DRUM, the name given to a well-known percussion musical instrument and also to many objects resembling it in shape. Early forms of the word are drome or dromme, a word common to many Teut. languages, cf. Dan. tromme, Ger. Trommel; the word is ultimately the same as "trumpet," and is probably ono matopoeic in origin ; it appears late in Eng. about the middle of the i6th century. The word is used, in connection with ma chinery, of a revolving cylinder, round which belting is passed; of the tympanum or cylindrically-shaped middle ear, and spe cially of the membrane that closes the external auditory meatus; and in architecture, of the sub-structure of a dome when raised to some height above the pendentives. The term is also applied to the circular blocks of stone employed in columns of large dimensions.
In music the drum (Fr. tambour; Ger. Trommel; Ital. tam buro) is an instrument of percussion common in some form to all nations and ages. It consists of a frame or vessel forming a resonant cavity, over one or both ends of which is stretched a skin or vellum set in vibration by direct percussion of hand or stick. Drums fall into two divi sions according to the nature of their sonority :—( I ) instruments producing sounds of definite musical pitch, and qualified there by to take part in the harmony of the orchestra, such as the ket tle drum (q.v.) ; instruments of indefinite pitch, and therefore excluded from the harmony of the orchestra ; such are the bass drum, the side or snare drum, the tenor drum, the tambourine, all used for marking the rhythm and adding tone colour.
The bass drum or Turkish drum (Fr. grosse caisse; Ger. Grosse Trommel; Ital. gran cassa or tamburo grande) consists of a short cylinder of very wide diameter covered at both ends by vellum, the tension of which is controlled by means of leather braces. It gives out no definite note, but has a place in every orchestra, although it is used but sparingly to accentuate the rhythm. Wag ner did not once score for the bass drum after he composed Rienzi.
tambour militaire; Ger. Militdr trommel; Ital. tamburo militare) is an instrument consisting of a small wooden or brass cylinder with a vellum at each end.
Across the lower vellum are stretched two or more catgut strings called snares, which pro duce a rattling sound at each stroke on the upper head, owing to the sympathetic vibration of the lower head, which jars against the snares. The presence of the snares gives the side drum its peculiar timbre, changing the na ture of the vibrations, for the snares form a kind of nodal con tact, inducing double the number of vibrations, and a sound ap proximately an octave higher than would be the case were the heads left to vibrate freely.
The tenor drum (Fr. caisse roulante; Ger. Roll- or Ru/ir trommel; Ital. tamburo rulante) is similar to the side drum, but has a larger cylinder of wood and no snares; consequently its timbre lacks the brilliancy and incisiveness of the side drum.
The popularity of all kinds of drums in the most ancient civili zations is established beyond a doubt by the numerous represen tations of the instrument in a variety of shapes and sizes on the monuments and paintings of Egypt, Assyria, India, and Persia. The tympanon, under which name seem to have been included tambourines and kettle drums, as well as the dulcimer (during the middle ages), was in use among Greeks and Romans chiefly in the worship of Cybele and Bacchus; it was introduced through the medium of the Roman civilization into western Europe. It is often said that the drum was introduced by the crusaders, but it was certainly known in England long before the crusades, for Bede (Musics practica) mentions it • his list of instruments, and Cassiodorus (ii. p. 507) describes it. An actual drum with two curved drum-sticks belonging to the ancient Egyptians was found during the excavations at Thebes in 1823.
The side drum was admitted into the or chestra in the 17th century, when Marais (1636-1728) scored for it in his opera Alcione.