German drumming and drummers

1
German drumming and drummers

• By Marc Poulin
• Helmut

2
Marco Minnemann

• Marco started playing the drums at 11 years old.
• He gained popularity when he joined the band The
  Weirdoz in 1992.
• 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.

3
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 1960s 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 70s played by John Bonham of Led
  Zeppelin, and the introduction of hardware and
  percussion to the line-up in the 80s.

4
Ludwig continued
Right Tre Cool of Green Day in a Ludwig ad.
Above Ringo Starr has used Ludwig drums since
the 1960s and still uses them to this day!
Below A modern intermediate kit.
Right John Bonham used a vistalite kit similar
to this one in the 1970s
5
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, (Johanness son)
  established a new company in West Germany.
• Today Sonor is one of the leading manufactures in
  drum kits.

6
Sonor continued
Right Founder of Sonor drums, Johannes Link
Above Sonor official logo

• Below an entry level Sonor kit costing around
  600

Below A high end Sonor kit with many cymbals
7
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 companys 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, 8tin) as opposed to
  bell bronze. Although they do have a top bell
  bronze range of cymbals called Byzance.

8
Meinl Cymbals and artists

• Aaron Gillespie, Underoath, U.S.A

Meinl cymbals on display at a trade show.
Right Christoph Schneider, Rammstein, Germany
9
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 1970s and set the
  table for todays 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 AngloAmerican identity, which we completely
deny. We want the whole world to know that we are
from Germany, because the German mentalitywhich
is more advancedwill 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.
Ralf Hütter7
10
Electronic drums
-Electronic drums have been around since the
1970s. -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 600-6000. -Electroni
c 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.

• Above A Roland drum pad.
• Below a Yamaha electronic drum kit.

11
Sources

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraftwerk
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meinl_Percussion
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_drum
• http//www.myspace.com/marcominnemann
• http//www.sonor.com
• http//www.ludwig-drums.com
• http//www.google.com
• http//www.wikipedia.org