Hi Hat

The hi-hat ("pedal" or "cymbal" or "pair of cymbals"), called "charleston" in French, may come from the town of the same name in South Carolina, with high afro-american population, in 1920 (the first jazz drummers at early twentieth century, such as Warren "Baby" Dodds , do not have it, and the two pedals "low boy" (low first invented) and "hi-hat" (contraction of "High-Hat"), as we know it today, were present for the first time in a catalog of instruments (brand Ludwig) in 1928 (which says nothing about the real date of invention, but at least marks the beginning of its development by its industrialization and commercialization)). Anyway the charleston is also the name of a dance appeared at the same time and associated with the same music (popularized by Josephine Baker in Paris). It is now inconceivable to think an even minimal modern drumset without the hi-hat (or "foot cymbal"), which first involves the fourth limb of the drummer: the left foot (for a right-handed ).

The functioning of the hi-hat pedal is modeled on the bass drum pedal (invented 20 years earlier), but instead of hitting the instrument with a bat (or "beater" for drumset pedal), we come back on the original method of cymbals playing: one cymbal striking another of the same size, in opposition, on the edge.

The difference and the genius of this invention is to have arranged them horizontally to use the force of gravity, instead of vertically with the hands in marching bands, in Europe (although in Turkey, the Janissaries riders (at the origin of military musical using of the cymbals) also beat them in a vertical move by putting them horizontally (old miniatures shown that)).