Drums or Percs?

PepperEvans

Junior Member
How come some band members answer percs instead of drums when you ask them which instrument they handle? Isn't percussion too broad a word? I don't instantly think of drums when somebody says percs.
 
Well in correct definition even someone who plays only a drumset would still be a percusionist, plus its sounds a little more classy than "drummer".
 
They're trying to "church it up".

Seriously, depends if they play more than drums as a focus. If they do play Latin percussion, and consider that their focus, then "percussionist" is perhaps a better example. A guy at one church I attended was like that: He was primarily a conga and hand drummer, but sat in whenever I needed a week off on the drums. But to hear him tell it, he was a "percussionist".

Also, classical performers do identify themselves as percussionists more often than as drummers.
 
Although drums are percussion instruments, I tend to think of it this way:

If you only play drums (set, snare, congas, etc), you are a drummer.
If you play all percussin instruments (have studied and know everything from set, snare, congas, etc, to marimba, timpani, and even little stuff like knowing proper technique for triangle, etc), then you are a percussionist.

By that definition, I am a percussionist. When I am talking business, etc, I refer to myself as a percussionist...but in daily conversation, talking to band mates, etc, it's easier just to say drummer.
 
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