'Cymbals are indigenous to Asia; ancient Assyria had a unique form, funnel-shaped with long necks serving as handles. Known in ancient Israel from about 1100 BC on, cymbals were the only permanent idiophones of the Temple orchestra. Egypt did not have true metal cymbals until the 24th dynasty. Today they remain in ritual use in northern India, Japan, Tibet, and Vietnam. They appeared in the 5th century AD in India, where they are now also found at secular festivities. In China they play a prominent part in the theatre. Turkey, in contrast, has traditionally connected cymbals with military usage. In some parts of Southeast Asia their ancient metal-connected function of dispelling evil spirits still prevails.'(The original EB article about idiophones from which this was cited used to be found here).
According to the exquisite Cymbal Book by Hugo Pinksterboer this most important achievement did not see the lights of the stage before 1928. The hi-hat may be (and was) thought of as just a means to operate a pair of cymbals with one foot instead of two hands. This alone would have been quite an achievement considering what can be done with the hands playing other instruments at the same time. But the hands may as well play the hi-hat in combination with the foot. While this sounds all too obvious now it may have escaped the minds of many drummers, that the hi-hat is the only instrument in the drum set that can simultaneously engage three quarters of their polyrhythmic capacity! This simple fact makes the hi-hat the greatest achievement in the evolution of the drum set with respect to cymbal playing technique and rhythmic possibilities. Later inventions such as remote pedals don't even come close to the hi-hat in their impact on modern drum set playing.
The hi-hat wasn't invented in one single step, though. An ancient precursor of today's hi-hat, known as 'sock cymbal', incorporated two cymbals in some sort of wooden shoe that didn't allow for more than banging the cymbals together. The breakthrough was the invention of the hi-hat stand which brought the cymbals in the reach of the drummers sticks. Around 1930 the term 'Charleston Machine' was coined for the hi-hat stand for the predominant use of the instrument in that dance.
Finally, the foundation to modern cymbal set playing was laid. But cymbals had still a long evolution to go through to reach today's refinement. Back in those days there were no such things as special 'drum set cymbals'. Drummers had to use what was already there -- instruments made for orchestras or marching bands. These used to be much smaller than what we play now. Back then a 14" was considered large. The cymbal types of today like hi-hats, rides, crashes, etc. didn't exist, either. There were cymbals in different sizes and of different thickness and also the Chinese type cymbal was known and in use. But today's common basic cymbal types are the consequence of the set drummers increasing and gaining some momentum on the cymbal industry. Pinksterboer states that specialized rides and crashes made their appearance as late as in the 1940's.
