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64-653: The Leedy Manufacturing Company (also known as the Leedy Drum Company ) was an American manufacturer of percussion instruments headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana . Leedy was highly successful in the early twentieth century, and was at one point the largest manufacturer of drums and other percussion instruments in the world. The company was formed by Ulysses. G. Leedy as the Leedy-Cooley Manufacturing Company with partner Sam Cooley in 1897 before

128-568: A J. C. Deagan, Inc. steel marimba , Winterhoff invented the vibraphone . This instrument differed from the modern vibraphone in that it produced the namesake vibrato effect by pulsing the resonators up and down. In 1921, Winterhoff perfected the design by instead inserting circular discs into the resonators that could be spun by means of an electric-powered motor and a drive belt . Originally dubbed "vibratone bells", George Way later gave it its name, "vibraphone", and began to market it in small batches between 1924 and 1929. It received popularity after

192-558: A corporation between Herman E. Winterhoff , Charles B. Wanamaker, and Leedy. Winterhoff served as a tuner for the keyboard percussion division and was the vice president of the company, while Wanamaker served as secretary-treasurer. Wanamaker was successful as a designer, having worked as an engineer and business owner in the Cyclorama Building (where he met Leedy) prior to joining the company. During his tenure, he helped Leedy develop and patent an early snare drum strainer that allowed

256-491: A drum key . This line was pushed to the forefront of production, while the former flagship drums of both Leedy and Ludwig were relegated to secondary status. However, the drums proved unsuccessful, as owners found them hard to maintain and tune. After just a few years, the drums were pulled from the catalog and were seen as a commercial failure. The failure of the Knob Tension line, combined with other financial difficulties and

320-438: A periodical publication or simply a periodical ) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper , but a magazine or a journal are also examples of periodicals. These publications cover a wide variety of topics, from academic, technical, trade, and general interest to leisure and entertainment . Articles within a periodical are usually organized around

384-563: A staff with the same treble and bass clefs used by many non-percussive instruments. Music for percussive instruments without a definite pitch can be notated with a specialist rhythm or percussion-clef . The guitar also has a special "tab" staff. More often a bass clef is substituted for rhythm clef. Percussion instruments are classified by various criteria sometimes depending on their construction, ethnic origin, function within musical theory and orchestration, or their relative prevalence in common knowledge. The word percussion derives from

448-581: A "drum war" for the title of the "world's largest drum" with the University of Chicago Band who commissioned C. G. Conn to create Big Bertha the following year. Big Bertha was later purchased by the Longhorn Band of the University of Texas at Austin in 1954 where the rivalry between the two drums still continues. After the popularity of the Purdue Big Bass Drum, Leedy advertised in their catalog

512-772: A '#' is used. The first issue of a periodical is sometimes also called a premiere issue or charter issue. The first issue may be preceded by dummy or zero issues. A last issue is sometimes called the final issue. Periodicals are often characterized by their period (or frequency ) of publication. This information often helps librarians make decisions about whether or not to include certain periodicals in their collection. It also helps scholars decide which journal to submit their paper to. Periodicals are often classified as either popular or scholarly. Popular periodicals are usually magazines (e.g., Ebony and Esquire ). Scholarly journals are most commonly found in libraries and databases. Examples are The Journal of Psychology and

576-712: A blown conch shell. Percussive techniques can even be applied to the human body itself, as in body percussion . On the other hand, keyboard instruments , such as the celesta , are not normally part of the percussion section, but keyboard percussion instruments such as the glockenspiel and xylophone (which do not have piano keyboards) are included. Percussion instruments are most commonly divided into two classes: pitched percussion instruments, which produce notes with an identifiable pitch , and unpitched percussion instruments, which produce notes or sounds in an indefinite pitch. Percussion instruments may play not only rhythm , but also melody and harmony . Percussion

640-524: A desire to expand into the production of electric organs , led to C. G. Conn selling its drum divisions in 1955. The Ludwig trademark was bought by William F. Ludwig Sr. of the WFL Company who saw the opportunity to buy back the family name, while the Leedy trademark was sold to Slingerland Drum Company . George Way, who had already departed the company a year prior, started his own drum company in 1957, housed in

704-429: A distinctive sound. It is not uncommon to discuss percussion instruments in relation to their cultural origin. This led to a division between instruments considered common or modern, and folk instruments with significant history or purpose within a geographic region or culture. This category includes instruments that are widely available and popular throughout the world: The percussionist uses various objects to strike

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768-487: A drum shop in Chicago named Ludwig & Ludwig. Among their ventures, they acted as a distributor for Leedy products. However, they also began to manufacture their own products. By 1923, it grew to become among the largest drum companies in the world, rivaling the likes of Leedy. In late 1929, C. G. Conn acquired Ludwig & Ludwig, and similar to Leedy, moved their production to Elkhart. Both Leedy and Ludwig drums were made in

832-528: A liking to the instrument, later joining the 15th Regimental Drum Corps as a teenager and the Fostoria town band and orchestra as a young adult. After being seen playing a xylophone solo with the town band, he was asked to join the Great Western Band at Cedar Point by their business manager. After playing with the group for three years, Leedy started taking on theater gigs and traveled the nation. After taking

896-507: A percussion instrument to produce sound. The general term for a musician who plays percussion instruments is "percussionist" but the terms listed below often describe specialties: Within rock music, the term "percussionist" is often used to refer to someone who plays percussion instruments but is not primarily a drummer. The term is especially found in bands where one person plays drums and another plays other hit instruments. Periodical literature A periodical literature (also called

960-423: A pivotal role. In military marching bands and pipes and drums , it is the beat of the bass drum that keeps the soldiers in step and at a regular speed, and it is the snare that provides that crisp, decisive air to the tune of a regiment. In classic jazz, one almost immediately thinks of the distinctive rhythm of the hi-hats or the ride cymbal when the word-swing is spoken. In more recent popular-music culture, it

1024-477: A predetermined number of editions. By contrast, a novel might be published in monthly parts, a method revived after the success of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens . This approach is called part-publication , particularly when each part is from a whole work, or a serial , for example in comic books . It flourished during the nineteenth century, for example with Abraham John Valpy 's Delphin Classics , and

1088-401: A serial publication. A book series is also a serial publication, but is not typically called a periodical. An encyclopedia or dictionary is also a book, and might be called a serial publication if it is published in many different editions over time. Periodicals are typically published and referenced by volume and issue (also known as issue number or number). Volume typically refers to

1152-425: A set of novelty recordings by vaudeville performer Louis Frank Chiha. Due to this rising popularity and Leedy's neglect to patent the instrument, Deagan began to sell their own version under the name "vibraharp" beginning in 1927. The model by Deagan had a damper pedal and bars made of aluminum rather than steel. This eventually became the standard for all following vibraphones, including ones made by Leedy. During

1216-400: A single main subject or theme and include a title, date of publication, author(s), and brief summary of the article. A periodical typically contains an editorial section that comments on subjects of interest to its readers. Other common features are reviews of recently published books and films, columns that express the authors' opinions about various topics, and advertisements. A periodical is

1280-437: Is almost impossible to name three or four rock, hip-hop, rap, funk or even soul charts or songs that do not have some sort of percussive beat keeping the tune in time. Because of the diversity of percussive instruments, it is not uncommon to find large musical ensembles composed entirely of percussion. Rhythm, melody, and harmony are all represented in these ensembles. Music for pitched percussion instruments can be notated on

1344-427: Is commonly referred to as "the backbone" or "the heartbeat" of a musical ensemble , often working in close collaboration with bass instruments, when present. In jazz and other popular music ensembles, the pianist, bassist, drummer and sometimes the guitarist are referred to as the rhythm section . Most classical pieces written for full orchestra since the time of Haydn and Mozart are orchestrated to place emphasis on

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1408-421: Is difficult to define what is common knowledge but there are instruments percussionists and composers use in contemporary music that most people would not consider musical instruments . It is worthwhile to try to distinguish between instruments based on their acceptance or consideration by a general audience. For example, most people would not consider an anvil , a brake drum (on a vehicle with drum brakes ,

1472-589: Is discernible. Percussion instruments in this group are sometimes referred to as pitched or tuned. Examples of percussion instruments with definite pitch: Instruments in this group are sometimes referred to as non-pitched, unpitched, or untuned. Traditionally these instruments are thought of as making a sound that contains such complex frequencies that no discernible pitch can be heard. In fact many traditionally unpitched instruments, such as triangles and even cymbals, have also been produced as tuned sets. Examples of percussion instruments with indefinite pitch: It

1536-496: Is produced by a stream of air being blown through the object. However, plosive aerophones , such as the udu , are percussion instruments and may also overlap with the idiophone family. In certain situations, such as in an orchestra or wind ensemble , wind instruments, such as the Acme siren or various whistles , are played by percussionists, owing to their unconventional and simple nature. When classifying instruments by function it

1600-440: Is useful to note if a percussion instrument makes a definite pitch or indefinite pitch . For example, some percussion instruments such as the marimba and timpani produce an obvious fundamental pitch and can therefore play melody and serve harmonic functions in music. Other instruments such as crash cymbals and snare drums produce sounds with such complex overtones and a wide range of prominent frequencies that no pitch

1664-495: Is widely seen as inadequate. Rather, it may be more informative to describe percussion instruments in regards to one or more of the following four paradigms: Many texts, including Teaching Percussion by Gary Cook of the University of Arizona, begin by studying the physical characteristics of instruments and the methods by which they can produce sound. This is perhaps the most scientifically pleasing assignment of nomenclature whereas

1728-558: The Journal of Social Work . Trade magazines are also examples of periodicals. They are written for an audience of professionals in the world. As of the early 1990s, there were over 6,000 academic, business, scientific, technical, and trade publications in the United States alone. These examples are related to the idea of an indefinitely continuing cycle of production and publication: magazines plan to continue publishing, not to stop after

1792-482: The Avedis Zildjian Company were also available through their catalog. The Zenjian line was developed for both Leedy and Ludwig by Zildjian in the early 1930s as a cheaper line of cymbals. However, the brand was discontinued in 1946 after C. G. Conn was found stamping lower quality UFIP cymbals with the logo which led to Zildjian threatening to sue. In 1916, while experimenting with vox humana effects on

1856-462: The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1925. Percussion instrument The percussion section of an orchestra most commonly contains instruments such as the timpani , snare drum , bass drum , tambourine , belonging to the membranophones, and cymbals and triangle , which are idiophones. However, the section can also contain aerophones, such as whistles and sirens , or

1920-466: The guitar . In addition, the Slingerland Banjo Company had entered the drum market in response, creating a fierce competitor that began to take up market share. After no small financial loss, both Leedy and Ludwig & Ludwig were later acquired by C. G. Conn, leaving Slingerland as the largest, family-owned drum company in the world. The idea of getting into the string instrument market

1984-481: The strings , woodwinds , and brass . However, often at least one pair of timpani is included, though they rarely play continuously. Rather, they serve to provide additional accents when needed. In the 18th and 19th centuries, other percussion instruments (like the triangle or cymbals ) have been used, again generally sparingly. The use of percussion instruments became more frequent in the 20th century classical music. In almost every style of music, percussion plays

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2048-451: The Latin verb percussio to beat, strike in the musical sense, and the noun percussus , a beating. As a noun in contemporary English, Wiktionary describes it as the collision of two bodies to produce a sound. The term is not unique to music, but has application in medicine and weaponry, as in percussion cap . However, all known uses of percussion appear to share a similar lineage beginning with

2112-463: The Leedy brand with the last Leedy catalog being printed in 1965. In 1986, Fred W. Gretsch bought the rights to Leedy as part of his purchase of Slingerland. While the Slingerland portion of the purchase was later sold to Gibson , Gretsch Drums currently owns the trademarks and patents to Leedy. Although small batches of drums have intermittently been made for trade shows such as NAMM to maintain

2176-548: The brand has lain relatively dormant since. The company was responsible for many innovations in percussion but is best known for the invention of the vibraphone and the creation of the Purdue Big Bass Drum . Ulysses G. Leedy was born in 1867 in Hancock County, Ohio before his family moved to Fostoria, Ohio . When Leedy was seven years old, his mother purchased a drum for him from an old Civil War veteran. Leedy took

2240-594: The circular hub the brake shoes press against), or a fifty-five gallon oil barrel musical instruments yet composers and percussionists use these objects. Percussion instruments generally fall into the following categories: One pre-20th century example of found percussion is the use of cannon usually loaded with blank charges in Tchaikovsky 's 1812 Overture . John Cage , Harry Partch , Edgard Varèse , and Peter Schickele , all noted composers, created entire pieces of music using unconventional instruments. Beginning in

2304-469: The company grew to become the largest manufacturer of drums in the world, Leedy desired an experienced sales manager. As such, he hired George H. Way , who had worked for George B. Stone & Son, Inc. and was co-founder of the Advance Drum Company , in 1921. One of the ideas of George Way was Leedy Drum Topics, a periodical that sought to inform drummers while also promoting Leedy products. It

2368-464: The company to C. G. Conn that year. On January 7, 1931, he died at the age of 63 due to heart disease . In 1930, Conn moved the factory operations to Elkhart, Indiana , where the rest of their products were made. Several employees, such as Jefferies and Way, made the move to Elkhart, but many, such as Winterhoff and Strupe, chose to stay in Indianapolis instead. In 1909, a pair of brothers opened up

2432-476: The duo, they bought a room in the basement of the old Indianapolis Cyclorama Building and formally established themselves as the Leedy-Cooley Manufacturing Company. One of the more popular products of Leedy-Cooley was an adjustable snare drum stand , the first of its type, that Leedy had patented in 1899. In 1902, the partnership was dissolved and the Leedy Manufacturing Company was established as

2496-493: The early 20th century perhaps with Ionisation by Edgard Varèse which used air-raid sirens among other things, composers began to require that percussionists invent or find objects to produce desired sounds and textures. Another example the use of a hammer and saw in Penderecki 's De Natura Sonoris No. 2 . By the late 20th century, such instruments were common in modern percussion ensemble music and popular productions, such as

2560-472: The early 20th century, the banjo surged in popularity. This led to both Leedy and Ludwig & Ludwig trying to cash into the growing demand by developing their own banjo lines. Leedy enlisted the help of Mike Pingitore , banjoist for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, to create six different models in 1926. Unfortunately, the timing of the venture was poor as the banjo was being replaced in popularity by

2624-458: The former Leedy & Ludwig production plant. Slingerland started producing drums under the Leedy name shortly after purchase, marketing the brand to dealers as the budget option. Only drum kit components and timpani were sold under Slingerland, with the keyboard percussion division being dissolved. Nevertheless, Slingerland found, as Conn had before, that producing two separate lines of drums proved to be unviable. Slingerland gradually phased out

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2688-519: The former chief engineer for the Leedy Company, was made president, and U. G. Leedy served as vice president until his death, where he was replaced by his son, Edwin Hollis Leedy. After the death of U. G. Leedy, the company began selling drums under the name Leedy & Son, but was stopped by C. G. Conn who now owned the rights to the Leedy name. As such, the brand was renamed to simply L&S, which

2752-544: The hand or by a percussion mallet , such as the hang , gongs and the xylophone , but not drums and only some cymbals . 21 Struck drums , includes most types of drum, such as the timpani, snare drum, and tom-tom. 412.12 Percussion reeds , a class of wind instrument unrelated to percussion in the more common sense There are many instruments that have some claim to being percussion, but are classified otherwise: Percussion instruments are sometimes classified as pitched or unpitched. While valid, this classification

2816-475: The job as a trap set player for the English Hotel and Opera House, Leedy settled in Indianapolis. During his travels, Leedy began to make drums and hardware for himself and his peers as different musical needs arose. Starting in 1895, Leedy and his roommate, Sam Cooley (a clarinetist for the English Hotel and Opera House orchestra), sold drums out of their apartment. In 1897, and with only fifty dollars between

2880-417: The latest edition of this style, a work with volume number 17 and issue number 3 may be written as follows: Sometimes, periodicals are numbered in absolute numbers instead of volume-relative numbers, typically since the start of the publication. In rare cases, periodicals even provide both: a relative issue number and an absolute number. There is no universal standard for indicating absolute numbers, but often

2944-419: The membrane or head is struck with a hand, mallet, stick, beater, or improvised tool. Examples of membranophones: Most instruments known as chordophones are defined as string instruments , wherein their sound is derived from the vibration of a string, but some such as these examples also fall under percussion instruments. Most instruments known as aerophones are defined as wind instruments whereby sound

3008-427: The next year that they would make giant bass drums on special order. Leedy stopped producing giant bass drums in 1930 after their purchase by Conn, but they continued to offer maintenance on preexisting drums, increasing the size of the Purdue Big Bass Drum by several inches in 1937. Another giant instrument made by Leedy was a 6 feet (1.8 m) tall glockenspiel (also dubbed "the world's largest") specially made for

3072-509: The number of years the publication has been circulated, and issue refers to how many times that periodical has been published during that year. For example, the April 2011 publication of a monthly magazine first published in 2002 would be listed as, "volume 10, issue 4". Roman numerals are sometimes used in reference to the volume number. When citing a work in a periodical, there are standardized formats such as The Chicago Manual of Style . In

3136-408: The off-Broadway show, Stomp . Rock band Aerosmith used a number of unconventional instruments in their song Sweet Emotion , including shotguns , brooms, and a sugar bag. The metal band Slipknot is well known for playing unusual percussion items, having two percussionists in the band. Along with deep sounding drums, their sound includes hitting baseball bats and other objects on beer kegs to create

3200-459: The original Latin percussus. In a musical context then, the percussion instruments may have been originally coined to describe a family of musical instruments including drums, rattles, metal plates, or blocks that musicians beat or struck to produce sound. The Hornbostel–Sachs system has no high-level section for percussion . Most percussion instruments as the term is normally understood are classified as idiophones and membranophones . However

3264-436: The other paradigms are more dependent on historical or social circumstances. Based on observation and experimentation, one can determine how an instrument produces sound and then assign the instrument to one of the following four categories: "Idiophones produce sounds through the vibration of their entire body." Examples of idiophones: Most objects commonly known as drums are membranophones. Membranophones produce sound when

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3328-520: The partnership was dissolved in 1902 to become simply the Leedy Manufacturing Company. It was purchased by C. G. Conn of Elkhart, Indiana , where it was later combined with Ludwig & Ludwig to form Leedy & Ludwig. When C. G. Conn sold its drum divisions, the Slingerland Drum Company bought the rights to Leedy and produced drums under its badge until the 1960s. Slingerland was ultimately purchased by Gretsch , and with it, Leedy, where

3392-414: The plant. The next year, in 1903, the Cyclorama Building was demolished, and Leedy built his first factory at the corner of Palmer Street and Barth Avenue. Expansions were made to the factory in 1910 and 1920, topping out at around 78,450 square feet (7,288 m). At the height of production, the Leedy factory had over twenty departments, from a lumberyard and tannery to art and plating departments. As

3456-399: The same factory, only differing in their marketing and name. In 1950, Conn decided that it made financial sense to combine its two drum divisions to create Leedy & Ludwig. To promote this merger, George Way devised a new line of drums called Knob Tension drums. The idea was that the tension rods used for tightening the drumhead could be replaced with a series of knobs to forgo the use of

3520-685: The term percussion is instead used at lower-levels of the Hornbostel–Sachs hierarchy, including to identify instruments struck with either a non sonorous object hand, stick, striker or against a non-sonorous object human body , the ground. This is opposed to concussion , which refers to instruments with two or more complementary sonorous parts that strike against each other and other meanings. For example: 111.1 Concussion idiophones or clappers , played in pairs and beaten against each other, such as zills and clapsticks . 111.2 Percussion idiophones , includes many percussion instruments played with

3584-521: The time were only about 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter, constrained by finding a large enough hide to fashion a drumhead . To find cows that were large enough, Leedy worked with Kingan & Company , a local butchery , who provided two cattle, each weighing over 2,000 pounds (910 kg). At its unveiling in August, The Indianapolis Star reported the drum as 7 ft 3 in (2.21 m) in diameter by 42 inches (110 cm) in depth. This instigated

3648-512: The timp-bass and octarimba were used and recorded by Joe and George Hamilton Green of the Green Brothers Band whom were sponsored by Leedy. In June 1921, Paul Spotts Emrick , the band director of the Purdue "All-American" Marching Band , commissioned the Leedy Company to create the "world's largest drum" for a cost of $ 800 (equivalent to about $ 13,700 in 2023). Most large bass drums at

3712-562: The trademark, and the company has expressed interest, there have been no concrete plans made to fully revive the brand. Before his death, U. G. Leedy founded the General Products Corporation in 1930 as a way to take care of employees during the Great Depression that did not wish to move to Elkhart. The company did not focus on percussion instruments and made products such as windshield wipers and registers . Cecil Strupe,

3776-414: The wires to be moved away from the bottom head as a single unit. Wanamaker retired at the age of seventy in 1920 but remained one of the largest shareholders until the company was acquired by C. G. Conn in 1929. Leroy Jefferies, who would become the company's longest employee, was one of the original stockholders. He first worked as a mechanic for the factory, later becoming the chief engineer and foreman of

3840-468: Was a source of friction between George Way (who opposed it) and Cecil Strupe (who spearheaded the investment). This led to a falling out between the two men. Way later argued in letters to C. G. Conn president Carl D. Greenleaf that it was the fault of the failed banjo line that Leedy ended up selling the company. Alongside more common percussion instruments, Leedy also developed novelty instruments for use in vaudeville and radio shows. One such instrument

3904-428: Was headed by John Gyuka, a Romanian-born immigrant who joined the company in 1906 and remained there through its acquisition by C. G. Conn. He was particularly noted for his timpani heads, and the premier line of drumheads that used his process were stamped "UKA" (the last few letters of his name). Leedy also produced their own cymbals made of inexpensive brass or nickel silver , but higher quality bronze cymbals made by

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3968-678: Was popularly known as Leedy & Strupe. As they could not afford a sales team, their products were distributed by Chicago Musical Instruments . However, it was never a successful venture, and Strupe left the company to join the newly formed WFL Drum Company in 1937 as their chief engineer. The assets were later sold to Indiana Music, a local music shop, who simply sold the remaining stock. Alongside drum kit components such as snares and bass drums , Leedy also manufactured banjos , keyboard percussion instruments , and timpani . Leedy also produced its own accessories and hardware, including drum cases , sticks , and drumheads . The drumhead division

4032-419: Was the "timp-bass", an upright bass with a body made of a timpano drum. Another was the "octa-marimba" or "octarimba", a variation upon the marimba , that had two adjacent bars tuned one octave apart, with corresponding resonator sizes, for every note. Around 3 octaves, it was played with a forked mallet that was able to hit both notes concurrently. Only about fifty octarimbas were made from 1934 to 1938. Both

4096-482: Was the first periodical dedicated solely to percussion and ran from 1923 to 1941. Another important addition to the Leedy staff was Cecil H. Strupe , who was brought on as chief engineer, replacing Jefferies who was instead relegated to the foreman of the machine shop. The most important of his designs was introducing a ratchet and pawl clutch system for timpani that kept the pedals in place. In 1929, U. G. Leedy began to show signs of failing health. As such, he sold

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