Ringo Starr’s gold drum

Ringo Starr's gold drum

I had a quick but delightful visit today to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,

I decided to take a look at the section with musical instruments — partly because my interest in instruments had been stimulated by my recent very enjoyable visit to the Musical Museum in London.

Click here to see an account my trip to London’s Musical Museum.

They had a number of instruments owned by famous people, including a clarinet owned by Benny Goodman, but today’s special attraction was a drum that belongs to Ringo Starr.  This gold-plated snare drum was a gift from Ludwig because Ringo’s insistence on Ludwig’s logo being prominently displayed on his drums did wonders for this American drum company.  They had to work round the clock to keep up with demand after the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show!

The drum came on display on July 7th, Ringo’s 70th birthday, and will stay at the Met until December.