What the drummer is (for an ensemble)

The drummer and/or percussionist is in retrospect the most important member of any ensemble, and I'm not just saying that out of lack of modesty. The percussionist sets the musical flow for which the entire band has to follow and pay attention too in order to sound as solid as possible. Without a percussionist, the ensemble will sound bland and lacking in any rhythm (because wouldn't be any), and with a percussionist who can't keep a solid beat, the entire group will be playing off key. For anyone who loves to dance, I don't think you would be dancing to any club songs if there wasn't some kind of beat created by a bass or snare to bump along too. The talent of drumming ranges from the simple beats kept along with a smooth jazz trio, to that incredibly complicated, technical stuff that's played by progressive rock groups. Whatever the case may be music needs a back beat of some kind, and depending on the percussionist and the style of music, certain degrees of musical education are required to play the drums or percussion in a certain way. Of course, that shouldn't put a hole in creativity. Some of the most groundbreaking drumming and percussion artists are the ones who have combined different genres of music in their drumming, thus breaking any bearier between conventional genres of music. Any group that wants to be creative whether it be a jazz, rock, hip-hop or metal band, should always find a drummer who has a knowledge and influence of several different genres of music.