Originally Posted by PJStew

Hey every one, this may seem like an odd question, but I was having a heated debate with a work colleague last week who believed.

1. a drum is not a musical instrument.
2. a drummer is not a musician.

I personally don't agree!

His argument was.

1. A drum is not a musical instrument, it's a percussion instrument.
2. You can't tune a drum or a drum doesn't go out of tune.
3. You can't play a melody with a drum.

My view on his argument.

1. percussion instrument is a subset of musical instruments, in the same way wind instrument, brass instrument and all the other ones are.
2. I don't think I even need to answer this one, it's just not true.
3. I'm not sure if you could really play a melody on a drum, but I did find some talk on the internet of a few drummers who had played melody with very big drum kits i.e. lots of drums and symbols of different tuning.
But whether you can or you can't it's beside the point, that wouldn't determine whether it's a musical instrument or not.

So anyway please let me know what you all think and vote on the poll

Cheers
Pete