As the emphasis has been mainly on loud music and the hard rock style of music for many decades now.

Muddy and anyone in the field do you think the drummers brushes ( I think that's what they are called ) will become a lost art?

Do you think they might in fact disappear completely?

FFI - AKA Matt Crum

I doubt they will ever disappear. As long as their are small shows in coffee shops their will be brushes. If their are guys playing jazz there will be brushes. They will never have a place in loud music but they are a necessary tool.

If a drummer knows how to use them that is one more tool he can use to get a gig. Again it probably won't be with a hard rock band but they have their place.

Currently you can see things like Hot Rods that I feel evolved from brushes to offer one more sound and a bit more volume.

 Good point about the jazz music Bassd I forgot all about it. You are right that it probably will never go away.

Not a drummer - bassist - but a drummer at heart.

Its been my experience that the good drummers - musicians that is - learn all there is to know about their instrument and their craft to add to the song.   The old saying about "when all you have is a hammer everything is a nail" applies.  Brushes add another dimension and are another tool in the drummer's trick bag.  The good ones will have a set of brushes in there stick bag - just in case - and know how to use them.  

Check out the good drummers - the ones that stay busy and everyone wants to work with - guarantee they have brushes and use when it adds to the song.  (The same way when I would show up for a date/gig/audition for the first time and not knowing what to totally expect.  I had a bag full of pedals, multiple basses (fretted and fretless), and other "tools" out in the car just in case - don't want to lose a gig cuz the distortion pedal is at home and the producer wants a dirty bass sound in the mix.)

Check out Carter Beauford with Dave Mathews (Bela Fleck, Carlos Santana, Victor Wooten among others) he uses brushes (as well as mallets and his hands) a lot for texturing the cymbals and light percussion.  All about bringing something different and adding to the song.  His main influence?  Buddy Rich.  Neal Pert (Rush) and a lot of the big studio cats like Dave Weckle, Steve Gadd, Kenny Arnoff, Anton Fig and others you will see and hear using brushes on occasion.  There is a sweet soft cymbal sound that only comes with a brush.

You won't see brushes in the hands of the drummers on MTV, but the good ones still have and use them.  The up and comers that want to master their craft will learn and use them as well.

Eddie

I studied Philly Joe Jones brush technique, and have used them in just about every project/band I've been involved in.  To say its a "lost" art is an overstatement.  Their use has evolved with time as well, as unless you actually saw certain players performing, you might not know that that back beat is coming from a Djembe being smacked with a brush, not a snare drum.