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dancingtongue · 80-89, M
I'm guessing it depends upon the drums and the music genre. My granddaughter is (or was in high school and college) a percussionist. I know she had to follow sheet music when she was on tympany or the various other smaller percussion instruments in chamber groups, bands, and orchestras. But I'm guessing that there is more improv with bass drummers, particularly in jazz and rock. I'm thinking of the legendary performance by Gene Krupa on Sing! Sing! Sing! at Carnegie Hall where he continually refused to let the Benny Goodman band end the song, launching into a solo and keeping the beat going until they came back in.