A long time ago, the thought had crossed my mind to study music at Berklee, no this isn't a Berklee thread; needless to say I decided against going but one of the classes they offered always and still peaks my interest. I don't remember the name of it exactly, but it was along the lines of studying the drumset and the aesthetic of the drum beat.

I have studied music theory, as I"m sure many of you have. We all know that certain chord progressions resolve to each other, such as a V to I progression. As do certain notes in a scale. It's boils down to frequency, but on a different level, it just resolves and that's it.

Now that I've primed the topic, has anyone else ever wondered, besides the historical references to the evolution of the drumset, why do certain fills sound better voiced on certain drums? Why do fills always seem to resovle to a lower pitch? What makes some grooves seem more alive than others? Is it a cultural thing? What I'm after is a more scientific explanation or thoughts on the asthetics of the modern drumset. Why we play bass drum on 1 and 3 and the snare on 2 and 4. Beyond that, why some voicings sound better than others. I've tried comparing it to music theory, I think drumset fills or solos are more ...granular? I don't know the word. It's really different than just 'psuedo tones' resolving though, isn't it?

Think about tempo. If you LISTEN TO 16th note hand/foot combinations at 80 bpm and then LISTEN TO the same patterns played at 120bpm, there's a definate change, some patterns sound better, some may sound worse. Think about this: do drummers' brains just respond to faster phrasing? Such as a drum solo played at a higher speed. some drum licks just sound better played at a certain marking. Why?

Is this nature or nurture?