Morning journal and courier., 1892-12-16
WHAT THE DRUmmER DOES.
Yet Some Folks Think He Doesn't Amount to Much in an Orchestra.

Yet Some Folks Think He Doesn't
 Amount to Much fin an Orchestra.
 From the Chicago Herald.I
 Theatergoers who think that the drum mer in the orchestra has nothing to do but keep his eyes on the stage and occasionally contribute 6 r-r-r-rum-tu tum-tum to the con- certed efforts of his comrades. should get front seat and 8 tab some night when comic opera is on, and devote to the drum mer as much attention as they can induce themselves to steal from the girls in tights and agile msidens in costumes of skirt dan csrs. Then the patron of the playhouse will realizs that what:the comedian is to the drama, and the general utility man is to the stock company, the drummer is to the orchestra. He Is the most active man under the footlighta. He has more "effects", to introduce, more "business" to keep in mind, more instruments to play, more stops to notice, and more bars of rest to count than any other musician.
 If there be in the overture a suggestion of birds the drummer is the man who toots the little whistle initiative of the kind of bird suggested. If the scene calls for the fever. aud ague music, with rain on the side, the drummer Is the man who is looked to for an imitation of the psttering of the rain upon the roof. If horse is supposed to be coming full tilt over the rocky brow of yonder hill, the drummer is the man who produces the sounds that are like the resounding noises of the chargers | hoofs. In fact, every striving after "effect" Is the idea of the leader, and is the work of the fellow who Is populsrly regarded as | a most interested spectator of the perform ance. If that leader wanted to add real | ism to a scene in which house was being moved across the stage he would probably | suggest that the drummer invent some sort | of cresking machine to give forth the groan of the windlass, and might go so far as to insist that the pounder of sheep-skin drag | chain to and fro on tho floor of the orchee- | tra stall. These exactioDs on the part of | the leader necessitats a vast amount of in- | genuity on the part of this busiest sssis- | tant, and as & consequence each drummer | has big trunk full of what are known in the profession as "traps," chiefly of his own design snd manufacture.
 Every theater, orchestra drummer Is re- | quired to be au fail on the snare drum ket- tie drums, bass drums, cymbals, and trisn- | gle; to be able to play ali of them at once | if need be, working the base drum snd cym- | bsls with pedal. He must also be accom- | plished with a chime of bells and feel per ! fectly at home with the castanets. It isn't necessary that he should have the castaness | on his fingers as the Spanish dancer does, but he must be able to crack them myth. | mically when they are fastened to pieces of thin board. It isn't essential. either, that the drummer be as much an adept as Il is the burnt cork end man with the tam | bourine, but he must possess more skill | with that apology for a musical instru
 ment than the Salvation army girl shows A real good orchestra drummer Is usually
 familiar, also, with the xylophone-tht graduated strips of wood on which hs
 pounds with little round headed msllets invariably to the delights of the gallery Of whistles, the drummer has enough tC
 craze a whole neighborhood- He can re
 produce the toot of the locomotive, tho
 deep note of the steamboat; the screech oi
 the caliope, the cell of cuckoo, the dua
 note of the quail, the growing of rooster
 the cluckipg of hen, the honk of goose or the ouack of duck. The hen-cluckinE | apparatus is queer and simple. It Is a tir
 can, through the bottom of which 6 rosined
 string has been passed and knotted- Tn,
 drawing of the string through the clinched | hand brings the hen near. The chirpinf | of birds Is initiated on whistles made fol
 the purpose and marked 'fcausry" or ''pes
 cock, :" as the case may be. These whistles
 are as numerous ss the varieties of festh
 cred bipeds, 90 that if the business cAlleS
 for the scream of even the ''jub-jub" birC
 the drummer would iud something to mee
 the demand.
 There's no large amount of musical Abil
 ity, nor even of dexterity, displayed Il blowing on & whistle, aud thsrehy imitatipI the chiTp of a cricket. for the whistle made to produce the sound, aud sll tn , drummer need do Is furnish the power , to press the button, as 1t were. Bni in th , manipulation of the Instruments of origins
 design ths general utility man Is ofte called upon to show observation, nicety c } of touch and rspsdity of movement. Give c fat stone or piece of marble and tw