History of the World's Largest Drum™
In 1921, Paul Spotts Emrick had an idea – a very, very big idea.
He wanted his Purdue University Marching Band to have a bass drum bigger than any drum found in any other band anywhere in the world. The band director envisioned a drum that would be taller than the man who played it, a drum that would get Purdue fans excited. He wanted a drum that would bring attention to the band and the university from all over the world.
There was only one problem. No one had ever made such a drum.
The biggest drum of the day was about four feet in diameter, and Emrick wanted one twice that size. In 1921, drum makers didn’t have synthetic materials available to them and drumheads were made from animal hides. To make a huge drum, you had to find huge hides
He wanted his Purdue University Marching Band to have a bass drum bigger than any drum found in any other band anywhere in the world. The band director envisioned a drum that would be taller than the man who played it, a drum that would get Purdue fans excited. He wanted a drum that would bring attention to the band and the university from all over the world.
There was only one problem. No one had ever made such a drum.
The biggest drum of the day was about four feet in diameter, and Emrick wanted one twice that size. In 1921, drum makers didn’t have synthetic materials available to them and drumheads were made from animal hides. To make a huge drum, you had to find huge hides
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A lot of people shook their heads at Emrick’s wild idea, but the Leedy Corporation of Indianapolis – who advertised themselves as the largest drum factory in the world – took him very seriously. Ulysses Leedy recognized the publicity value involved in making Purdue’s drum and was determined to make it happen. Leedy searched around the world for huge animals. Though it was never formally documented, it’s believed he found the hides, measuring more than seven feet in diameter, in Argentina.
According to a newspaper article in the Indianapolis Star, “when the big drum was first tested out, the volume was so deep that the good housewives (of Indianapolis) thought it was thunder and rushed to take their clothes from the lines.” |
The drum’s shell was made of solid maple, and its metal parts were chrome-plated. Although the drum is now painted old gold and covered with black diamonds (a transformation that happened in 1937), it originally boasted a polished wood exterior. The finished drum weighed 300 pounds. Combined with the weight of its carriage, it totaled 500 pounds.
The drum was completed in June 1921 at a cost of $800. To pay for it, the band performed a concert that raised $500. Elks BPO Lodge 143 donated the remaining money. To announced the drum’s completion, Leedy called the press who took both still and moving pictures. Movies of the drum were shown at the Circle Theater in Indianapolis during the week of Aug. 14, 1921.
The drum was completed in June 1921 at a cost of $800. To pay for it, the band performed a concert that raised $500. Elks BPO Lodge 143 donated the remaining money. To announced the drum’s completion, Leedy called the press who took both still and moving pictures. Movies of the drum were shown at the Circle Theater in Indianapolis during the week of Aug. 14, 1921.
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Amidst much hoopla, the drum was displayed at the Indiana Statehouse, then exhibited at the Indiana State Fair for a week. Finally, it was delivered to Purdue and began its long career with the band.
Throughout the Midwest, it was an immediate sensation. When it was played for a football game at the University of Chicago, the fans went wild. As soon as possible after the game, the University of Chicago asked the Conn Company to build it a big drum. They created “Big Bertha,” but it has never been shown to be larger than the Purdue drum. When the University of Chicago dropped its football program, the drum was sold to the University of Texas where it remains to this day. |
Having a big drum created challenges for the Purdue Band. Since the band traveled mostly by train, and the doors of baggage cars were not large enough for the drum to squeeze through, Emrick enlisted the help of New York Central Railway in finding cars that could accommodate it. Later the drum had to have its own truck.
But the biggest challenge was finding replacement drumheads when aging heads cracked – and paying for them. During World War II, there were so many other things to worry about, that a drum with cracked heads was of little importance. For long periods of time between 1940 and 1954, the Purdue Big Bass Drum sat, unused, in storage.
But the biggest challenge was finding replacement drumheads when aging heads cracked – and paying for them. During World War II, there were so many other things to worry about, that a drum with cracked heads was of little importance. For long periods of time between 1940 and 1954, the Purdue Big Bass Drum sat, unused, in storage.
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When Al Wright became Director of Bands in 1954, the first thing he did was ship the drum off to Leedy for repair. But finding replacement heads was still nearly impossible. Wright pleaded with DuPont Research Laboratories in Wilmington, Del., the inventors of a plastic knows as Mylar, to help him solve the problem. A Purdue alumnus, who worked for DuPont took a special interest in Purdue’s dilemma. On his own time, he worked on making sheets of Mylar large enough to make giant heads out of them. Finally the problem was solved.
Once again the drum took its place at the center of the Purdue “All-American” Marching Band on the football field – an enormous symbol of Purdue Pride. Every year, fans marvel at the crew of band members who push it across the field on a dead run and make it “dance,” twirling it in a circular motion. Besides performing with the band, the drum sounds off every time a touchdown is scored, and its crew executes push-ups matching the number of Purdue points on the scoreboard. |
Over the years, the drum has had all kinds of adventures and has been “drum-napped” several times by pranksters including students from Purdue’s archrival, Indiana University. But it’s too large to stay hidden for long, and has always returned to its home in the Purdue Armory.
It’s a tradition to invite famous people to hit the drum and sign its heads. Among the people who have done it are astronauts Gus Grissom and Neil Armstrong, former United States President Harry Truman and the famous contemporary performers, the Kodo Drummers of Japan.
It’s a tradition to invite famous people to hit the drum and sign its heads. Among the people who have done it are astronauts Gus Grissom and Neil Armstrong, former United States President Harry Truman and the famous contemporary performers, the Kodo Drummers of Japan.
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For more than 50 years, the Purdue Band has been engaged in a friendly, but heated controversy with the University of Texas over who really has the biggest drum. In 1961, Purdue members of Kappa Kappa Psi band fraternity challenged their Texas fraternity brothers to a drum showdown at the fraternity’s national convention in Wichita, Kansas. Purdue kept its promise. They loaded their drum on its truck and headed west. At every large city – Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Topeka – crew members took the drum off and pushed it through the city streets to show it off. Arriving at the convention, they found the Texas students failed to bring their drum. So, with the default, Purdue students declared their drum to be the “World’s Largest Drum.”
Since that time, the exact measurements of the Purdue Big Bass Drum have been kept secret to preserve the mystique surrounding it. |
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Now that drumheads can be made synthetically, it is possible for other big drums to exist, but challenges to Purdue’s title of “World’s Largest” are rare. Many of the same problems that existed in the 1920s still exist today. Big drums are expensive. They are awkward, hard to house and hard to transport because of their size. But even if someone were to build a bigger drum, Purdue and its Big Bass Drum will always hold a special spot in music history because Purdue’s was the very first Big Bass Drum, and that’s a fact no one disputes.
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