Prior to the gizmo of tension rods drum skins were attached and tuned by rope systems such as that worn on the Djembe or pegs and ropes such as that fond on Ewe Drums, a system rarely dependent today, although sometimes seem on regimental marching band snare drums.
Drum carried by John Unger, Company B, 40th Regiment Cutting Edge York Veteran Volunteer Infantry Mozart Regiment, African Drums December 20, 1863
By the 1930s, Gene Krupa and others popularized streamlined trap kits leading to a essential four piece drum certain standard: bass, snare, tom-tom, and floor tom. In time legs were fitted to impressive nadir toms, and "consolettes" were devised to hold smaller tom-toms on the bass drum. In the 1940s, Louie Bellson pioneered applicability of two bass drums, or the double bass drum kit. With the ascendancy of rock and roll, the role of the drum kit opponent became greater visible, accessible, and visceral. The watershed moment occurred in 1964, when Ringo Starr of The Beatles played his Ludwig kit on American television; an chance that motivated legions to take up the drums.
