Matt Dean is a professional drummer both in live performance and studio recording sessions across all styles of contemporary music around London and Europe. In addition, Dean is a music journalist and an instructor.
This is certainly an ambitious work--it contains more than 400
pages of text, an extensive bibliography, and a helpful index
(which includes albums, bands/ensembles, drums, drum-product
manufacturers, people, pieces, places, and general information). A
professional drummer (and also a music journalist), Dean reveals
that he wrote the book to satisfy his personal curiosity, to "find
out how the modern drums that [he] play[s] today evolved and from
where they came." He also suggests that acquiring such knowledge
can help make one a better drummer/musician and consumer of music.
To that end, this book would be useful as a basic resource for
locating additional materials. Dean's writing style and
organizational format make for a memoir-type narrative--a book
reminiscent of Encyclopedia of Percussion, ed. by John Beck (2nd
ed., 2007, CH, Jan'98, 45-2347) but infused with anecdotes (some of
them intensely personal). The result is a hybrid work containing
threads of scholarship, biography, and personal memoir. It might
encourage readers to reflect on their own lives and careers in
similar fashion. Summing Up: Recommended.
*CHOICE*
[The Drum: A History] is a detailed look at the development of our
favorite instrument from the ancient times to the modern drum kit.
The book begins with an exhaustive cataloging of drums from across
the globe, divided into geographical region. . . . The breadth of
material is impressive.
*Rhythm Magazine*
In this...book...[Matt dean]...provide[s] a comprehensive history
of drums and drumming from ancient times right up to the latest
innovations in both popular and concert music....this book can be
highly recommended...for the chapter on the history of the drum
set.
*Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association*
For those who work at universities and other music centers, this
book is an outstanding publication and would be a great addition to
your library.
*Percussive Notes*
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