In percussion music, a rudiment is one of a number of relatively small patterns which form the foundation for more extended and complex drum patterns. The term "rudiment" in this context means not only "basic", but also fundamental. While any level of drumming may, in some sense, be broken down by analysis into a series of component rudiments, the term "drum rudiment" is most closely associated with various forms of field drumming, also known as rudimental drumming.
Rudimental drumming has something of a flexible definition, even within drumming societies devoted to that form of drumming. For example, the longest running website on rudimental drumming defines it as "the study of coordination," whereas the Percussive Arts Society defines rudimental drumming as a particular method for learning the drums—beginning with rudiments, and gradually building up speed and complexity through practicing those rudiments. (An analogy might be made to learning the piano by first learning scales and arpeggios, as opposed to beginning by taking a full piece of music and grinding through it bit by bit, to the end.)
FLAM was founded in 1983 (co-founded by Ibrahima Moctar Sarr) as tensions had increased between the two ethnicities following severe political instability and a controversial land reform enacted under Col.Mohamed Khouna Ould Heidalla's military government. The group endorsed, but did not initiate, a violent overthrow of the regime, and was quickly outlawed. In 1986, it published the Manifesto of the oppressed black Mauritanian, which detailed government discrimination, and demanded the overthrow of the "Beidane System" (Beidane is an Arabic language-appellation for the Arabophone Moorish elite). Acting as an underground movement in Mauritania, with its main areas of strength in the southern areas of the country (bordering Senegal and Mauritania), and especially among the halpulaar population, FLAM's leadership was headquartered in Dakar and Paris. It remained committed to destroying the "Beidane System", accusing Mauritania's Moorish-dominated governments of instituting a form of "apartheid", and engaged in sporadic, small-scale guerrilla operations in the south of the country.
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a drum stick, to produce sound. There is usually a resonance head on the underside of the drum, typically tuned to a slightly lower pitch than the top drumhead. Other techniques have been used to cause drums to make sound, such as the thumb roll. Drums are the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has remained virtually unchanged for thousands of years.
Drums may be played individually, with the player using a single drum, and some drums such as the djembe are almost always played in this way. Others are normally played in a set of two or more, all played by the one player, such as bongo drums and timpani. A number of different drums together with cymbals form the basic modern drum kit.
Drum is a 2004 film based on the life of South African investigative journalist Henry Nxumalo, who worked for the popular Drum magazine, called "the first black lifestyle magazine in Africa." It was director Zola Maseko's first film and deals with the issues of apartheid and the forced removal of residents from Sophiatown. The film was originally to be a six-part television series called Sophiatown Short Stories, though Maseko could not get the funding. The lead roles of Henry Nxumalo and Drum main photographer Jürgen Schadeberg were played by American actors Taye Diggs and Gabriel Mann, while most of the rest of the cast were South African actors.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2004, and proceeded to do the rounds of international film festivals before going on general release in South Africa in July 2006. It was released in Europe, but failed to get a distributor for the USA where it went straight to DVD.
Drum is the first release from art rock band Hugo Largo. It was produced by Michael Stipe (who also provides backing vocals on two of the tracks) and released by Brian Eno's record label, Opal, on January 1, 1988. It had originally been released in shorter form as an EP in 1987. The Guardian included it in a list of "1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die" in 2007. It was reissued by All Saints Records in 2005.
An aspect of music (rudiment) is any characteristic, dimension, or element taken as a part or component of music. A parameter is any element that can be manipulated (composed) separately from other elements. "There is very little dispute about the principal constituent elements of music, though experts will differ on the precise definitions of each aspect. Most central are 'pitch' (or melody) and 'rhythm'...next in importance only to pitch and rhythm is 'timbre', the characteristic qualities of tone."(Gardner 1984, 104)
"Just as parameters within a culture are distinguished from one another because they are governed by somewhat different constraints, so it is with the parameters of music: melody, harmony, timbre, etc., are more or less independent variables."(Meyer 1989, 21.44) The first person to apply the term parameter to music may have been Joseph Schillinger, though its relative popularity may be due to Werner Meyer-Eppler(Grant 2005, 62n85). Gradation is gradual change within one parameter, or an overlapping of two blocks of sound. There is disagreement over the number and existence of specific aspects, as well as whether any aspects are common to all music.