Vintage Corner: Paul Patterson-style practice pad, ca. 1972

Paul Patterson was a popular drum instructor in Philadelphia. Between the 1950's and the late 80's, hundreds of students passed through his studio and went on to have great careers as drummers and percussionists with various bands and as session players.

I acquired this very beautiful pad from one of Patterson's students, who told me:

"I got this practice pad while I was a student of Paul Patterson probably around 1972. Paul used a similar pad for many years. It featured a resonating chamber under the pad that could be muted by covering the open ends with small pieces of wood. One of Paul's students started making pads of the same style.

There is a rudimentary isolation system to keep vibrations from traveling down the stand to the floor. The original cushions wore out and I replaced them with a different cushioning material."

 

The pad was likely built by one of Paul's students, but there's no documentation that comes with the pad to prove it. I will be looking for a photo of Paul Patterson using this design in his studio and hoping that leads me down a fun rabbit hole.

Meanwhile, the pad.

It's made from wood -- I'd guess what kind but I don't know how to identify wood that's been stained. The rubber surface was glued to the top after the pieces had been put together and fastened by bolts or screws; there is evidence of oxidization from the metal heads of the screws discoloring the gum rubber from underneath. It doesn't affect the feel, and the rubber shows only a minimal sign of cracking or hardening (the largest "blotch" of discoloration at the top of the photo).

The end panels of the pad are held in place by a thumbscrew, and can be removed or replaced as needed to dampen or open up the pad's sound.

(To fully muffle the pad, you can stuff the cavity with a small towel.)

Beneath the actual pad structure is a second platform to which the stand bracket attaches.
The purpose of this second platform is to provide a very simple isolation system to reduce the vibrations traveling down from the pad, through the stand and into the floor. It works pretty well.
The previous owner had replaced the original felts with some thin rubber layers, which worked well enough but left the pad feeling wobbly. I remedied the issue by adding a layer of dense wool felt to take up the excess stack space and stabilize the pad.

As you can see from the photos, the panels of wood used to make this pad may have been scrap from another project. There are differences in the grain width and direction, and the horizontal panels all show signs of warping. It's not pronounced enough to affect the pad's function, and it lends another touch of realness to the pad's homemade origins.

I was made to understand that there are likely less than fifty of these pads still in existence; as with any homemade project, anything can happen to a simple practice pad made of wood and rubber, and it's possible there were more that didn't survive multiple moves or multiple generations of drummers. There's really no good way to know with homemade pads.

That said, this has to be one of the nicest homemade/short-run pads I've ever seen or played, and I know I'll enjoy using it from time to time here at home.

Videos. I'm using 2B drum sticks.

1. The pad with both panels attached and thumb screws tightened:

2. The pad with side panels removed:

I would especially love to hear from anyone who studied with Paul Patterson back in the day. What kind of teacher was he? What's your favorite memory of learning with him? And did you use a pad like this?
Happy drumming.