Drum (musical instrument)

I

Introduction

Drum (musical instrument), musical instrument consisting of one or two stretched membranes, called heads, held taut across a bowl-shaped or tubular frame, called a shell, and sounded by percussion; that is, by striking the instrument with the hands or with sticks. The drum shell holds the skin or skins taut and also acts as a resonator. Drum shells that are basically tubular vary in their actual shape, from cylindrical, as in a bass drum; to barrel shaped, as in some drums of China and India; to goblet shaped, as in the single-headed Middle Eastern darabuka; to hourglass shaped, as in the double-headed Japanese tsuzumi. If the drum shell is so shallow that it cannot act as a resonator, as on a tambourine, the drum is called a frame drum. Single-headed drums with bowl-shaped shells are called kettledrums. Usually tunable and played in pairs, they include the European orchestral kettledrums, or timpani; the naqqara of Islamic countries and their medieval European relative, the nakers; and the bāya, one of a pair of kettledrums, played in Indian classical music.

Drum shells are commonly made of wood, metal, or pottery. The heads, made of animal skin or plastic, are fastened to the shell by nails, glue, buttons, pegs, laces, or a cord wrapped around the border of skin that overlaps the shell. Double-headed Western orchestral and band drums, such as the snare drum, tenor drum, and bass drum, usually have two hoops for each head, one around which the excess skin is lapped, another pushing against the first hoop and holding the skin taut. Lacing may be done in a W or Y pattern, adding more tension to the heads. In modern drums the lacing may be replaced by tension screws attached to the top hoop.

II

Cultural and Musical Uses

Drums are found throughout the world, in practically every culture, and are known to have existed since at least 6000 bc. Almost everywhere they have strong ceremonial, sacred, or symbolic associations. In much of Africa certain drums symbolize and protect tribal royalty and are often housed in sacred dwellings. In Europe, timpani were associated with royalty as late as the 17th century. Throughout Central Asia and Siberia and among some Native American tribes of North America, shallow frame drums with one or two heads serve as ritual instruments for shamans (medicine men). The tambourine, a single-headed frame drum with or without jingling metal disks set in its frame, is traditionally a woman's instrument in Islamic countries, as it was in ancient and prehistoric times and in medieval Europe.

In addition, drums frequently are used for signaling. The talking drums of Africa imitate the pitch patterns of language and transmit messages over many miles. The snare drum, or side drum, used in European infantry regiments, coded instruction calls to soldiers.

---

---

The musical use of drums varies from simple timekeeping to the carrying of complex rhythms and counterrhythms. In Islamic and Indian classical music, drums provide intricate rhythms to accompany a melody. In Africa, ensembles of drummers play elaborate rhythmic patterns superimposed on one another, all of different lengths and timing, held together by the playing of the master drummer.

III

Common Drums

On the snare drum, eight to ten wire-bound gut strings, or snares, usually are stretched across the lower of the two heads; they vibrate against the heads as the membranes are struck. The snare drum is related to the tabor, a double-headed drum, often with a simple gut snare, which is played in combination with a three-hole pipe in modern European folk music, as it was in the Middle Ages (from about the 5th century to the 15th century ad ). The bass drum of Turkish military music was introduced into European music in the 18th century. The bucket-shaped, paired bongos and the cylindrical or barrel-shaped conga are single-headed drums of Afro-Cuban origin. The tom-tom is a shallow double-headed drum associated with Native American tribes of North America.

IV

Classification

Drums are formally classified as membranophones; that is, their sound is produced by a vibrating membrane. The friction drum is a nonpercussive form of membranophone. It consists of a skin tied over the top of a pot and pierced by a stick; when the stick is rubbed up and down, the membrane vibrates. Some instruments called drums, such as the steel drums of the Caribbean, are unrelated to the membranophones; these instruments are made entirely of resonant solid material and are thus classified as idiophones. The slit-drum found in many tribal cultures is also an idiophone; it is made of a tree trunk hollowed out through a narrow slit.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain