Drummer: The Person Everyone Else Marches To
A drummer keeps the time a band lives by. The famous phrase about a different drummer comes from Thoreau, and it says something the word alone does not.
A drummer plays the drums, and in almost any group of musicians is the one holding the tempo together. The word's best-known appearance is in Thoreau's *Walden*: if a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. The line turned a job into a way of describing independence.
- A musician who plays drums. *The drummer counted them in.*
- A soldier who beat time on a march (historical). *The regiment's drummer boy.*
- A travelling salesman (old American slang). *A drummer working the county.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | drummer | A jazz drummer. |
| Plural | drummers | Two drummers on stage. |
| Verb | drum | Drum on the table. |
| Noun | drumming | Steady drumming. |
| Related | percussionist | A classical percussionist. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The band needs a drummer who can keep time without a click track.Keeping time is the whole job.
- He marches to the beat of a different drummer.The Thoreau phrase, now a set idiom for going your own way.
- Rain was drumming on the roof.The verb works for any repeated tapping.
Drummer or percussionist?
- Drummer — plays a drum kit, usually in a band
- Percussionist — plays the whole percussion family: timpani, cymbals, marimba
- Drum kit — the assembled set: snare, bass drum, toms, hi-hat, cymbals
- Drum machine — the electronic substitute, from the 1970s onward
- Drumline — a marching band's percussion section
*Drum* entered English in the sixteenth century from Dutch or Low German *tromme*, an imitation of the sound. The *-er* ending does its ordinary work, and the salesman sense came from drumming up trade — making a noise to attract custom.
Where does *march to a different drummer* come from?
From Henry David Thoreau's Walden, published in 1854. His wording was that such a man hears a different drummer.
What does *drum up* mean?
To gather something by effort and noise: drum up support, drum up business. It is the same image as beating a drum to draw a crowd.