Drum |
Drum (musical instrument),
musical instrument consisting of one or two stretched membranes, called heads (or skins),
held taut across a bowl-shaped or tubular frame, called a shell, and sounded by being
struck with the hands or with sticks. The drum shell holds the head or heads 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; and from 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 tuneable
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 baya,
one of a pair of kettledrums known as tabla, played in classical Indian 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
round 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 head is lapped, another pushing against the first
hoop and holding the head 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.
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 parts of
Africa certain drums symbolize the power of tribal royalty and are often housed in sacred
dwellings. 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 discs 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 are frequently used for signalling. The talking drums of Africa imitate
the pitch patterns of speech and transmit messages over many miles. The snare drum, or
side drum, used in European infantry regiments, conveyed instructions to soldiers and
accompanied their marching.
The
musical use of drums varies from simple timekeeping to the carrying of complex rhythms and
counter-rhythms. In Islamic music 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.
Common
Drums
On the
snare drum, eight to ten wire-bound gut strings, or snares, are stretched across the lower
of the two heads; they vibrate against it as the upper head is 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. A vast range of drums is found among the percussion instruments of the Western
orchestra.
Classification
Drums are formally classified as membranophones; that is, their sound is produced by a
vibrating membrane. The friction drum is a non percussive form of membranophone. It
consists of a head tied over the top of a drum shell 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 (usually played in ensemble in steel bands), 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.