# What classical pieces have a study drum beat?



## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

What classical pieces have a study drum beat through-out most of the piece?


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Pretty much none. Ravel's Bolero comes closest. Steady drumbeats are not what classical music is all about.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Bizet's Farandole. Not a drum, but percussion nonetheless.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

There's the Missa Luba.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

A lot of so-called minimalist music has a steady beat/pulse throughout. Hear Riley's _In C_, Glass' _Music in Twelve Parts_, or Reich's _Music for 18 Musicians_ to see what I'm talking about.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Intro to the first movement of Brahms' Symphony No. 1...


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Veljo Tormis' masterpiece _Raua Needmine _ fits the bill.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Particularly in the opening, but also, throughout the first movement of Beethoven's Violin Concert. You can hear it and see it (at times) here:


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

KenOC said:


> Intro to the first movement of Brahms' Symphony No. 1...


These videos show a difference of technique.
One handed drumming:





Two handed drumming:


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

A Curse Upon Iron! A great piece!


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Edgar Varese, Ionisation






Johnny Reinhard's edited score of Charles Ives Universe Symphony has a great deal of percussion.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Ravel's Bolero is the first thing that came to my mind.

I also agree with a lot of minimalism. Even though the 'beat' tends to shift over time, the pulse does tend to remain consistent.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

Portamento said:


> A lot of so-called minimalist music has a steady beat/pulse throughout. Hear Riley's _In C_, Glass' _Music in Twelve Parts_, or Reich's _Music for 18 Musicians_ to see what I'm talking about.


Another example:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

If my Boskovsky recording is anything to go by, probably every one of Johann Strauss II's waltzes.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony (first movement, development section).
Kodaly's Symphony (first movement)


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

You might liken _this_ one to having a "steady drum beat" ….


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Simon Moon said:


> Ravel's Bolero is the first thing that came to my mind.
> 
> I also agree with a lot of minimalism. Even though the 'beat' tends to shift over time, the pulse does tend to remain consistent.


As far as I can recall, minimalism in classical music doesn't use doesn't use a lot of drums in the usual sense of an instrument with a stretched skin. I believe the Bang on a Can group did some work with non-tuned percussion, which is a better phrase for what I was thinking.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

The second half of the Dies Irae from Berloiz's Requiem has a steady drum thing going on. However, it might be better qualified as a steady drum tsunami rather than a steady drum beat.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

regenmusic said:


> As far as I can recall, minimalism in classical music doesn't use doesn't use a lot of drums in the usual sense of an instrument with a stretched skin. I believe the Bang on a Can group did some work with non-tuned percussion, which is a better phrase for what I was thinking.


Well, Reich did compose "Drumming," whose instrumentation includes bongos.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

This one is pretty cool!


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

There is, of course, the opposite of what the OP requests, the case of Nielsen's Fifth Symphony. The snare drum and its banal rhythm enters at a higher tempo than the rest of the score, and this is followed by the composer's instruction to the snare drummer to improvise "as if at all costs he wants to stop the progress of the orchestra".

An out-and-out masterpiece.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

regenmusic said:


> As far as I can recall, minimalism in classical music doesn't use doesn't use a lot of drums in the usual sense of an instrument with a stretched skin. I believe the Bang on a Can group did some work with non-tuned percussion, which is a better phrase for what I was thinking.


For the most part, you are correct.

I guess I slightly misinterpreted your OP. I kind of thought you meant classical music with a steady beat, not specifically a steady beat using drums, explicitly.

Maybe I am not the right person to respond to this thread, since one of the main things I love about classical music, especially classical music from the mid 20th century through the contemporary era, is the lack of steady beats and rhythms.


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## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Mars from _The Planets_ maybe?

Usually when you hear a steady drumbeat in classical music it's meant to evoke a military march.

Edit: somehow missed the post at the top of this page!


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Three pieces come to mind:

1. The invasion section from the first movement of Shostakovich's 7th Symphony.






2. 'Exodus' by Polish composer Wojciech Kilar which, although not a continuos drum beat, certainly maintains a continuos and growing rhythm throughout most of it's 23 minutes duration.






3. The opening section of 'Catulli Carmina' by Carl Orff. Again, although not drums, this section maintains strict and precise rhythms.


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## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

I just thought of another one for you - the 'Lezginka' dance from Gayeneh by Khachaturian. This is a rip-roaring performance!


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