Music Sound

Drum carried by John Unger, Company B, 40th Regiment New York Veteran Volunteer Infantry Mozart Regiment, December 20, 1863

Several American Indian-style drums for sale at the National Museum of the American Indian.

A drum is a musical instrument in the percussion family , technically classified as a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drumskin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with parts of a player's body, or with some sort of implement such as a drumstick, to produce sound. Drums are among the world's oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments, and the basic design has been virtually unchanged for hundreds of years.

The shell almost invariably has a circular opening over which the drumhead is stretched, but the shape of the remainder of the shell varies widely. In the western musical tradition, the most usual shape is a cylinder, although timpani for example use bowl-shaped shells. Other shapes include a frame design (tar (drum)), truncated cones (bongo drums), and joined truncated cones (talking drum).

Drums with cylindrical shells can be open at one end (as in the timbales) or can have two drum heads. Single headed drums normally consist of a skin or other membrane, called a head, which is stretched over an enclosed space or over one of the ends of a hollow vessel. Drums with two heads covering both ends of a tubular shell often have a small hole halfway between the two drumheads; the shell forms a resonating chamber for the resulting sound. Exceptions include the African slit drum, made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, and the Caribbean steel drum, made from a metal barrel. Drums are usually played by the hands or by one or two sticks. In some non-Western cultures drums have a symbolic function and are often used in religious ceremonies. The sound of a drum depends on several variables including shell shape, size, thickness of shell, materials of the shell, type of drumhead, tension of the drumhead, position of the drum, location, and how it is struck.

In popular music and jazz, drums usually refers to a drum kit or set of drums, and drummer to the band member or person who plays them. Drums are played by percussionists whose skills can be called for in all areas of music from Classical to Heavy Rock & all areas in between. Many drummers are also adapt to playing the drum set for some songs, and switching to a set of hand drums for an added musical variety.

In the past, drums were used as a means of communication and not just for their musical qualities. They are sometimes used in sending signals. The talking drums of Africa can imitate the inflections and pitch variations of a spoken language and are used for communicating over great distances.

See also

Drum Sets

• drum and bass
• drum kit
• hand drum
• drum machine
• musical instrument

External links

• Drumming Manufacturer Database
• DrumSoloArtist.com - Extensive Resources for Drummers including over 1000 drummers biographies lots of drum techniques, drum forums, and musicians community portal.
• unirunner - Video Podcast Drum Lessons- iPod-compatible video drum lessons based on input and feedback from viewers.
• Large drumming community
• Drum Forum
• Jared's Free Drum Set Lessons- New downloadable Drummer Essentials eBook 2.0
• Drumming.com- Over 2000 free drum lessons, tips, tabs, and links.
• DRUMMIN' MEN-The Drummer's Resource
• Drums Database- A large database with numerous drum lessons and drumtabs.
• Drumtopia Drum News- Drumming news, drum tab search and a directory of drum resources.
• Instructional Drum DVDs- Detailed training for semi-advanced drum concepts.
• Drummer World- A large collection of online drum clinics as well as drum videos.
• TigerBill's DrumBeat- Free Expert Drumming Advice, famous drummer videos, exclusive interviews.
• Mxtabs- Thousands of tabs for most instruments.