Acoustic Drum Instruments
Acoustic Drum Instruments Fast Facts
SNARE DRUM - Of the three drums in the percussion section of the orchestra the snare drum is both the most difficult to play and the most familiar. It is also called side drum, because it is slung and worn to one side in military, fife, pipe and other marching bands. The shallow metal shell is supported on a stand in the orchestra, at a slight angle for ease of playing. The slim sticks, made of hickory or lancewood, are slightly tapered towards the tip. The two vellums are made of a calf skin, the top one called the batter head and the bottom the snare head. The snares are eight to ten gut or wire strings stretched under the lower head; these vibrate when the batter head is struck, producing a brilliant rattling sound.
A Brief History of Acoustic Drums
The snare drummer has a special language for particular beats and rhythmic ornamentation. The rim shot, a dry, explosive sound, is produced not by striking the rim but by laying one stick across the rim with the tip on the batter head and striking it with the other. ‘Flam, drag and paradiddle’ can only be described in notation.
‘Mammy-daddy’ is another name for a double beat on alternate hands. This is the basis of the long, continuous close roll such as can be heard at the beginning of Rossini’s overture to The Silken Ladder. One of the most impressive of all side drum parts is in Ravel’s Bolero, in which it keeps up a short insistent rhythm throughout. Carl Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony also has an extensive and impressive snare drum part. The snare drum replace the tenor or military drum, which has a deeper shell, no snares and is as a rule played with soft sticks. The sound is consequently dull and although it can be used for accentuation and color, it is never given interesting or outstanding parts to play.
The bass drum stands vertically, the rim of the
shallow wooden shell facing the audience. This was originally known as
the Turkish drum. Sometimes it has two heads, sometimes only one, the
former model producing somewhat greater clarity. It is beaten wit upward
– or downward – glancing blows with a soft stick, and sometimes brushed
simultaneously on the other side with a switch of sorts. When the craze
for Turkish music came about in the 18th century it lasted for about forty
years, and during this period the bass drum gained in popularity and was
used by Haydn in his ‘Military’ Symphony and by Beethoven, who clearly
had a penchant for oriental exotica, in the Finale of the Ninth Symphony.
The deep voice of the bass drum is often described as being felt rather
than heard. Sometimes it carries an attachment that enables a single cymbal
to be mounted on top.
The tambourine, the last of the orchestral instruments to have
vellum stretched over a hoop, is of the greatest antiquity, going back
to the third millennium at least. It is generally associated with the
dance and in Near and Middle-Eastern societies was once the only instrument
that women were permitted to play. The tambourine was introduced into
the orchestra during the boom in Turkish music and is mostly used to evoke
dancing of a more abandoned nature than that seen in the fresco.
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