foot.

Fundamental note » The tuning at which a drum produces its most open and resonant tone. Determined to a large degree by the drumshell design.

Hi-hat cymbals » Pair of cymbals that are mounted on a hi-hat stand (see below). Hi-hat cymbals usually range in size from 12" to 15."

Hi-hat stand » The stand that is used to mount and play a pair of hi-hat cymbals. An integrated footpedal is pushed down to close the hi-hats and raised to open them.

Hi-hat clamp (or clutch) » The part of the hi-hat stand that holds the top hi-hat cymbal.

Isolation mounts » Tom mounts that allow the tom to vibrate freely by isolating it from the tom holder.

Lug » A bracket that is attached to a drum and accepts a tension rod that threads through the rim to hold the drum head in place.

Lug nut (or swivel nut) » The receptacle inside a lug that accepts the tension rod. Interior threads allow the tension rods to be tightened in order to tune the drum.

Mounted toms » Toms that provide various voices and timbres within the set, most often used in playing fills and solos. Mounted toms generally range from 6" to 14" in diameter, and commonly mount on the shell of the bass drum.

Piccolo snare » A high-pitched specialty snare drum, usually with a 3-1/2" depth.

Ride area » The large, slightly curved area of a ride cymbal that offers a balanced, consistent tone with good definition.

Ride cymbal » A cymbal with sharp attack, fast decay, and clear stick definition. Generally 20" or 22" in size, ride cymbals create a continuous "riding" pattern and are often used for accompanying instrumental solos.

Resonant head » The bottom head used on toms, snares, and on the front of bass drums.

Rim » The metal rim that holds the drum head in place and can be tensioned for tuning.

Shell » The actual drum cylinder. Usually made of wood.

Shell pack » A set of drums sold with minimal hardware usually including only the rims and tom holder.

Snare drum » Drum with a metal or wood shell and bright, cutting tone. Has a characteristic buzzing sound created by the sound of the snares on the bottom head.

Snares » Coiled metal strands that vibrate against the bottom (snare-side) head of a snare drum.

Snare side head » Thin head attached to the bottom of a snare drum.

Snare stand » Stand with an adjustable basket that holds the snare drum.

Snare strainer (or throw-off) » The device that holds the metal snares against the bottom snare side head. It has a lever that allows you to tighten or release the snares.

Soprano snare » Small specialty snare drum, usually with a 12" diameter.

Splash cymbals » Small, thin crash cymbals with a quick decay.

Tension rods » The rods that are used in conjunction with the lug nuts to tune a drum.

Tom » Drums of varying size that are typically mounted on the bass drum with a tom holder. Toms may also be mounted on a drum rack, and are referred to as suspended or hanging toms. Toms larger than 16" are usually mounted on legs, in which case the drum is called a floor tom.

Tom holder » Mounting hardware that holds one or more toms on the bass drum shell.

Trigger » Small sensors that attach to your drum heads and trigger sounds from an external drum module.

Washer » A metal disk that fits between the head of the tensioning rod and the rim.

Wet sound » Sound that has an ambient, spacious quality, with effects like reverb and/or delay

Wing nut » A nut with wing-like finger grips, used on the top of a cymbal stand

Make your Single Strokes sound Awesome in 3 easy steps !

Step 1: Practice the basic Left, Right single strokes at various tempos using a metronome on a pad for a long time until you are comfortable playing slow to fast tempos ( 50-200 bpm)  while counting loudly at given metronome speed for full exercise,

Bar 1-4 Quarter Notes  = 1,2,3,4......2,2,3,4....3,2,3,4....4,2,3,4

Bar 5-8 Eight Notes = 1&2&3&4&.....2&2&3&4&....3&2&3&4&.......4&2&3&4&

Bar 9-12 Triplets = 1&A2&A3&A4&A......2&A2&A3&A4&A...3&A2&A3&A4&A...4&A2&A3&A4&A

Bar 13-16 Sixteenth Notes =  1E&A,2E&A,3E&A,4E&A...2E&A,2E&A,3E&A,4E&A...3E&A,2E&A,3E&A,4E&A..4E&A,2E&A,3E&A,4E&A

Step 2: Now continue Step 1 while Accenting certain notes consistently on each bar. For example start with quarter notes for first set of practice and then gradually move to different sub divisions in following sets of bars

Step 3 : Now move to the drum set and play Step 2 while moving the Accents to the Toms while keeping rest of beats on the Snare drum

Now, how does that sound ? Feels and sounds better right ? Want to go a step further ? Then here's a tip..

TIP: Incorporate the Bass drum in place of the accents...

Once you master these step then let your imagination take over to discover your own cool ways to make the single strokes awesome when applying to different licks !