Drumset or Drumkit?

for years it was my drum set. one guitar player used to say to me " your kit" and it always bugged me. now it seem like i only say kit. its the same thing, i think its British though to say kit. I saw a documentary on the royal horse guard and they talked about cleaning their kit. It was their gear really, helmets, breast plates, boots etc. but they said kit. so drum gear would be a kit i guess? Andy lives near england somewhere under a bridge in the wind chime district, maybe he knows!
Yes, somewhere near Englandshire (for you Americans, that's about 200 miles east of Iranistan - Europe ;)

Someone's kit is a commonly used military term to describe the totality of their personal "gear" necessary for them to perform their duties. I'm guessing that migrated at some stage to encompass drums, or any assembly of items necessary for the task at hand.

"Set" is not a term that would be used generally within drumming circles, except maybe those in the game pre 1960's.
 
I always thought:

USA - drum set

Everyplace else - drum kit

For me, in conversation, they're 'my drums'.
 
I just call it "la batterie" :)

That's what I was about to say, batterie from the verb battre = to hit, like baseball bat.

French drumming vocabulary is not very extended though.
Charley or charleston = hi hat, but the other cymbals are simply ride, crash, splash.
Tom = tom.
Kick drum = grosse caisse, as in "big case".
Snare drum = caisse claire, as in "clear case".
Head = peau, "skin".
Hardware = simply called hardware, I can't imagine noone bothered to translate that, a French mouth can hardly pronounce that :)

OK I have bored you all enough now :)
 
I more commonly hear them referred to as "drum sets", but I call them kits. I don't know why but to me it just rolls off the tongue better.
 
This http://www.amazon.fr/Batterie-intégrale-Daniel-Pichon/dp/B000ZGDURE is absolutely THE best all-round book I have yet come across.
That's what I was about to say, batterie from the verb battre = to hit, like baseball bat.

French drumming vocabulary is not very extended though.
Charley or charleston = hi hat, but the other cymbals are simply ride, crash, splash.
Tom = tom.
Kick drum = grosse caisse, as in "big case".
Snare drum = caisse claire, as in "clear case".
Head = peau, "skin".
Hardware = simply called hardware, I can't imagine noone bothered to translate that, a French mouth can hardly pronounce that :)

OK I have bored you all enough now :)
 
If you have a chair set or a chair kit, what is the difference? A chair set is a collection of chairs that belong together for one reason or another. A chair kit is something you buy at a store in a box, which contains the parts needed to put together one chair.

I think of drums in the same way. Either you see it as a collection of instruments all played together, like a classical multi-percussionist might view it, or you see it collectively as one instrument (albeit with many "parts" which come together to form the "whole").

Or, more realistically, you call it what you've heard it being called, and what has stuck, kinda like some people say "soda" while other people say "pop."
 
I say drum set, but I really like those old ads that refer to them as "outfits." I'd like to start using that going forward.

Chris
 
+1 on drum kit being British English vs the US English drum set. I've always called it a drum kit.
 
@Magenta
Thanks! I thought the best books came necessarily from abroad :)
So can you read all that?
 
I use the term "drum array". As in, "Suh-weet drum array there girlfriend!"

Also, I'm not a drummer, I prefer the term rhythmic engineer.

:p
 
Pas de problemes, Madge peut lire, ecrire et parler en Francais :)

(Sorry, my keyboard doesn't have the accents)

Le mien non plus, mais il sait ne pas ecrire "francais" avec majuscule ;)

@picodon: yes, but it isn't an easy read! I bought it just to learn drum terminology in French, but it turned out to be a fantastic book in its own right. It's a book for the beginner who takes their drumming VERY seriously, or for any drummer who has gaps in their musical knowledge. My teacher calls it "French porn" - to go with "hand porn" (Stick Control) and "foot porn" (4-Way Co-Ordination).
 
in the 70's the Brits i'd read about (Bonzo et al) referred to it as a kit....in America...where i'm is...it was referred to as a set.

as time has gone by, more Americans use the term kit.
 
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