ambience: Drum set
These days, cymbals are part of every drum kit, but the instrument has a long history of both musical and non-musical uses. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. “There are even cymbals mentioned in the Bible.” Colin Schofield is a vice president of the Avedis Zildjian Company — the world’s leading maker of cymbals. Originally, cymbals were an instrument of war. Soldiers would crash them together to try to intimidate the enemy during battles. Smaller cymbals were also played in religious settings. “There were two centers of cymbal-making in the world, one was in China Chinese cymbals, uh, go back to really ancient, ancient times, and these were cymbals that actually would have a very unique design that would have a, a large bell that was somewhat knob-shaped, how they actually held the cymbals. They’re mainly used as, uh, finger cymbals in, in various religious ceremonies.” The other center of cymbal-making was Turkey — that’s Turkish military music we’re listening to in the background. ambience: Turkish military music There were a number of cymbal-makers in Turkey — amongst them a man who discovered a secret process for making his cymbals sound better. “And his cymbals were far more musical, had much greater projection and power and greater durability.” Well, the Sultan himself took notice. “He actually gave them the name Zildjian, which is essentially a, like a guildsman’s name. It means cymbal smith. And that’s where the Zildjian name came from. It was bestowed upon them by the, the Sultan in Turkey at that time.” The Avedis Zildjian family is still in the cymbal business, making more than half the cymbals sold worldwide at a factory in the Boston area. We’ll hear more on the art and science of making cymbals in our next program. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation.