It’s difficult to imagine that the drum set of today has only been in existence for just over 100 years. The history of the modern drum set began in the late 1800’s, with a drummer being able to play the snare and bass drum together. That was when the need for the percussion section to take up less space in a pit orchestra setting first arrived. This also meant that (economically speaking,) one drummer could replace three. The invention of the first bass drum pedal enabled a single drummer to play the bass drum with his foot, leaving both hands free to play the snare drum and strike a cymbal attached to the top of the bass drum. The next invention was a striker cymbal that was attached vertically to the rim of the bass drum and struck with a small clanger arm that was attached to the bass drum. […]