Drum kits are, like many things, down to personal taste with their fittings and exactly where and how you place each piece. However, there are some standards which are worth knowing, and then you customise your kit from there.

Building from a Shell Pack
Most kits bought today are sent by mail, and are therefore "flat-packed", which means that you have to build the kit yourself once it arrives. This is quite a straight forward exercise (certainly more simple than building some cabinets from Ikea), and the instructions are normally very useful, so it is definitely worth reading through them.

I build kits from the bottom up, so start with the bass drum and work from there. This is good practice as you generally set your kit up around where the bass drum is, and it also gets the biggest things out of the way first, as you don't really want to have to move them too much later.



The Bass Drum



It is easier to build drums when they are flat on the floor, so to fit the front skin (the normally weaker skin facing the audience) onto your bass drum first, lay your bass drum shell down flat and place the skin over the drum. Then place the rim or frame over the skin and simply drop the screws into their relevant holes, without screwing them in at this stage. Once all of this is in place, then you can start tightening the skin by turning the screws a half turn, tightening opposite screws one after another. Try and keep the tension across the whole drum-head even, as this will get the best sound, although how tight you would like the head depends on what size bass drum you have, and also your personal taste. Although if you tighten the skin too much, it may become so stretched that a tare is very likely.

You may notice that some front skins have holes in them, while others are complete. This also affects the tone of the drum, and many drummers who use a complete skin on the bass drum, often add some kind of padding, such as blankets, to the inside of the drum in order to deaden the sound and reduce the resonation of the sound. This is the time to add any padding you may want to use, as replacing bass drum heads is quite a hassle with a full kit set-up.

Once you have the front head the tightness that you like it, then turn the drum over and follow the same steps on the other skin, beating the drum after you have tightened all the screws each time in order to find the sound and tone that you are after. The pitch of the sound will become higher with each half turn, although please note that drum heads which are either too loose or too tight do have a tendency to rip, so be careful. When you are happy with the tone of the drum, then stand the drum up and add the supports, which are normally in the form of two spikes on either side of the drum which stops it sliding forward or tipping side to side when playing.



Setting up the toms is a very similar process to setting up the bass drum, just on a smaller scale. You again have a tougher skin for the playing surface, with a weaker one for the underside. I tend to go from the smallest tom to the floor tom, although you can do these in any order. You go through the process of laying the drum flat and adding the skins, and tightening them by half turns until you are happy with the tone and pitch, testing the sound with a drum stick between each tightening.

Once you are happy how the toms sound then the next stage is to add them to your kit. Most kits come with two mounted toms and one floor standing tom. The floor tom tends to have three poles which can be easily slid into their fittings on the drum, and then the angle and height off the floor can be easily adjusted. The mounted toms are slightly different as they get mounted on top of the bass drum by fittings which vary between manufacturers. Some manufacturers such as Pearl use bar fittings, while other such as Yamaha use ball fittings, however both are about equally good, and setting them up is a similar process. There will be a central fitting which actually slides into the bass drum, and needs to be screwed firmly in place, and it is from this fitting that the toms are attached, either by getting the balls or the grips to the right angle, and then again screwing firmly into place. For a right handed drummer, the smallest tom will normally be on the left hand side for the drummer, with the larger on the right, and the floor tom placed to the right of the bass drum in an arc shape.



The Snare Drum



The first part of setting up the snare drum is very similar to that of the toms and the bass drum in that you lay it flat and tighten the head very slowly until you find the right pitch. However, there is also a set of springs that have to be attached beneath the snare drum, which give it its distinctive sound. To attach them, there is normally some form of material at either end of set of springs, which has to be threaded through an attachment at each side of the snare drum, and then screwed into place. Nevertheless, the set of springs also has to be tuned and tightened which is done by a wheel type fixing on the snare drum. In order to test how tight you would like the springs, which rattle less and are more staccato the more tight they get, you must first use the lever on the side of the drum to pull the springs onto the drum. You tighten the springs to personal taste, continually beating the drum with a drum stick to test the sound.

Now, unlike the toms, the snare drum has its own stand, which you need to slide together (as it normally comes in only one or two pieces), spread its legs on the floor to create a stable base, and then spread the arms in order for it to firmly hold the snare drum. Once, you have set up the snare drum and its stand; place them into your kit, which is normally to the left of your bass drum in the arc for a right-handed player.



Hi-Hats and Pedals
These are perhaps the most complicated parts of a drum kit to assemble, in that they have the most parts to fit together. However, if you follow the instructions, they should be pretty simple to put together.
If you start with the bass drum pedal, all you have to do is tightly screw the actual beater onto the pedal mechanism using a drum key, and then attach the springs to make the mechanism responsive. This is a slightly different process with each manufacturer, and I won’t try to explain all of them in detail, but that is the main part of the assembly. The next stage is actually attaching the pedal to the bass drum, so that they will stay together, for which there is a type of "alligator grip" which you slide over the rim of the bass drum, and then screw down tightly.

The assembly of the hi-hats pedal is similar, although instead of attaching the beater to the pedal, you attach the rods which will control the actual cymbals, and clip its bas onto that of the hi-hat stand. Other than that, both pedals are pretty much the same. You then need to spread the legs of the stand to make a solid base, and adjust the height of the stand so that it is comfortable for you to play.

At the top of the stand you should place a plastic cap, and then some padding, so that the cymbal will not hit the stand directly, and then place the bottom of the two hi-hats on top of the padding, left loose and not screwed to anything. The next step is to attach the top hi-hat to its fittings. You do this by threading the tall screw through some padding, and then through the cymbal itself. Then turn the cymbal over upside down, and thread the bottom part of the tall screw through another piece of padding on the other side, and then finally through a nut which you should screw up until it is high enough for the cymbal to be held in place, although loosely so that the cymbal may vibrate quite wildly. You should turn the cymbal back the right way round and then thread it over the rod coming through the top of the hi-hat stand. It is then a simple measure of pressing down the foot pedal, and as you do that, screwing the top hi-hat onto the rod tightly. Then when you release the pedal, the top hi-hat should rise as the pedal does. All that is left to be done with the high-hats after this assembly is to place it into your kit, which would be to the left of the snare drum following the arc for a right handed player.



Cymbals and Stands



The last part that you need to add to you drum kit are the cymbals. Most people use a crash cymbal and a ride cymbal as the basic two, although you can always add more at a later date. There are generally two types of cymbal stands, the "Boom-stand" and the normal stand, and in this set-up we will use one of each.
If we set up the crash cymbal first, we need to set up the normal stand. For this, all that you need to do, is spread the legs of the stand to create a stable base, adjust the stand to the right height, and then angle the top of the stand to the angle you would like your crash cymbal to be at. Once you have done this, slide a plastic cap over the tip of the stand, followed by some padding. Having done this, simply place your crash cymbal over the padding, place some more padding over it, and loosely fasten with a wing-nut.

Setting up a boom stand for your ride cymbal is very similar, although after spreading the legs and correcting the height, you are able to change the angle of the middle of the stand so that it leans more over your kit, and then again adjust the angle of the head. Once you have done this, and tightened it all so that it is secure, you need to follow the same steps of adding the cymbal, of a plastic cap, then some padding, then the cymbal, then some more padding, and all loosely fastened together with a wing-nut. Where you put these cymbals is up to you, although in a standard set-up, the crash cymbal will be behind your snare drum, with the ride cymbal in the corner next to your bass drum and behind the floor tom.



Final Touches
If you have followed this article all the way through from start to finish, then you should have a full basic drum kit set up for a right handed player. If you are left handed, then you just need to reverse the arc of the drums and cymbals, having the hi-hats and snare on the right, and the floor tom on the left. However, this is just the standard set-up, and many drummers use variations on this. The most important thing is for the kit to be set up in a way that is comfortable for you to play.

Emmanuel Jal has won worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his experiences as a child soldier in Sudan. His music can be heard alongside Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Radiohead on the fundraising “War Child — Help a Day in the Life” album, as well as in three ER episodes, the National Geographic documentary God Grew Tired of Us, and in the feature film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Emmanuel spoke at TED Global, rang the bell at the NY Stock Exchange, and released his autobiography “War Child” all in 2009.

Despite his accomplishments in music, Jal's biggest passion is for Gua Africa. Besides building schools, the nonprofit provides scholarships for Sudanese war survivors in refugee camps, and sponsors education for children in the most deprived slum areas in Nairobi. For almost a year now, Jal has been eating one meal a day in his campaign to build a school in Leer, Southern Sudan, where Emma McCune is resting.

Emmanuel Jal is a hip hop musician, a war child from Sudan and a charity campaigner, his talk is entitled "What Would I Be Without Emma?" Abouttedx, x=independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, tedx is a program of local, self- organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a tedx event, tedtalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded tedx, where x=independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the tedx program, but individual tedx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)


http://www.emmanueljal.com

Parents made him come directly home right after school
And when they went to their church
They shook and lurched all over the church floor
He couldn't quite explain it
They'd always just gone there
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm 

"Rastafarians will stand on very shaky ground if the current gun running, cocaine selling and lyrically debased D-jays and singers, are allowed to infiltrate the noble ranks of Rastafari. These so-called dreadlocks imposters, could destroy years of hard earned credibility, and international acceptance of Rastafarians as a law abiding,peace loving and a reputable religious fraternity."

So said Ras Benedik a farmer in Portland, who voiced his concern at the number of "natty" -like assassins whose cold, callus and warped psyche negates them into Phycopaths, that can be hired to murder in cold blood, people they know nothing about."

Says Ras Benedik " Rastafarians have been to hell and back in terms of being victimized, denied our basic rights in the turbulent1960s, outright persecution by the Jamaican establishment in the form of 'de-locksing,' (forcibly having Rastas hair or "dreadlocks" cut off) denied employment in reputable establishments and imprisonment on the grounds of sheer contempt and scorn by some magistrates. Rastafarians were the most persecuted people and religion, since the abolition of slavery."

Sister Joy a Rastafarian and accountant from St. Catharine said " It has been exceptionally hard for Rastafarians in gaining the respect of Jamaicans at every imaginable level of the society. Thanks to the works of Bob Marley O.M. and other outstanding Rastafarians at home and abroad, whose determination not be discredited by a group of imposters, whose criminal motives and activities are mistakenly attributed to bonifide, and law abiding Rastafarians."

Ras Ivor a haulage contractor said, "Rastafarians have had to deal with issues in the past, that threatened the validity and the foundation on which the principles of Rastafari as a religion is based. One such occasion was the infamous "Bun Jesus, God and Lord" campaign that was initiated by a number of God "dissing," slogan shouters, who at the time were thought to be from a particular house, or ("Mansion Of Rastafari." as it is described by Rastafarian elders.

This resulted in the distancing of some members from what they perceived to be a hype driven, God dissing, anti -Christ and Rasta imposters". Ras Ivor pointed out that most of the blasphemous statements that angered the Christian fraternity of which Rastafarians are a part of, were made by hardcore dancehall artistes and their flag waving entourage. "These "wanna-bees" says Ras Ivor are simply ignorant of the true precepts of Rastafari, thus they are hell bent on reversing the principles on which Rastafari as a religion was established."

Both elderly and young Rastafarian progressives such as Ras Ben Guthrie, a political science student pointed out that most radical juveniles are in touch with what's happening politically. The protests songs comes screeming at you from within the numerous dancehalls right across Jamaica. He says they are inspired by the music and messages coming from Sizzla, Capleton, Beenie Man, Richie Spice, Jah Cure, Turbulence, I –Wayne and Gyptian. All profess to be Rastafarians with the exception of Elephant Man, who comes across as an energized entertainer, who is equally aware of the real issues, but chooses to dance for the time being.

Sizzla appears to have captured the full attention of most dancehall supporters, a natural thinker who is extremely versatile, thus he is able to control things on ether side of the fence. He has demonstrated on several occasions that he has the vision and the ability, to take both reggae and dancehall, in interesting directions at any given time. His uncompromising anti system and anti -Christ lyrics, have at times placed him in the cold, in relation to more rational thinking Rastafarians. He started out writing songs expressing the gut feeling, concerns and frustrations of the Inner City poor. Over the years he has consistently delivered a number of thought provoking songs, that have had Jamaicans singing at home and abroad. Songs such as " Black Woman and Child," Thank You Mama," and Dry Cry has made young Miguel Collins a household name internationally.

He is seen within his community as both sinner and a saint, the community although divided politically, recognizes Sizzla's leadership capabilities not only as an entertainer, but also as a person who has assisted scores of people, irrespective of their political affiliations.

Once seen as a minister of fire and 'brimstone, " due mainly to his "Bun Jesus, God and Lord" Campaign. A doctrine Sizzla is capable of revisiting musically, at any time for all it's controversial worth.
The question being asked is Sizzla just as relevant a spokesman for the so-called under-classes, as he was five years ago?

Miguel “Sizzla” Collins is undoubtedly an extremely gifted artiste; his ability to surpass the expectations of his peers is simply amazing. His fearless approach to life, and his never ending quest to establish new horizons musically, has made him exceptionally special, even among people who literally see hardcore dancehall as a deadly virus.

Musically there are several sides to Sizzla, the social commentator, Sizzla the lover, making impassioned pleas to his woman to give all her love unconditionally, and the controversial Sizzla whose biting social commentary is usually aimed at the church, regardless of denomination.

Subconsciously he is in constant search of a spiritual revolution, that at times crackles on the perimeters of blasphemy. What can not be explained is his ability to use controversy to his advantage, which places him light years ahead of the competition.

Sister Sherrie an event consultant said, "No artiste can ignore the right of others to their religious beliefs. However, the feeling among extremist that their ill conceived concept of Rastafari is both the beginning and the end, as far as religion is concerned, threatens the tried and proven concept of Rastafari as an internationally accepted religion and way of life.

We as Rastafarians have assimilated into every imaginable culture and race. We have been embraced by some, tolerated by others and looked at with suspicion by some of our own brothers and sisters. We have encountered these negative vibes even in Africa, which we as Jamaicans consider to be the motherland."

Pastor Alex made the point that "most of these young Rastas know nothing of the struggles, hardships and profound sacrifices that has been made by their elders over the years. They are indeed seeking, but going about it the wrong way he says. Some of our more militant artistes must realize that a greater social responsibility is crucial,when considering imparting messages that can divide people, and lead to unnecessary confrontations."

Pastor Alex said, "To declare one's allegiance to a particular figure, and to publicly declare that entity as being supreme over all others, is to denounce the beliefs and concepts of other religious groups. On the other hand, to attempt to indoctrinate and garner support through propaganda, and half truths is unforgivable, and equates to blasphemy."


Extract from forthcoming book by T."Boots" Harris. © 2006.
http://www.reggaenews.co.uk/